Publications

Mercury (Hg) bioaccumulation in salamanders has received little attention despite widespread Hg contamination of aquatic ecosystems and worldwide amphibian declines. Here we report concentrations of methyl Hg (MeHg) and total Hg in larval northern two-lined salamanders (Eurycea bislineata bislineata) collected from streams in Acadia National Park (ANP), Maine, and Bear Brook Watershed...

Stream salamanders are sensitive to acid mine drainage and may be sensitive to acidification and low acid neutralizing capacity (ANC) of a watershed. Streams in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, are subject to episodic acidification from precipitation events. We surveyed 25 m by 2 m transects located on the stream bank adjacent to the water channel in Shenandoah National Park for...

The temporal symmetry approach of R. Pradel can be used with capture– recapture data to produce retrospective estimates of a population's growth rate, λi, and the relative contributions to λi from different components of the population. Direct estimation of λi provides an alternative to using population projection matrices to estimate asymptotic λ and is seeing increased use. However...

Demographic estimation of vital parameters in plants with an unobservable dormant state is complicated, because time of death is not known. Conventional methods assume that death occurs at a particular time after a plant has last been seen aboveground but the consequences of assuming a particular duration of dormancy have never been tested. Capture–recapture methods do not make...

Herons and their close relatives, the egrets and bitterns, comprise sixty species in total and are found all over the world except in polar regions, and are a strikingly beautiful part of the wetlands they inhabit. They are particularly abundant and popular in South West USA, especially Florida. Herons are a diverse group, easily recognized by their long legs, necks and bills. Many...

Some populations of seaducks, especially scoters along the Atlantic Coast, have been declining over recent decades. A joint US-Canadian tearn has been working to capture and surgically implant satellite radio transmitters in these ducks. Black scoters (Melanitta nigra) captured on the Restigouche River in New Brunswick, Canada and surf scoters (M. perspicilata) captured on Chesapeake Bay

Assessing stopover habitat quality and refueling performance of individual birds is crucial to the conservation and management of migratory shorebirds. Plasma lipid metabolites indicate the trajectory of mass change in individuals and may be a more accurate measure of refueling performance at a particular site than static measures such as nutrient reserves. We measured lipid metabolites...

No abstract available.

In December 2004, February 2005, and June 2005, we recaptured a White-eyed Vireo (Vireo griseus) that was banded on 19 May 2004 at the same location on the Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge, Madison Parish, LA. This is the first documented permanent resident White-eyed Vireo outside of resident populations known from Florida and southern Texas. This individual appears to be resident...

We measured monthly soil surface elevation change and determined its relationship to groundwater changes at a mangrove forest site along Shark River, Everglades National Park, Florida. We combined the use of an original design, surface elevation table with new rod-surface elevation tables to separately track changes in the mid zone (0?4 m), the shallow root zone (0?0.35 m), and the full...

Large-scale sample surveys to estimate abundance and distribution of organisms and their habitats are increasingly important in ecological studies. Multi-stage sampling (MSS) is especially suited to large-scale surveys because of the natural clustering of resources. To illustrate an application, we: (1) designed a stratified MSS to estimate late autumn abundance (kg/ha) of rice seeds in...

This paper presents the current breeding range of Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) in a series of maps and a narrative, in particular that of the eastern population, which is restricted to the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Some conservation measures are recommended to protect this population. In light of the extensive habitat loss in the Outer Coastal...