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Publications

Filter Total Items: 497

Landscape configuration influences Oma‘o (Myadestes obscurus) song diversity

Acoustic communication in the form of songs is a learned behavior in oscine that can be passed down from one generation to the next through cultural transmission. Over time songs can change when populations become isolated from one another, creating dialects that are distinct to a population. Habitat fragmentation is an isolating mechanism that can influence differences in songs between population
Authors
Nicole Fernandez, Kristina L. Paxton, Eben H. Paxton, Adam A. Pack, Patrick J. Hart

Genetic diversity, structure, and effective population size of an endangered, endemic hoary bat, ʻōpeʻapeʻa, across the Hawaiian Islands

Island bat species are disproportionately at risk of extinction, and Hawaiʻi’s only native terrestrial land mammal, the Hawaiian hoary bat (Lasiurus semotus) locally known as ʻōpeʻapeʻa, is no exception. To effectively manage this bat species with an archipelago-wide distribution, it is important to determine the population size on each island and connectivity between islands. We used 18 nuclear m
Authors
Corinna Pinzari, Mona Renee Bellinger, Donald K. Price, Frank J Bonaccorso

Burmese pythons in Florida: A synthesis of biology, impacts, and management tools

Burmese pythons (Python molurus bivittatus) are native to southeastern Asia, however, there is an established invasive population inhabiting much of southern Florida throughout the Greater Everglades Ecosystem. Pythons have severely impacted native species and ecosystems in Florida and represent one of the most intractable invasive-species management issues across the globe. The difficulty stems f
Authors
Jacquelyn C. Guzy, Bryan G. Falk, Brian J. Smith, John David Willson, Robert Reed, Nicholas Aumen, Michael L. Avery, Ian A. Bartoszek, Earl Campbell, Michael Cherkiss, Natalie M. Claunch, Andrea Faye Currylow, Tylan Dean, Jeremy Dixon, Richard M. Engeman, Sarah Funck, Rebekah Gibble, Kodiak C. Hengstebeck, John S. Humphrey, Margaret Hunter, Jillian Josimovich, Jennifer Ketterlin Eckles, Michael Kirkland, Frank J. Mazzotti, Robert A. McCleery, Melissa A. Miller, Matthew F. McCollister, M. Rockwell Parker, Shannon E. Pittman, Michael R. Rochford, Christina Romagosa, Art Roybal, Ray W. Snow, McKayla M. Spencer, Hardin Waddle, Amy A. Yackel Adams, Kristen Hart

Out of the frying pan and into the fire: Effects of volcanic heat and other stressors on the conservation of a critically endangered plant in Hawaiʻi

Loss of local biodiversity resulting from abrupt environmental change is a significant environmental problem throughout the world. Extinctions of plants are particularly important yet are often overlooked. Drawing from a case in Hawai‘i, a global hotspot for plant and other extinctions, we demonstrate an effort to better understand and determine priorities for the management of an endangered plant
Authors
Nathan S. Gill, Jeff Stallman, Linda Pratt, Jennifer L. Lewicki, Tamar Elias, Patricia Nadeau, Stephanie G. Yelenik

Suppression of invasive Brown Treesnakes and reintroduction of native avifauna on Guam

Many agencies and interest groups are committed to re-establishing components of Guam's native avifauna through the reintroduction of captive-reared birds or translocation from other islands in the Marianas if the Brown Treesnake (Boiga irregularis; BTS) can be eliminated. Island-wide eradication of BTS from Guam continues to appear out of reach, but with recent and future advancement in BTS suppr
Authors
Robert McElderry, Eben H. Paxton, Andre Nguyen, Shane R. Siers

Environmental monitoring for invasive fungal pathogens of ʽŌhiʽa (Metrosideros polymorpha) on the Island of Hawaiʽi

The invasive rust Austropuccina psidii was detected in the Hawaiian Islands in 2005 and has become widely established throughout the archipelago in both native and introduced species of Myrtaceae. Initial predictions about the impacts of the fungus on native ʽōhiʽa lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha), a keystone native tree, have not materialized, but there is ongoing concern that introductions of new
Authors
Carter T. Atkinson, Kylle Roy

Divergent Serpentoviruses in free-ranging invasive pythons and native colubrids in southern Florida, United States

Burmese python (Python bivittatus) is an invasive snake that has significantly affected ecosystems in southern Florida, United States. Aside from direct predation and competition, invasive species can also introduce nonnative pathogens that can adversely affect native species. The subfamily Serpentovirinae (order Nidovirales) is composed of positive-sense RNA viruses primarily found in reptiles. S
Authors
Steven B Tillis, Jillian M. Josimovich, Melissa A. Miller, Hoon-Hanks Laura L., Arik M. Hartmann, Natalie M. Claunch, Marley E. Iredale, Tracey D. Logan, Amy A. Yackel Adams, Ian A. Bartoszek, John S. Humphrey, Bryan M. Kluever, Mark D. Stenglein, Robert Reed, Christina M. Romagosa, James FX. Wellehan Jr., Robert J. Ossiboff

Size distribution and reproductive phenology of the invasive Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus) in the Greater Everglades Ecosystem, Florida, USA

The design of successful invasive species control programs is often hindered by the absence of basic demographic data on the targeted population. Establishment of invasive Burmese pythons (Python molurus bivittatus) in the Greater Everglades Ecosystem, Florida USA has led to local precipitous declines (> 90%) of mesomammal populations and is also a major threat to native populations of reptiles an
Authors
Andrea Faye Currylow, Bryan Falk, Amy A. Yackel Adams, Christina M. Romagosa, Jillian Josimovich, Michael R. Rochford, Michael Cherkiss, Melia Gail Nafus, Kristen Hart, Frank J. Mazzotti, Ray W. Snow, Robert Reed

Hawaiian waterbird movement across a developed landscape

A key component for biologists managing mobile species is understanding where and when a species occurs at different locations and scaling management to fit the spatial and temporal patterns of movement. We established an automated radio-telemetry tracking network to document multi-year movement in 2016–2018 of 3 endangered waterbirds among wetlands on Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, USA: ʻalae ʻula or Hawaiian g
Authors
Eben H. Paxton, Kristina L. Paxton, Martha Kawasaki, P. Marcos Gorresen, Charles B. van Rees, Jared G. Underwood

Density surface and excursion sets modeling as an approach to estimating population densities

Effective species management and conservation require knowledge of species distribution and status. We used point-transect distance sampling surveys of the endangered palila (Loxioides bailleui), a honeycreeper currently found only on the Island of Hawai'i, USA, to generate robust estimates of total abundance and simultaneously model the distribution, abundance, and spatial correlation of the spec
Authors
Richard J. Camp, Chauncey K. Asing, Paul C. Banko, Lainie Berry, Kevin W. Brinck, Chris Farmer, Ayesha Genz

A near four-decade time series shows the Hawaiian Islands have been browning since the 1980s

The Hawaiian Islands have been identified as a global biodiversity hotspot. We examine the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) using Climate Data Records products (0.05 × 0.05°) to identify significant differences in NDVI between neutral El Niño-Southern Oscillation years (1984, 2019) and significant long-term changes over the entire time series (1982–2019) for the Hawaiian Islands and s
Authors
Austin Madson, Monica Dimson, Lucas Fortini, Kapua Kawelo, Tamara Tickin, Matt Keir, Chunyu Dong, Zhimin Ma, David W Beilman, Kelly Kay, Jonathan Pando Ocón, Erica Gallerani, Stephanie Pau, Thomas W Gillespie

Microbiomes associated with avian malaria survival differ between susceptible Hawaiian honeycreepers and sympatric malaria-resistant introduced birds

Of the estimated 55 Hawaiian honeycreepers (subfamily Carduelinae) only 17 species remain, nine of which the International Union for Conservation of Nature considers endangered. Among the most pressing threats to honeycreeper survival is avian malaria, caused by the introduced blood parasite Plasmodium relictum, which is increasing in distribution in Hawaiʻi as a result of climate change. Preventi
Authors
Amanda K Navine, Kristina L. Paxton, Eben H. Paxton, Patrick J. Hart, Jeffrey T. Foster, Nancy McInerney, Robert C. Fleischer, Elin Videvall