Publications

Identification of geographic linkages among breeding, migratory and wintering common loon Gavia immer populations is needed to inform regional and national conservation planning efforts and compensation of loons lost during marine oil spill events. Satellite telemetry and archival geolocator tags were used to determine the migration patterns and wintering locations of breeding adult and...

Watershed land cover affects in-stream water quality and sediment nutrient dynamics. The presence of natural land cover in the riparian zone can reduce the negative effects of agricultural land use on water quality; however, literature evaluating the effects of natural riparian land cover on stream sediment nutrient dynamics is scarce. The objective of this study was to assess if stream...

Tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) were used to assess the effectiveness of reducing polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposure to wildlife as a result of contaminated sediment removal at locations across the Great Lakes under two dredging scenarios, full or spot dredging. For comparative purposes, other locations where no dredging occurred were also assessed. Calculating accumulation rate...

A central challenge in applied ecology is understanding the effect of anthropogenic fatalities on wildlife populations and predicting which populations may be particularly vulnerable and in greatest need of management attention. We used 3 approaches to investigate potential effects of fatalities from collisions with wind turbines on 14 raptor species for both current (106 GW) and...

Climate change and the extreme weather associated with it can be a major challenge to natural resource managers charged with the protection, restoration, recovery, and management of wetlands and wildlife habitats. Forecasting the potential impacts of climate changes will be important for decision-makers and land managers seeking to minimize impacts to habitats, infrastructure, and...

A solid lampricide formulation containing 23% 3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol (TFM) as the active ingredient was developed in the mid-1980s for use in small tributaries of dendritic streams during routine treatments to kill larval sea lamprey. This TFM bar formulation was designed to use a matrix of commercially prepared surfactants that would dissolve and slowly release their TFM...

The Mississippi embayment encompasses about 100,000 square miles and covers parts of eight States. In 2016, the U.S. Geological Survey began updating previous work for a part of the embayment known as the Mississippi Alluvial Plain to support informed water use and agricultural policy in the region. Groundwater, water use, economic, and other related models are being combined with field...

Invasive Bighead Carp Hypophthalmichthys nobilis and Silver Carp H. molitrix have infested and caused largescale ecological and economic damage to the Illinois, Mississippi, and Ohio rivers. We compiled demographic data from 42,995 fish from 23 pools in the Illinois, Mississippi, and Ohio rivers, which universities and management agencies previously collected as part of management...

Vessel sound is now globally recognized as a significant and pervasive pollutant to aquatic life. However, compared to marine environments, there is a paucity of data on sound emitted by vessel activity in freshwater habitats. The Upper Mississippi River (UMR) is home to a diverse array of aquatic life as well as being a key route for barge transportation with 29 locks and dams. In this...

The lampricide 3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol (TFM) has been used in liquid form to control larval sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) in Great Lakes tributaries since the late 1950s. In the 1980s a dissolvable TFM bar was developed as a supplemental tool for application to small tributaries as a deterrent to larvae seeking water not activated with TFM. The size, mass, and number of bars...

Waterborne contaminants were monitored in 69 tributaries of the Laurentian Great Lakes in 2010 and 2014 using semipermeable membrane devices (SPMDs) and polar organic chemical integrative samplers (POCIS). A risk-based screening approach was used to prioritize chemicals and chemical mixtures, identify sites at greatest risk for biological impacts, and identify potential hazards to...

The recognized gap between research and implementation in avian conservation can be overcome with translational ecology, an intentional approach in which science producers and users from multiple disciplines work collaboratively to co-develop and deliver ecological research that addresses management and conservation issues. Avian conservation naturally lends itself to translational...