Publications

Florida hosts a regionally important nesting aggregation of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in the North Atlantic, yet internesting and post-nesting movements for this rookery remain poorly understood. Here, we used satellite telemetry to track 23 green turtles nesting on southeast Florida beaches from 2017 to 2021 to investigate their spatial ecology and use of marine protected areas...

Ecohydrology emphasizes the interactions between ecological and hydrological patterns and processes in wetlands. Given that wetlands are fundamentally defined by prolonged saturation or flooding of land, an ecohydrological perspective is implicit in wetland ecology. In this review, we provide examples of how variation in hydrologic processes in space and time influences wetland...

No abstract available.

The aquarium trade is a global industry responsible for the movement of live plants and animals, but it also serves as a major pathway for the introduction and spread of aquatic invasive species. Invasive species contribute to biodiversity loss, disrupt ecosystems, and can have widespread economic and societal impacts. A significant but poorly understood invasion risk in the plant...

Aquatic invasive species (AIS) create costly, detrimental effects when established. Recognition of this in the United States reached a threshold in 1990 with the federal passage of the Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act. This act created six regional panels, the national Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force, and incentivized state-level AIS planning. The management...

The ages and sizes at which organisms mature have significant implications for lifetime reproductive success. For species at risk of extinction, such as sea turtles, these attributes can ultimately impact probability of population persistence. Within the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, the broader loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) population comprises management units both along the US...

Global conservation targets include protecting genetic diversity within species. Yet few studies have assessed whether protected areas (PAs) include genetically diverse populations across species globally. A first step is understanding the availability of population genetic data that could be used in these assessments. We surveyed georeferenced population-level nuclear (as opposed to...

Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) are large constricting snakes native to Southeast Asia that have invaded the Greater Everglades Ecosystem in South Florida, USA. Pythons have caused precipitous declines in native mammals and are exceedingly difficult to detect using traditional methods such as scout snakes, detection dogs, and visual surveys. Live mammal lures have previously been...

Coastal Louisiana faces complex challenges from the compounding effects of coastal land loss and climate change. The State of Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) and the RESTORE Act Center of Excellence for Louisiana (LA-COE) have adopted a co-production of science framework to help ensure that scientific research funded through the LA-COE supports the...

Wind dispersal has the potential to carry seeds long-distances and could inform the management and restoration of natural vegetation along the U.S.-Mexico Border. Plant species with the potential to disperse seeds in arid landscapes fragmented by border barrier infrastructure include foundational native, invasive, and federally endangered plant species. Wind dispersal traps constructed...

Although the aquarium trade is an important pathway for direct and indirect non-native species introductions into freshwater systems, knowledge and attitudes of participants in the trade regarding alien species issues is largely undocumented. Therefore, we administered a survey to investigate attitudes and behaviors of aquarists and non-aquarists regarding the aquarium trade as a pathway...

Since the 1980s, monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus plexippus) populations across North America have declined by 80–95%. Although several studies have implicated pesticides as a contributing factor to their population declines, our understanding of monarch exposure levels in nature remains limited. In January 2024, a mass mortality event near an overwintering site in Pacific Grove...