Publications

No abstract available.

Most people think that wetlands are temporary, that they fill in by natural processes, and eventually become dry land. Some of these outdated ideas have come from the way that this subject has been covered in introductory textbooks in schools (Gibson, 1996). From these texts, we learned incorrectly that over time a lake fills with sediment or organic matter to become a wetland, which...

Survival rate from fledging to breeding, or juvenile survival, is an important source of variation in lifetime reproductive success in birds. Therefore, determining the relationship between juvenile survival and environmental factors is essential to understanding fitness consequences of reproduction in many populations. With increases in density of individuals and depletion of food...

Because of high numbers of animals killed on Paynes Prairie State Preserve, Alachua County, Florida, the Florida Department of Transportation constructed a barrier wall-culvert system to reduce wildlife mortality yet allow for passage of some animals across the highway. During a one year study following construction, we counted only 158 animals, excluding hylid treefrogs, killed in the...

Plant invasions are widely recognized as significant threats to biodiversity conservation worldwide. One way invasions can affect native ecosystems is by changing fuel properties, which can in turn affect fire behavior and, ultimately, alter fire regime characteristics such as frequency, intensity, extent, type, and seasonality of fire. If the regime changes subsequently promote the...

Decomposition is a key function in reclaimed wetlands, and changes in its rate have ramifications for organic-matter accumulation, nutrient cycling, and production. The purpose of this study was to compare leaf litter decomposition rates in coal-slurry ponds vs. natural wetlands on natural floodplain wetlands in Illinois, USA. The rate of decomposition was slower in the natural wetland...

Aim: Predictions of vegetation change with global warming require models that accurately reflect physiological processes underlying growth limitations and species distributions. However, information about environmental controls on physiology and consequent effects on species boundaries and ecosystem functions such as production is limited, especially for forested wetlands that are...

No abstract available at this time

Snakeheads (family Channidae) are airbreathing freshwater fishes containing two genera, Channa with 26 species native to Asia, Malaysia, and Indonesia; and Parachanna with 3 species native to tropical Africa. Some snakeheads are small, reaching about 17 centimeters, but most are much larger, the largest reported to be 1.8 meters in length. All are considered thrust predators with most...

Mangrove forests are important coastal ecosystems that provide a variety of ecological and societal services. These intertidal, tree-dominated communities along tropical coastlines are often described as “simple systems,” compared to other tropical forests with larger numbers of plant species and multiple understory strata; however, mangrove ecosystems have complex trophic structures...

Mangroves are tropical/subtropical communities of primarily tree species that grow in the intertidal zone. These tidal forests are important coastal ecosystems that are valued for a variety of ecological and societal goods and services. Major local threats to mangrove ecosystems worldwide include clearcutting and trimming of forests for urban, agricultural, or industrial expansion...

Mangrove ecosystems are tropical/subtropical communities of primarily tree species that grow in the intertidal zone. These tidal communities are important coastal ecosystems that are valued for a variety of ecological and societal goods and services (fig. 1). Mangrove wetlands are important filters of materials moving between the land and sea, trapping sediment, nutrients, and pollutants...