Publications

The spatial heterogeneity of soil nutrients is crucial for the water bird and whole floodplain wetland ecosystem in large lakes, and it is influenced by the dramatic water level changes and sedimentation progress in West Dongting Lake (WDL). Soil samples were collected at various soil depths along the Yuan River and Li River that feed into WDL. The concentrations of soil total organic...

High resolution topobathymetric field surveys were conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in collaboration with Northeastern University and in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and The Nature Conservancy in a selected shoreline along Gandys Beach, New Jersey, from January to April 2018. These data are a critical model input for hydrodynamic and wave models and can...

Environmental DNA (eDNA) is a complex mixture of DNA, varying in particle sizes and distributed heterogeneously in aquatic systems. Optimizing eDNA sampling is crucial for maximizing species detection, particularly in high-risk scenarios like invasive species management. In this study, we compare two eDNA sampling methods - namely tow net and grab sample, where the tow nets process large...

Critical minerals (or critical elements) are minerals or elements that are essential to global security and development and have supply chains vulnerable to disruption. In general, knowledge of the environmental behavior and health effects of critical elements is needed to support the development of safe and environmentally responsible supplies. This knowledge includes identifying...

The introduction of nonnative species is a leading cause of biodiversity loss. Many invasive species are cryptic or elusive in nature and therefore often evade detection, complicating their management. Occupancy modeling can reveal the presence and spread of invasive species over time and therefore has important management implications. Camera traps can be used to estimate occupancy, or...

Islands are some of the most biodiverse places on earth, but they are also hotspots of biodiversity loss. The coastline of Florida, U.S.A., is surrounded by thousands of islands, many of which are home to species that occur nowhere else. A rapidly emerging threat to these low-lying islands is inundation as sea levels rise. The capacity of island-dwelling species to adapt to climate...

The impacts associated with global climate change (e.g., sea-level rise, tropical storms, and warming temperatures) are expected to alter predator–prey interactions, foundation species, and plant community structure in coastal ecosystems. While the complex dynamics of these habitats have been examined under future climate predictions, few ecosystem models incorporate influences from...

Wildlife stewardship is of utmost importance in the United States, where management for sustainable natural resources is extended to native species including amphibians and reptiles. The U.S. wildlife conservation framework is a nested system of authorities regulating species and habitats, science-based management and policy decisions, and adaptive management as new knowledge is applied...

Carbon fluxes in tidal brackish marshes play a critical role in determining coastal wetland carbon sequestration and storage, thus affecting carbon crediting of coastal wetland restoration. In this study, a process-driven wetland biogeochemistry model, Wetland Carbon Assessment Tool DeNitrification-DeComposition was applied to nine brackish marsh sites in Mississippi River (MR) Deltaic...

Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) was first documented in Florida in 2014 and has since spread through the Caribbean causing unprecedented mortality in more than 20 species of corals. The cause of SCTLD is unknown, but bacteria are suspected based on regression of gross lesions in some corals treated with antibiotics. Limited pathology studies on SCTLD exist, but it is likely that...

Introduction: The long-distance, seasonal migrations of birds make them an effective ecological bridge for the movement of ticks. The introduction of exotic tick species to new geographical regions can cause the emergence of novel tick-borne pathogens. This study examined the prevalence of exotic tick species parasitizing migratory songbirds at stopover sites along the northern Gulf of...

The isolated river drainages of eastern North America serve as a natural laboratory to investigate the roles of allopatry and secondary contact in the evolutionary trajectories of recently diverged lineages. Drainage divides facilitate allopatric speciation, but due to their sensitivity to climatic and geomorphological changes, neighboring rivers frequently coalesce, creating recurrent