Publications

The mere threat of predation may incite behavioral changes in prey that lead to community-wide impacts on productivity, biodiversity, and nutrient cycling. The paucity of experimental manipulations, however, has contributed to controversy over the strength of this pathway in wide-ranging vertebrate systems. We investigated whether simulated gray wolf (Canis lupus) presence can induce...

This Annual Report summarizes results of grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) research and monitoring conducted in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team (IGBST) during 2020. The research and monitoring program is focused on population estimation and demographics, food monitoring, and habitat monitoring. This report also presents a summary of grizzly...

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

(1) Species introductions provide insights into rapid adaptation and adaptive phenotypic plasticity, as populations encounter and respond to new environments and selection pressures. However, maladaptive responses are increasingly recognized to also be common in nature. The spotted-wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii, has rapidly invaded divergent environments providing the opportunity...

Mountain ecosystems are extremely diverse and fragile. They include astonishing biodiversity in terms of number of taxa and endemicity, and globally provide the most diverse range of ecosystem services. The world’s system of protected and conserved areas includes many outstanding areas within the earth’s mountainous landscape: about 19% of mountain areas are protected or conserved...

We studied the timing of budburst of valley oak (Quercus lobata Née) at Hastings Reservation, central coastal California. Similar to other taxa, budburst was advanced by warmer temperatures. Over the 30-year study period, however, there were no significant trends in either air temperature or the timing of budburst, except during the 2014–2016 drought, during which the earliest budburst...

Translocation and rehabilitation programs are critical tools for wildlife conservation. These methods achieve greater impact when integrated in a combined strategy for enhancing population or ecosystem restoration. From 2002-2016, we reared 37 orphaned southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) pups, using captive sea otters as surrogate mothers, then released them into a degraded...

Land disposal of sewage wastewater through septic systems and cesspools is a major cause of elevated concentrations of nitrogen in the shallow coastal aquifers of southern New England. The discharge of nitrogen from these sources at the coast is affecting the environmental health of coastal saltwater bodies. In response, local, State, and Federal agencies are considering expensive...

Bayesian models provide recursive inference naturally because they can formally reconcile new data and existing scientific information. However, popular use of Bayesian methods often avoids priors that are based on exact posterior distributions resulting from former studies. Two existing Recursive Bayesian methods are: Prior- and Proposal-Recursive Bayes. Prior-Recursive Bayes uses...

Aquatic invasive plants and animals are increasingly becoming a problem, causing severe economic and ecological damage to critical freshwater systems. The best strategy for controlling an invasive pest employs an integrated pest management (IPM) approach using a combination of biological, physical, chemical, and social/cultural control methods. Here, we examine the history and...

Manatees and dugongs live in tropical and semi-tropical regions around the world. Their preferred habitats are seagrass beds, rivers, lakes, and estuaries. Manatees live in both freshwater and marine systems although habitat preferences vary across the three species, while the dugong is entirely marine. Sirenians are shallow water divers, and their dive durations are short compared to...