Publications

Coastal regions worldwide face increasing management concerns due to natural and anthropogenic forces that have the potential to significantly degrade nearshore marine resources. The goal of our study was to develop and test a monitoring strategy for nearshore marine ecosystems in remote areas that are not readily accessible for sampling. Mussel species have been used extensively to...

Counts of grouse present at leks (breeding grounds) during spring are widely used to monitor population numbers and assess trends. However, only a proportion of birds available to count are detected resulting in a biased population index. We designed a study using an aerial integrated infrared imaging system (AIRIS) and experimental pseudo-leks to quantify sightability (proportion of...

Maramec Spring is home to two Ozark endemic caddisfly Species of Conservation Concern (SOCC). The Missouri Glyphospsyche Caddisfly, Glyphospsyche missouri, (Critically Imperiled; State Rank-S1; Global Rank-G1) is known from Maramec Spring and the receiving spring branch and nowhere else in the world. Similarly, the Artesian Agapetus Caddisfly, Agapetus artesus, (Vulnerable; State Rank-S3...

Agricultural emissions are the primary source of ammonia (NH3) deposition in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), a Class I area, that is granted special air quality protections under the Clean Air Act. Between 2014 and 2016, the pilot phase of the Colorado agricultural nitrogen early warning system (CANEWS) was developed for agricultural producers to voluntarily and temporarily minimize...

Measures of reproductive output in turtles are generally positively correlated with female body size. However, a full understanding of reproductive allometry in turtles requires logarithmic transformation of reproductive and body size variables prior to regression analyses. This allows for slope comparisons with expected linear or cubic relationships for linear to linear and linear to...

Laboratory trials conducted over the past decade at U.S. Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Center indicate that wild populations of prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.) display different degrees of susceptibility to experimental challenge with fully virulent Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague. We evaluated patterns in prairie dog susceptibility to plague to determine whether...

In viviparous organisms, the ability to feed while pregnant may mitigate energetic trade-offs experienced during the reproductive process and enhance fecundity. However, anorexia during pregnancy has been reported in many crotaline snakes. The potential costs and benefits of feeding while pregnant are not completely described in the literature, and experimental studies have been...

Global stressors such as climate change, invasive species, urbanization, agricultural practices, and pollution can alter aquatic resource subsidies to terrestrial consumers. The effects of these stressors on timing, quality, and quantity of aquatic subsidies, such as adult aquatic insects, to birds, herpetofauna, and mammals, have large implications for wildlife management (Baxter et al...

The persistence of an invasive species is influenced by its reproductive ecology, and a successful control program must operate on this premise. However, the reproductive ecology of invasive species may be enigmatic due to factors that also limit their management, such as cryptic coloration and behavior. We explored the mating and reproductive ecology of the invasive Brown Treesnake (BTS...

Inland capture fisheries provide food for nearly a billion people and are important in the livelihoods of millions of households worldwide. Although there are limitations to evaluating many of the contributions made by inland capture fisheries, there is growing recognition by the international community that these services make critical contributions, most notably to food security and...

Climatic drivers of the size and body condition of forage fish in the North Pacific are poorly known. We hypothesized that length and condition of forage fish in the Gulf of Alaska (GoA) should vary in relation to ocean temperature on multiple scales. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed morphometric data for capelin (Mallotus catervarius) and Pacific sand lance (PSL; Ammodytes...

Smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) are used as an indicator species in environmental monitoring and assessment studies. However, laboratory-based studies for methods development and effector assessment are limited for this species. Nutrition, a known modulator of teleost physiological responses including immune function, is a critical knowledge-gap sometimes overlooked in the design...