Publications

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...

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...

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...

We conducted the first assessment of eelgrass and seaweed distribution and abundance along the coast of the Alaska Peninsula-Becharof National Wildlife Refuges in Chignik Lagoon and Mud Bay. Areal extent of eelgrass, as determined from remote-sensing techniques, was estimated to be 2,414 hectares in Chignik Lagoon and 188 hectares in Mud Bay, and eelgrass was the dominant marine...

Small, isolated populations present a challenge for conservation. The dueling effects of selection and drift in a limited pool of genetic diversity make the responses of small populations to environmental perturbations erratic and difficult to predict. This is particularly true at the edge of a species range, where populations often persist at the limits of their environmental tolerances

No abstract available.

The shell morphologies of the freshwater mussel species Pleurobema clava (federally endangered) and Pleurobema oviforme (species of concern) are similar, causing considerable taxonomic confusion between the two species over the last 100 years. While P. clava was historically widespread throughout the Ohio River basin and tributaries to the lower Laurentian Great Lakes, P. oviforme was...

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...

A portable suction-dredge and sluice-box system were used to collect larval lampreys (Entosphenus tridentatus and Lampetra spp.) from fine and coarse sediment in field and laboratory tests. We evaluated the injury rate, survival, and burrowing capability of lamprey following passage through the dredge system and used collection of lamprey from water without sediment as a control. The...