Wildlife Program
Publications
Ecological forecasting—21st century science for 21st century management
Natural resource managers are coping with rapid changes in both environmental conditions and ecosystems. Enabled by recent advances in data collection and assimilation, short-term ecological forecasting may be a powerful tool to help resource managers anticipate impending near-term changes in ecosystem conditions or dynamics. Managers may use the...
Bradford, John B.; Weltzin, Jake F.; Mccormick, Molly; Baron, Jill; Bowen, Zack; Bristol, Sky; Carlisle, Daren; Crimmins, Theresa; Cross, Paul; DeVivo, Joe; Dietze, Mike; Freeman, Mary; Goldberg, Jason; Hooten, Mevin; Hsu, Leslie; Jenni, Karen; Keisman, Jennifer; Kennen, Jonathan; Lee, Kathy; Lesmes, David; Loftin, Keith; Miller, Brian W.; Murdoch, Peter; Newman, Jana; Prentice, Karen L.; Rangwala, Imtiaz; Read, Jordan; Sieracki, Jennifer; Sofaer, Helen; Thur, Steve; Toevs, Gordon; Werner, Francisco; White, C. LeAnn; White, Timothy; Wiltermuth, Mark
Short-term forecasts of insect phenology inform pest management
Insect pests cost billions of dollars per year globally, negatively impacting food crops and infrastructure, and contributing to the spread of disease. Timely information regarding developmental stages of pests can facilitate early detection and control, increasing efficiency and effectiveness. In 2018, the U.S. National Phenology Network (USA-NPN...
Crimmins, Theresa M.; Gerst, Katharine L.; Huerta, Diego; Marsh, R. Lee; Posthumus, Erin E.; Rosemartin, Alyssa H.; Switzer, Jeff R.; Weltzin, Jake F.; Coop, Len; Dietschler, Nicholas; Herms, Daniel A.; Limbu, Samita; Trotter III, R. Talbot; Whitmore, Mark
Effects of experimental removal of Barred Owls on population Demography of Northern Spotted Owls in Washington and Oregon—2018 Progress Report
Populations of Northern Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis caurina; herineafter referred to as Spotted Owl) have declined throughout the subspecies’ geographic range. Evidence indicates that competition with invading Barred Owls (S. varia) has contributed significantly to those declines. A pilot study in California showed that removal of Barred Owls...
Wiens, J. David; Dugger, Katie M.; Lesmeister, Damon B.; Dilione, Krista E.; Simon, David C. Nonlinearities in transmission dynamics and efficient management of vector-borne pathogens
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is an approach to minimizing economic and environmental harm caused by pests, and Integrated Vector Management (IVM) uses similar methods to minimize pathogen transmission by vectors. The risk of acquiring a vector-borne infection is often quantified using the density of infected vectors. The relationship between...
Ginsberg, Howard S.; Couret, Jannelle Genetic tagging in the Anthropocene: Scaling ecology from alleles to ecosystems
The Anthropocene is an era of marked human impact on the world. Quantifying these impacts 51 has become central to understanding the dynamics of coupled human-natural systems, resource52 dependent livelihoods, and biodiversity conservation. Ecologists are facing growing pressure to 53 quantify the size, distribution, and trajectory of wild...
Clayton T Lamb; Adam T Ford; Michael Proctor; Royle, Andy; Garth Mowat Knowing your limits: Estimating range boundaries and co-occurrence zones for two competing plethodontid salamanders
Understanding threats to species persistence requires knowledge of where species currently occur. We explore methods for estimating two important facets of species distributions, namely where the range limit occurs and how species interactions structure distributions. Accurate understanding of range limits is crucial for predicting range dynamics...
Amburgey, S. M.; Miller, D. A. W. ; Brand, Adrianne B.; Dietrich, Andrea M.; Campbell Grant, Evan H. Effect of corolla slitting and nectar robbery by the Eastern Carpenter Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) on fruit quality of Vaccinium corymbosum, L.; (Ericales: Ericaceae).
Eastern carpenter bees, Xylocopa virginica (L.) (Hymenoptera: Apidae), are among the most abundant native bee visitors to highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum L., flowers in the northeastern United States, and they sometimes display corolla-slitting behavior to rob nectar. We studied foraging behavior of X. virginica...
Tucker, Sara K; Ginsberg, Howard S.; Alm, Steven R. Identifying common decision problem elements for the management of emerging fungal diseases of wildlife
Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) of wildlife have characteristics that make them difficult to manage, leading to reactive and often ineffective management strategies. Currently, two fungal pathogens, Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd) and Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal), are causing declines in novel host species. To improve the...
Bernard, R. F.; Campbell Grant, Evan H. 2018 USA National Phenology Annual Report
This report provides a very high-level summary of some of the USA-NPN’s accomplishments over the past year. The purpose is to share with USA-NPN funders, partners, and the general public the value of the organization.
Weltzin, Jake F.; Crimmins, Theresa M. North-facing slopes and elevation shape asymmetric genetic structure in the range-restricted salamander Plethodon shenandoah
Species with narrow environmental preferences are often distributed across fragmented patches of suitable habitat, and dispersal among subpopulations can be difficult to directly observe. Genetic data collected at population centers can help quantify gene flow, which is especially important for vulnerable species with a disjunct range. Plethodon...
Mulder, KP; Cortes-Rodriguez, Nandadevi; Brand, Adrianne B.; Campbell Grant, Evan H.; Fleischer, Robert C. Eastern Carpenter Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae): Nest structure, nest cell provisions, and trap nest acceptance in Rhode Island
Analysis of pollen provisions in Xylocopa virginica (L.) nests in southern Rhode Island showed that this species produced pollen loaves from 21 different genera of plants in 2016, 19 in 2017, and 39 in 2018. Antirrhinium majus L. (garden snapdragon) pollen was the most common type collected in all three years (21.4%). Overall,...
Tucker, Sara K; Ginsberg, Howard S.; Alm, Steven R. Annual survival, site fidelity, and longevity in the eastern coastal population of the Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) based on a 20-year mark-recapture/resighting study
A long-term study of annual survival, longevity, and site fidelity in the eastern coastal population of the Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) during the breeding season was conducted from 1999 through 2018 in the outer coastal plain of the southeastern Atlantic coast of the United States. Painted Buntings were uniquely color-banded from 1999...
Sykes, Paul W. Jr; Freeman, Mary; Sykes, Joan J.; Seginak, John T.; M. David Oleyar; Egan, Joshua P.