Publications

Yellowstone cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus virginalis bouvieri in Yellowstone Lake are the focus of intensive conservation efforts due to the threat of predation by invasive lake trout Salvelinus namaycush. Suppression gillnetting has reduced the abundance of predatory lake trout, and the Yellowstone cutthroat trout population is recovering. Long-term monitoring indicates the size...

Karr (1981), which introduced the index of biotic (or biological) integrity (IBI) has been cited more often (>4,500 times) than any other paper in Fisheries. In this essay, we reflect on the historical context of this seminal publication and its broad, continuing impact on the management of natural resources, especially freshwater ecosystems.

Parasite-induced morbidity and mortality can alter the trajectories of incidental host populations. Yet, parasites rarely act in isolation and may be one of a multitude of biotic and abiotic stressors that collectively shape mortality risk in vertebrate populations. We quantified sources of mortality in a low-density population of moose (Alces alces) in New York State and investigated...

Agricultural conservation practices are often used to protect stream health while continuing food production. However, recovery of stream health is often not as rapid or extensive as planned. The efficacy of practices may be improved by promoting their continued use by landowners (i.e., persistence) after cost-share contracts with government agencies end. Persistence rates and their...

Floating photovoltaics (floating solar panels; FPV) can reduce the negative impacts of solar energy development in terrestrial environments, but their effects on freshwater ecosystems remain poorly understood. We examined potential FPV interactions with avian biodiversity, using previously modeled technical potential of FPV in the northeastern United States. We developed a vulnerability...

American black bear (Ursus americanus) sightings have increased in the Oklahoma Panhandle, an area outside of the species’ historical range, prompting an assessment of bears in the region. We used camera traps and an occupancy modeling framework to identify factors influencing bear detection and space-use patterns. We used noninvasive genetic sampling techniques to evaluate genetic...

Foraging time is a major component of ungulate activity budgets but can be limited by anti-predator behaviors (e.g., vigilance). Multitasking can reduce the nutritional costs of vigilance under heightened predation risk, but this may depend on the response of prey to risk from multiple predators across a complex spatiotemporal landscape. Mexican gray wolves (Canis lupus baileyi) and...

Recreational fisheries are interconnected, complex, adaptive systems characterized by multiple direct and indirect interactions among ecological and human subsystems. This is important for many reasons, including that feedbacks between the social and ecological dimensions lead to difficult-to-predict, often entirely unexpected, outcomes and because many management and governance systems...

Channel incision is a widespread problem, especially in river basins that have an extensive history of channel alterations. Because channel incision causes large ecological and economic consequences, the prevention of continued migration of headcuts, defined as a steep change in stream gradient over a short reach, has been the focus of many stream engineering projects. Low-drop grade...

Emerging infectious diseases can cause rapid, widespread host mortality, and the lack of demographic data before and after pathogen emergence complicates understanding mechanisms of host persistence. This challenge is further compounded by environmental conditions that influence host behavior, while driving pathogen growth and virulence. These interactions create complex disease outcomes...

Invasive wild pigs (Sus scrofa) pose considerable ecological and economic challenges across their introduced range, and understanding their spatial ecology is critical for management. This research and accompanying dataset represents adult wild pig movement in South Carolina, United States based on 16 individuals collared in 2023-2024. Using hourly GPS collar data for 6 males and 5...

In this study, we used a multi-faceted approach to understand patterns of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission and persistence in a wild white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) population. Serology data indicated transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and persistence during the seven-month sampling period. Traditional disease modelling based on deer-to-deer...