Publications

Identifying the sources of ongoing and novel disease outbreaks is critical for understanding the diffusion of epizootic diseases. Identifying infection sources is difficult when few physical differences separate individuals with different origins. Genetic assignment procedures show great promise for assessing transmission dynamics in such situations. Here, we use genetic assignment tests...

For nearly 2 decades, the forests of the Rocky Mountains in the United States experienced a bark-beetle (Dendoctronus ponderosae) epidemic. The number of dead and falling trees from this epidemic likely will affect how elk (Cervus canadensis) and hunters use the forest and their interactions. Downed trees potentially create a component of refuge habitat that could affect the...

Survival rates vary dramatically among species and predictably across latitudes, but causes of this variation are unclear. The rate of living hypothesis posits that physiological damage from metabolism causes species with faster metabolic rates to exhibit lower survival rates. However, whether increased survival commonly observed in tropical and south temperate latitudes is associated...

Terrestrial salamanders are adapted to moist, cool microenvironments that facilitate cutaneous respiration and decrease risk of desiccation. Warmer, drier microenvironments may induce habitat use changes by salamanders to alleviate stressful microenvironmental conditions. Changes in salamander habitat use may bias population metrics when sampling occurs in areas with different...

The round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) is among the fastest-spreading introduced aquatic species in North America and is radiating inland from the Great Lakes into freshwater ecosystems across the landscape. Predicting and managing the impacts of round gobies requires information on the factors influencing their distribution in habitats along the invasion front, yet this information is...

Epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation may vary in response to environmental stressors and introduce adaptive or maladaptive gene expression within and among wild bird populations. We examined the association between DNA methylation and demographic characteristics of the Louisiana Waterthrush Parkesia motacilla in territories with and without disturbance from shale gas development...

We used odds ratios and a hurdle model to analyze parasite co-infections over 25 years on >20,000 young-of-the year of endangered Shortnose and Lost River Suckers. Host ecologies differed as did parasite infections. Shortnose Suckers were more likely to be caught inshore and 3–5 times more likely to have Bolbophorus spp. and Contracaecum sp. infections, and Lost River Suckers were more...

The Jinsha River, which comprises the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, has among the highest freshwater fish biodiversity and endemism in China, but these characteristics have rarely been quantitatively evaluated at the basin scale. We used fish presence–absence data collected from the entire Jinsha River basin (JRB) from 1964 to 2017 to determine patterns in fish biodiversity. In...

Boat electrofishing is often used to sample age-0 Muskellunge Esox masquinongy for indexing recruitment or evaluating stocking success. However, electrofishing samples typically result in low CPUE, prompting concerns regarding whether catch rates reflect actual abundance or whether boat electrofishing is generally ineffective for capturing age-0 Muskellunge (i.e., if fish are not being...

We present the first description of summer stream thermal regimes in Alaska using metrics that represent the magnitude, variability, frequency, duration, and timing of temperature events related to salmon life histories. We used cluster analysis to characterize thermal regimes present in the Matanuska-Susitna (Mat-Su) Basin based on 10 nonredundant temperature metrics and identified the...

Nonlethal tools (plasma sex steroid concentrations and ultrasound) for assigning sex and reproductive condition in Burbot Lota lota from Lake Roosevelt, Washington, were assessed. Gonadal tissue, blood plasma, and gonadal sonograms were collected monthly from November 2016 to March 2018. Gametogenesis was described by gonadal histology during an entire reproductive cycle to confirm sex...

Due to extensive land conversion over the last century, much of the native prairie pothole ecosystem has been converted to agricultural or other human uses. The prairie pothole ecosystem is found in the northern plains of Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Montana. Because most of the land in this region is privately owned and used for agricultural production, most impacts...