Publications

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...

Objective White Catfish Ameiurus catus has been introduced to coastal watersheds across the United States. In the Penobscot River, Maine, this species has become increasingly common in upstream habitats that have been made accessible by recent dam removals. We characterized the movements of White Catfish to understand the temporal variation in their movement patterns and contextualize...

Objective Habitat degradation has been associated with the loss of many self-sustaining Muskellunge Esox masquinongy populations, including those in Green Bay, where stocking has provided an exceptional trophy fishery but restoration goals include establishing self-sustaining populations and there is little evidence of natural recruitment. Our objectives were to determine whether (1)...

Daily ring counts in young-of-the-year fishes are important for estimating important vital rates, such as growth, mortality, and timing of hatch. To accurately estimate some of these rates, the timing of the first daily ring must be estimated accurately. Variation in the timing of the first daily ring can be attributed to many factors, including biology of the species and experience of...

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a fatal and contagious neurological disease of cervid populations across North America. Collaborative efforts between government agencies, researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders are necessary to minimize CWD prevalence, spread, and impacts on animal and human health and well-being. However, critical information related to CWD epidemiology, management...

Wildlife agencies collect data on productivity (e.g., proportion of hens with poults and number of poults per hen) of wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) to monitor population status and trends. However, sampling protocols to collect productivity data rely on opportunistic observations reported by wildlife agency personnel and the public and have changed over time and differed among...

Objective Several species of New World cichlids have recently invaded reservoirs in Puerto Rico, potentially jeopardizing established recreationally important, albeit nonnative, sport fish populations. Interactions between invasive species and important sport fish must be understood so that they can be mitigated when feasible. This study compared monthly prey consumption between three...