Publications

Multi-agency, collaborative Lake Ontario bottom trawl surveys provide information for decision making related to Fish Community Objectives including predator-prey balance and understanding prey fish community diversity. In 2019, bottom trawl surveys in April (n = 252 tows) and October (n = 160 tows) sampled main lake and embayments at depths from 5–226 m. Combined, the surveys captured...

No abstract available.

This report provides a review on the progression of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) rehabilitation towards meeting the Salmonine Fish Community Objectives (FCOs) for Lake Michigan (Eshenroder et. al. 1995) and the interim goal and evaluation objectives articulated in A Fisheries Management Implementation Strategy for the Rehabilitation of Lake Trout in Lake Michigan (hereafter the...

Foraging behavior can have population-level effects that are of interest for wildlife management. For invasive species, foraging behavior has been tied to establishment ability and rate of spread and is generally of import in understanding invasion biology. A major method for controlling invasive vertebrates is using food-based baits as attractants. Tool efficacy is therefore partially...

1. Understanding the roles of habitat fragmentation and resource availability in shaping animal movement are integral for promoting species persistence and conservation. For insects like bumble bees, their movement patterns affect the survival and reproductive potential of their colonies as well as the pollen flow of plant species. However, our understanding of their mobility or the...

Priority Geographic Area: The outer continental shelf and upper continental slope from Canada/U.S. border offshore Washington State to the Mendocino Fracture Zone (Northern California), entirely within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), from the outermost shelf to at least 2000 m water depth (Figure 1). Description of Priority Area: Since 2015, over a thousand water column gas...

Priority Geographic Area: Both within and outside US Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). California continental margin. This area includes and continues south of the geographic area captured in the Watt et al. white paper. Description of Priority Area: The California continental margin, from the narrow shelf to abyssal depths, contains diverse seafloor features that influence benthic...

Dispersal is a central process in ecology and evolution. It strongly influences the dynamics of spatially structured populations, by affecting population growth rate and local colonization-extinction processes. Dispersal can also influence evolutionary processes because it determines rates and patterns of gene flow in spatially structured populations and is closely linked to local...

Sandhill cranes (Antigone canadensis) inhabiting the midcontinent of North America have been hunted since the 1960s under management goals of maintaining abundance, retaining geographic distribution, and maximizing sustainable harvest. Some biologists have raised concerns regarding harvest sustainability because sandhill cranes have lower reproductive rates than other game birds. We...

We will investigate fish health factors that may be contributing to the failed recovery of Pacific herring populations in Prince William Sound. Field samples will provide infection and disease prevalence data from Prince William Sound and Sitka Sound that will inform the ASA model, serological data that will indicate the prior exposure history and future susceptibility of herring to VHS...

Plague is a bacterial zoonosis of mammalian hosts and flea vectors. The disease is capable of ravaging rodent populations and transforming ecosystems. Because plague mortality is likely to be predicted by flea parasitism, it is critical to understand vector dynamics. It has been hypothesized that paltry precipitation and reduced vegetative production predispose herbivorous rodents to

Spring total phosphorus (TP) in 2019 was 3.2 µg/L (offshore) and 4.7 µg/L (nearshore), both all-time lows; however, there is no significant time trend in our data series (1995-2019 for nearshore; 2002-2019 for offshore). Apr/May – Oct mean TP concentrations were low at both nearshore and offshore locations (range, 3.7 – 6.5 µg/L). TP and SRP concentrations were not significantly...