Publications

Whereas open feeders are relatively inexpensive and are easily set up and maintained, they do present a drowning hazard to bees. We observed that bees feeding off the walls of the open container fell into the sugar water because of their incarnation, interactions with other bees and when shooed off the feeder walls while removing the feeder for cleaning. Twigs, angled laths and utility...

Secondary production, the growth of new heterotrophic biomass, is a key process in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems that has been carefully measured in many flowing water ecosystems. We combine structural equation modeling with the first worldwide dataset on annual secondary production of stream invertebrate communities to reveal core pathways linking air temperature and precipitation...

Subtype H10 influenza A viruses (IAVs) have been recovered from domestic poultry and various aquatic bird species, and sporadic transmission of these IAVs from avian species to mammals (i.e., human, seal, and mink) are well documented. In 2015, we isolated four H10N7 viruses from gulls in Iceland. Genomic analyses showed four gene segments in the viruses were genetically associated with...

Irrigation in the Mediterranean region has been used for millennia and has greatly expanded with industrialization. Irrigation is critical for climate change adaptation, but it is also an important source of greenhouse gas emissions. This study analyzes the carbon (C) footprint of irrigation in Spain, covering the complete historical process of mechanization. A 21-fold total, 6-fold area...

Four bacterial strains, with the capability of inhibiting Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the causative agent of white-nose syndrome, were isolated from male Townsend’s big-eared bats (Corynorhinus townsendii, Family: Vespertilionidae) in New Mexico. Isolates AC161, AC162, AC208, and AC230T were characterised as a novel clade using morphological, phenotypic and phylogenetic analysis. A...

For ground‐nesting waterfowl, the timing of egg hatch and duckling departure from the nest may be influenced by the risk of predation at the nest and en route to wetlands and constrained by the time required for ducklings to imprint on the hen and be physically able to leave the nest. We determined the timing of hatch, nest departure, and predation on dabbling duck broods using small...

Transportation industries can negatively impact wildlife populations, including through increased risk of mortality. To mitigate this risk successfully, managers and conservationists must estimate risk across space, time, and alternative management policies. Evaluating this risk at fine spatial and temporal scales can be challenging, especially in systems where wildlife–vehicle...

Predictions of warmer droughts causing increasing forest mortality are becoming abundant, yet few studies have investigated the mechanisms of forest persistence. To examine the resistance of forests to warmer droughts, we used a five-year precipitation reduction (~45% removal), heat (+4 °C above ambient) and combined drought and heat experiment in an isolated stand of mature Pinus edulis...

Chemosynthetic environments support distinct benthic communities capable of utilizing reduced chemical compounds for nutrition. Hundreds of methane seeps have been documented along the U.S. Atlantic margin (USAM), and detailed investigations at a few seeps have revealed distinct environments containing mussels, microbial mats, authigenic carbonates, and soft sediments. The dominant...

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 shenandoah is a Federally Endangered...

Exotic annual grasses are transforming native arid and semi-arid ecosystems globally by accelerating fire cycles that drive vegetation state changes. Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), a particularly widespread and aggressive exotic annual grass, is a key management target in national parks of the western United States due to its impacts on wildfire and biodiversity loss. Cheatgrass is known...

A 35-year (1967–2002) demographic study was conducted on the gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) from two different habitats on Archbold Biological Station located on the southern end of the Lake Wales Ridge in south-central Florida. We found geographic, habitat, and human-mediated effects on several aspects of its biology. Our findings underscore the necessity of long-term demographic...