Publications

The life history of hard-shelled sea turtles includes several ontogenetic shifts in habitat use and these complex permanent emigration patterns can impact estimates of stage-specific population rates, including survival. We developed several multistate mark recapture models to estimate survival of adult and juvenile loggerhead turtles from a coastal bay in the northern Gulf of America...

We investigate changes in cool-season and winter daily minimum (Tmin) and maximum (Tmax) temperatures, and the occurrence of freeze days, from 1952 to 2024 across the conterminous United States (CONUS). Emphasis is placed on the tropical-temperate transition zone (TTTz) in the southeastern CONUS. During winter, ~70% of the land area exhibited Tmin warming rates exceeding those of Tmax...

Background Wildfire risk in the United States is rising and remains a land management priority. The quantitative wildfire risk assessment (QWRA) framework integrates fuels, topography, weather and values at risk to estimate the potential change in value from wildfire. Within this, response functions (RFs) represent how values respond to fire intensity. These are often based on expert...

Context

Establishing species limits is challenging, particularly for pathogens of wildlife. These pathogens can be difficult to sample and culture, and their genome sequencing must often be conducted in the presence of high levels of host DNA. Plasmodium relictum is a mosquito-vectored avian malaria pathogen that is a globally distributed host generalist, comprised of several genetic lineages...

Field assessments and laboratory studies have demonstrated that mayflies (Ephemeroptera) are relatively sensitive to increased concentrations of major geochemical ions (Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Cl−, SO42−, HCO3−/CO32-), but much remains to be learned about potential mechanisms of toxicity. In the present study, we sought to determine whether solution osmolarity is sufficient to predict the...

Introduction

Rapid global acceleration in the construction of physical barriers along international borders has greatly influenced biodiversity and animal movement. Physical barriers can fragment landscapes, hinder access to essential resources, impact long-distance migrations, and inhibit dispersal and gene flow. The effects of physical barriers on animal movement and landscape connectivity can be...

Invasion genetics presents a classic paradox: how do species successfully spread despite severe population bottlenecks? The brown treesnake (Boiga irregularis) in Guam represents a striking example of this phenomenon, having been introduced with only a handful of individuals. We show that the population endured an extreme bottleneck, with roughly half of the genome exhibiting runs of...

Objective Monitoring and assessment of nongame native fishes is limited, but conservation interest in these species is growing. Freshwater Drum Aplodinotus grunniens are a wide-ranging species that serve important functional roles and could serve as an indicator for similar but less common species. Our overall objectives were to quantify and compare population dynamic rates and life...

Historical data can provide critical ecological information for species across the globe, many of which are facing unprecedented rates of ecosystem change. Yet, historical information related to freshwater species, especially fishes, remains scattered, often in original formats, and underutilized for informing conservation and restoration activities. Here, we present a Data Descriptor...

The giant gartersnake (Thamnophis gigas) is a semi aquatic snake endemic to the Central Valley of California. After losing 95 percent of its historic wetland habitat (Frayer and others, 1989), giant gartersnakes became state and federally listed as a threatened species (California Fish and Game Commission, 1971; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1993, 1999). Continued monitoring of current