Publications

The extent of prescription and illicit drug abuse in geographically isolated rural and micropolitan communities in the intermountain western United States (US) has not been well tracked. The goal of this pilot study was to accurately measure drug dose consumption rates (DCR) between two select populations, normalize the data and compare the DCRs to similar communities. To learn about...

Context: The ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) has experienced considerable population declines in recent decades, especially in agricultural environments of the Central Valley of California. Although large-scale changes in land cover have been reported as an important driver of population dynamics, the effects of microhabitat conditions on specific demographic rates (e.g...

Anadromous alosines are widespread throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Juveniles of this clade are notoriously fragile animals that are at high risk of injury and death associated with passage at hydroelectric facilities. Although turbine mortality is a common concern, conditions encountered when bypassed around these routes may also be hazardous. Downstream bypass structures typically...

Introduced Lake Trout Salvelinus namaycush threaten native Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri in Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone National Park, where gill nets have been used to suppress subadult and adult Lake Trout since 1995. However, survival of embryonic and larval life history stages can have profound effects on the population dynamics of Lake Trout. Inducing...

We have limited knowledge of the patterns, causes, and prevalence of elevational migration despite observations of seasonal movements of animals along elevational gradients in montane systems worldwide. While a third of extant Hawaiian landbird species are estimated to be elevational migrants this assumption is based primarily on early naturalist’s observations with limited empirical...

Freshwater mussels are a species‐rich group with biodiversity patterns strongly shaped by a life history strategy that includes an obligate parasitic larval stage. In this study, we set out to reconstruct the life history evolution and systematics in a clade of freshwater mussels adapted to parasitizing a molluscivorous host fish. Anchored hybrid enrichment and ancestral character...

The Laurentian Great Lakes have experienced recent ecosystem changes that could lead to reductions in adaptive capacity and ultimately a loss of biodiversity and production throughout the food web. Observed changes in Great Lakes benthic communities include declines of native species and widespread success of invasive species like dreissenid mussels in all but Lake Superior...

Accelerating declines of an increasing number of animal populations worldwide necessitate methods to reliably and efficiently estimate demographic parameters such as population density and trajectory. Standard methods for estimating demographic parameters from noninvasive genetic samples are inefficient because lower-quality samples cannot be used, and they assume individuals are...

Reliable age estimation is an essential tool to assess the status of wildlife populations and inform successful management. Aging methods, however, are often limited by too few data, skewed demographic representation, and by single or uncertain morphometric relationships. In this study, we synthesize age estimates in southern sea otters Enhydra lutris nereis from 761 individuals across...

Primary producers in terrestrial and marine systems can be affected by fungal pathogens threatening the provision of critical ecosystem services. Crustose coralline algae (CCA) are ecologically important members of tropical reef systems and are impacted by coralline fungal disease (CFD) which manifests as overgrowth of the CCA crust by fungal lesions causing partial to complete mortality...

1. The spatial organization of a population can influence the spread of information, behaviour, and pathogens. Territory size and territory overlap, components of spatial organization, provide key information as these metrics may be indicators of habitat quality, resource dispersion, contact rates, and environmental risk (e.g., indirectly transmitted pathogens). Furthermore, sociality...

Species introductions provide opportunities to quantify rates and patterns of evolutionary change in response to novel environments. Alewives (Alosa pseudoharengus) are native to the East Coast of North America where they ascend coastal rivers to spawn in lakes and then return to the ocean. Some populations have become landlocked within the last 350 years and diverged phenotypically from...