Publications

Floodplains of large rivers are exploited for agricultural production, industrial and municipal development, and transportation infrastructure. Recently, increased frequency of costly floods has prompted consideration of whether offsetting benefits might accrue from management of floodplains for ecosystem services. We employed a simple inundation model for 800 km of the Lower Missouri...

Among important seabird breeding sites in the main Hawaiian Islands, Lehua Island offshore Niʻihau and Moku Manu Islets offshore Oʻahu support diverse and abundant seabird breeding populations. Both offshore islands provide excellent nesting habitat for surface-nesting boobies (Sula spp.) and terns but, of the two, only Moku Manu supports relatively large breeding populations of Sooty...

The U.S. Geological Survey Rocky Mountain Region hosted scientists, managers, program coordinators, and leadership team members for a virtual Science Exchange during September 15–17, 2020. The Science Exchange had 216 registered participants and included 48 talks over the 3-day period. Invited speakers presented information about the novel U.S. Geological Survey Earth Monitoring...

Interannual consistency (an indicator of the strength of adjustments) in migration phenology of Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) in North America is most strongly associated with the breeding region, the season, and with late-season temperature on breeding and wintering grounds. Consistency was greatest in boreal spring migration and the breeding regions of eastern Canada. Using multi...

Several species of fish in large lakes and marine environments have a pelagic larval stage, and are subject to variable transport that can ultimately regulate survival and recruitment success. Alewife, Alosa pseudoharengus, are subject to transport by complex coastal currents during their pelagic larval stage (~ 30 d). We assessed backward-trajectory simulations, consisting of a...

Species range sizes and realized niche breadths vary tremendously. Understanding the source of this variation has been a long-term aim in evolutionary ecology and is a major tool in efforts to ameliorate the impacts of changing climates on species distributions. Species ranges that span a large climatic envelope can be achieved by a collection of specialized genotypes locally adapted to...

Clear correlations between human and bird visual assessments of color have been documented, and are often assumed, despite fundamental differences in human and avian visual physiology and morphology. Analyses of plumage colors with avian perceptual models have shown widespread hidden inter-sexual and inter-specific color variation among passerines perceived as monochromatic to humans...

Mussels occupy a key middle trophic position in nearshore food webs linking primary producers to predators. Climate-related environmental changes may synergistically combine with changes in predator abundance to affect intertidal ecosystems. We examined the influence of two major events on mussel (Mytilus trossulus) abundance in the northern Gulf of Alaska: the recent Pacific marine...

Many areas are experiencing increasing stream temperatures due to climate change, and some are experiencing reduced summer stream flows and water availability. Because dam building and pond formation by beaver can increase water storage, stream cooling, and riparian ecosystem resilience, beaver have been proposed as a potential climate adaption tool. Despite the large number of studies...

ABSTRACT: In recent decades, evidence has accumulated to suggest that the widespread and highly variable parasite Ichthyophonus hoferi is actually a species complex. Highly plastic morphology and a general lack of defining structures has contributed to the likely underestimate of biodiversity within this group. Molecular methods are a logical next step in the description of these...

Sagebrush ecosystems of western North America are threatened by invasive annual grasses and wildfires that can remove fire-intolerant shrubs for decades. Fuel reduction treatments are used ostensibly to aid in fire suppression, conserve wildlife habitat, and restore historical fire regimes, but long-term ecological impacts of these treatments are not clear. In 2006, we initiated fuel...

ABSTRACT: Fibropapillomatosis (FP) is a tumor disease that affects all sea turtle species but is mainly seen in green turtles Chelonia mydas. The pathology of FP has been described extensively, but its dynamics in populations over time have been less studied. We analyzed the dynamics of FP in a population of green turtles in Akumal Bay on the central coast of the Mexican Caribbean. A...