Publications

Assessing the long-term efficacy of control methods is a critical component of invasive species management. For example, if traits related to control have significant heritability or are influenced by maternal effects, control methods may lose efficacy over time. The potential for these effects can be evaluated via parent/offspring survival analysis, which concomitantly recasts adaptive...

Protein derived from pollen is an essential component of healthy bee diets. Protein content in honey bee foraged-pollen varies temporally and spatially, but the drivers underlying this variation remain poorly characterized. We assessed the temporal and spatial variation in honey bee collected pollen in 12 Michigan apiaries over 3 summers (2015–2017). We simultaneously monitored forage in...

Helianthus devernii T.M.Draper is described as a new endemic species from two small desert spring populations found within Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Clark County, NV. Morphological data and nuclear ribosomal ITS marker data place it in section Ciliares series Pumili. Furthermore, the molecular data allies it most closely to H. pumilus Nutt. Helianthus devernii differs...

Smallmouth bass in the Susquehanna River Basin, Chesapeake Bay Watershed, USA, have been exhibiting clinical signs of disease and reproductive endocrine disruption (e.g., intersex, male plasma vitellogenin) for over fifteen years. Previous histological and targeted chemical analyses have identified infectious agents and pollutants in fish tissues including organic contaminants, mercury...

The U.S. Geological Survey conducts ecological monitoring of rocky subtidal communities at four permanent sites around San Nicolas Island. The sites—Nav Fac 100, West End, Dutch Harbor, and Daytona 100—were based on ones that had been monitored since 1980 by the U.S. Geological Survey and, in cooperation with the U.S. Navy, were combined or expanded in 2014 for better comparability with...

Prescribed fire reduces fire hazards by removing dead and live fuels (small trees and shrubs). Reductions in forest density following prescribed fire treatments (often in concert with mechanical treatments) may also lessen competition so that residual trees might be more likely to survive when confronted with additional stressors, such as drought. The current evidence for these effects...

Research dating back to the 1950 s has documented negative effects from harvesting of primeval forests on stream ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest. By the early 1990 s, state and federal forest practice rules governing timber harvest were modified throughout North America to better protect aquatic habitats and biotic resources, principally salmonids. These rules inspired a generation...

The interaction between climate change and biological invasions is a global conservation challenge with major consequences for invasive species management. However, our understanding of this interaction has substantial knowledge gaps; this is particularly relevant for invasive snakes on islands because they can be a serious threat to island ecosystems. Here we evaluated the potential...

Sites in need of restoration typically have one or more environmental factors that limit seedling establishment. Identifying ecophysiological responses to environmental stressors can provide important insights into mitigating measures that would allow seedlings to overcome such constraints to survival. Koa (Acacia koa A. Gray) is a nitrogen-fixing tree species endemic to Hawaiʻi that is...

Turbulence-resolving simulations elucidate key elements of fluid dynamics and sediment transport in fluvial environments. This research presents a feasible strategy for applying state-of-the-art computational fluid mechanics to the study of sediment transport and morphodynamic processes in lateral separation zones, which are common features in canyon rivers where massive lateral flow...

Tributaries to the Colorado River in the Grand Valley in western Colorado (segment COLCLC13b) have been placed on the State of Colorado 303(d) list as impaired for Escherichia coli (E. coli), total recoverable iron, and dissolved selenium. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Water Quality Control Division is required to develop total maximum daily loads for these...

Information on the annual variability in abundance and growth of juvenile groundfish can be useful for predicting fisheries stocks, but is often poorly known owing to difficulties in sampling fish in their first year of life. In the Western Gulf of Alaska (WGoA) and Eastern Bering Sea (EBS) ecosystems, three species of puffin (tufted and horned puffin, Fratercula cirrhata, Fratercula...