Articles

The Central Valley of California (CVC) and Mid-Atlantic (MA) in the U.S. are both critical sites for nationwide food security, and many waterfowl species annually, especially during the winter, providing feeding and roosting locations for a variety of species. Mapping waterfowl distributions, using NEXRAD, may aid in the adaptive management of important waterfowl habitat and allow...

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) provides a powerful framework for addressing threats to human well-being caused by nuisance species including invasives. We examined the hypothesis that adaptive management could erode barriers to IPM implementation by developing a decision-analytic adaptive management framework for invasive sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) IPM in the Laurentian Great...

Understanding the causes of mortality for a declining species is essential for developing effective conservation and management strategies, particularly when anthropogenic activities are the primary threat. Using a competing hazards framework allows for robust estimation of the cause-specific variation in risk that may exist across multiple dimensions, such as time and individual. Here...

Background Animal-borne sensors (‘bio-loggers’) can record a suite of kinematic and environmental data, which are used to elucidate animal ecophysiology and improve conservation efforts. Machine learning techniques are used for interpreting the large amounts of data recorded by bio-loggers, but there exists no common framework for comparing the different machine learning techniques in...

Outbreaks of Covid-19 in humans, Dutch elm disease in forests, and highly pathogenic avian influenza in wild birds and poultry highlight the disruptive impacts of emerging infectious diseases on public health, ecosystems, and economies. Infectious disease dynamics often depend on environmental conditions that drive occurrence, transmission, and outbreaks. Remote sensing can contribute to

Limited favorable weather windows for post-germination early seedling survival are associated with low restoration success in drylands. We examined whether post-fire seeding decisions could alter early seedling emergence and restoration success across western North American sagebrush ecosystems with a simulation approach. Seedling emergence estimates were based on germination of a...

Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae is a primary causative agent responsible for initiating polymicrobial pneumonia in bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis). Infections of bighorn sheep populations are typically characterized by initial all-age epizootics followed by long-term periods of repressed juvenile (lamb) survival. Populations of bighorn sheep in New Mexico, USA, were thought to be free of this...

Spectral source parameters used to estimate an earthquake’s stress drop (Δσ) can vary significantly across measurement approaches. The Statewide California Earthquake Center/U.S. Geological Survey Community Stress-Drop Validation Study was initiated to compare source parameter estimates, focusing initially on a dataset from the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence. As part of that...

Objective Walleye Sander vitreus is an important species that has been widely introduced outside of its native distribution. The goal of this study was to assess the effects of an established Walleye population in the Lake Pend Oreille (LPO) system, Idaho.Methods Food habits of Walleyes were described using stomach contents and stable isotopes (δ15N, δ13C). Trophic structure of the LPO...

The Colorado River is an important water source in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. High concentrations of dissolved solids in the river, sourced mainly from the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCOL), cause hundreds of millions of dollars in damages annually to crops and infrastructure. Determinations of total dissolved solids (TDS) in river and tributary samples often...

Urban vegetation is growing in importance as cities use 'green infrastructure' to mitigate the impacts of climate change, reduce extreme heat, and improve human health and comfort. However, due to the heterogeneity of city landscapes, urban vegetation experiences a diverse range of environmental conditions, potentially leading to differences in growing season timing and length within...

National parks in the U.S. play a large role in providing habitat for native pollinators. In parks that are established to preserve cultural landscapes, park managers recognize an opportunity to improve pollinator habitat while maintaining historically accurate conditions. In this study we document floral resources and native bees within managed park grasslands, with the goal of...