Publications

Thirteen years ago, as a senior in college, I barely knew what research was. Although I spent my senior year conducting fieldwork and writing 50 pages about Brown Trout Salmo trutta population dynamics in southeast Minnesota streams, the essence of research eluded me. It was not until graduate school that things clicked. A decade ago, I was several months away from completing my M.S...

On Earth, caves are unique environments at the intersection of geology, climate, and biology. Given that the same terrestrial speleogenetic processes exist throughout the solar system, it would be surprising if caves beyond Earth did not exist. Thousands of potential cave entrances (or subsurface access points) have been identified from Earth’s Moon to Pluto’s moon, Charon. To date, our...

The Upper Colorado River Basin is the principal water supply of the western United States and includes a series of canyons that provide habitat for disproportionate numbers of flora and fauna. Following the closing of Flaming Gorge and Blue Mesa dams in 1963 and 1966, decreases in peak flows and elevated base flows allowed extensive vegetation encroachment, channel narrowing, and channel

Low-lying, tropical, coral-reef-lined coastlines are becoming increasingly vulnerable to wave-driven flooding due to population growth, coral reef degradation, and sea-level rise. Early-warning systems (EWSs) are needed to enable coastal authorities to issue timely alerts and coordinate preparedness and evacuation measures for their coastal communities. At longer timescales, risk...

Urbanization and climate change are exacerbating the flood risk and ecosystem degradation in urban catchments, with traditional stormwater management systems often overwhelmed. In this Review, we discuss changes in urban hydrology and approaches to stormwater management. Roughly 90% of rainfall on impervious surfaces and drainage infrastructure becomes run-off, enhancing rainfall export...

The distribution of volcano monitoring networks and volcano expertise does not correlate well with the global distribution of volcanic risk. All countries have cultural, financial, bureaucratic, political, and logistical barriers to effective risk reduction. The lack of parity amongst volcano observatories jeopardizes public safety and curtails scientific research and understanding...

A comprehensive understanding of the prevailing pollution and other impairments to reservoirs is necessary at the national level to analyze patterns and causes as well as allocate national resources effectively. Most of these impairments are associated with sedimentation, nutrient contamination, and other pollution factors. The costs involved in conducting on-site surveys at multiple...

Acclimation of captively reared fishes to their release environment through soft releases and cage culture can improve survival. Recovery strategies for imperiled Lost River Suckers Deltistes luxatus includes soft releases of captive reared juveniles in net pens in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon. However, intermittent and sometimes extreme hypoxia in the lake can reduce juvenile fish...

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known colloquially as “forever chemicals”, have been associated with adverse human health effects and have contaminated drinking water supplies across the United States owing to their long-term and widespread use. People in the United States may unknowingly be drinking water that contains PFAS because of a lack of systematic analysis...

Addressing the global challenges of climate change and biotic invasions requires understanding their interactions and implications for natural resource management. To facilitate and support invasive species management in a changing climate, we review how climate change and invasions interact to impact the planning, action, and outcomes of invasive species management. Climate change is...

This paper reports on an original set of direct sound speed measurements collected with the acoustic coring system in the New England Mud Patch (NEMP) and shelf break area to the south. Cores collected within the NEMP show range-dependence of the mud with slower sound speed and lower attenuation on the west side. In the shelf break region, the highest sound speeds are observed between...

While concepts regarding invasive species establishment patterns and eradication possibilities have long been a topic of invasion biology, the specific terminology referring to early detection of and rapid response to (EDRR) invasive species emerged in scientific literature during the early 2000s. Since then, the EDRR approach has expanded to include a suite of detection, planning, and...