Publications

Remote sensing is often used to detect algae, but standard techniques do not provide information on the types of algae present or their potential to form a harmful algal bloom (HAB). We developed a framework for identifying algal genera based on reflectance: SMASH, short for Spectral Mixture Analysis for Surveillance of HABs. The Software Application for SMASH (SAS) was developed in...

In cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey Southwest Biological Science Center employed ground-based light detection and ranging (lidar) during February 2022 to help meet two resource management objectives at the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge (CPNWR), Arizona. The two objectives are (1) characterize the water storage capacity for one...

Occupancy models estimate distributions of imperfectly detected species, but violations of the closure assumption can bias results. However, researchers working with mobile animals may find it impossible to eliminate such violations. Here, we tested the hypothesis that occupancy models fit to realistic sampling data can generate unbiased occupancy estimates for an itinerant Wood Thrush...

Amphibians such as frogs, toads, and salamanders provide important services in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and have been proposed as useful indicators of progress and success for ecological restoration projects. Limited guidance is available, however, on the costs and benefits of different amphibian monitoring techniques that might be applied to sites restored in compensation for

The Paddlefish (Polyodon spathula), a large-bodied and highly migratory species of large river systems, has experienced population declines or extirpation in parts of its native range. As an effort to reestablish a Paddlefish population in the Ohio River of West Virginia, the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources has stocked fingerling Paddlefish in the previous two decades. Post...

Control and elimination of invasive fishes, like carps (Order Cypriniformes), may be possible by using chemical stimuli to congregate them for removal. To this end, we tested behavioral responses of grass (Ctenopharyngodon idella), bighead (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis), and silver carp (H. molitrix) to L-alanine, L-arginine, L-glutamic acid, and L-aspartic acid. In grass carp, the first...