Publications

Invasive species such as grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) pose substantial ecological threats to North American freshwater ecosystems. Understanding their early life stage behavior is critical for management efforts. From spawning to hatching, invasive carp eggs must remain suspended in the water column while drifting downstream for the best chance of survival. This highly vulnerable...

Ciénegas are rare wetlands in arid landscapes of the North American Southwest, historically providing critical ecological and hydrological functions but increasingly threatened by changing climate and land use pressures. This study quantifies changes in ciénega condition and floodplain dynamics using a state-and-transition model (STM) informed by expert knowledge and remote sensing. Key...

Executive Summary The use of field-deployable fluorescence sensors to better understand dissolved organic matter concentrations and composition has grown immensely in recent years. Applications of these sensors to critical monitoring efforts have also grown, encompassing post-fire monitoring, wastewater tracking, and use as a proxy for various contaminants. Despite the growth, it is well...

Objective We aimed to compare two machine learning approaches—boosted beta regression (BBR) and beta mixed model forest (BMF)—to a Bayesian mixed-effects beta regression (BME) for the prediction of rotary screw trap (RST) efficiency for out-migrating juvenile salmonids from environmental covariates.Methods We identified two machine learning approaches that shared the ability to model...

Restoration of impaired floodplains is an increasingly prevalent strategy for alleviating water quality concerns and reducing downstream flooding at watershed scales. Floodplains temporarily store water and slow flow velocity to promote sedimentation during overbank flooding and remove inorganic nitrogen from floodwater and groundwater via denitrification. Evaluating the impacts of...

Accurate avian mortality estimates are essential for understanding anthropogenic impacts to bird populations and informing conservation strategies. Carcass surveys are commonly conducted by human surveyors or by detection dogs, but the factors influencing surveyor detection abilities have not been fully explored. In this study, we conducted two years of detection trials in the semi-arid...