Publications

Line-transect distance sampling (LTDS) surveys are commonly used to estimate abundance of animals or objects. In terrestrial LTDS surveys of gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) burrows, the presence of ground-level vegetation substantially decreases detection of burrows of all sizes, but no field or analytical methods exist to control for spatially heterogeneous vegetation obstruction...

Flat Creek, a tributary to the Snake River in northwestern Wyoming, is an important source of irrigation water, fish and wildlife habitat, and local recreation. Since 1996, a section of Flat Creek within the town of Jackson has failed to meet Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality’s surface-water-quality standards for total suspended solids and turbidity required by its State water...

Climatic conditions affect animals but range-wide impacts at the population level remain largely unknown, especially in migratory species. However, studying climate–population relationships is still challenging in small migrants due to a lack of efficient and cost-effective geographic tracking method.Spatial distribution patterns of environmental stable isotopes (so called ‘isoscapes’)...

Diel migrations of zooplanktons occur in marine and freshwater systems and can complicate inferences from studies. If populations perform vertical or horizontal diel migrations, daytime-only sampling can mischaracterize distributions and abundances. Zooplanktons also often display reduced capture avoidance at night and occupy areas easier to sample near the surface and away from littoral...

Objective Nonnative fish, including Lake Trout Salvelinus namaycush and Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss, are actively invading lakes and streams and threatening Cutthroat Trout O. clarkii and other native species in the western United States. Programs have been implemented to suppress invasive trout using netting, trapping, electrofishing, angling, or other traditional capture methods...

Nutrition is fundamental to white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) management given its relationship to habitat carrying capacity and population productivity. Ecological Sites (ESs) are a United States federal landscape management unit of specific land potential due to unique soils, topography, climate, parent material, and perhaps deer forage nutritional value. We present results of...

Extensive drainage of peatlands in the southeastern United States coastal plain for the purposes of agriculture and timber harvesting has led to large releases of soil carbon as carbon dioxide (CO2) due to enhanced peat decomposition. Growth in mechanisms that provide financial incentives for reducing emissions from land use and land-use change could increase funding for hydrological...

Current time-invariant groundwater vulnerability assessments may not capture intermittent contamination events in landscape areas that experience rapid infiltration following precipitation or snowmelt. Occurrences of rapid infiltration and intermittent degradation of groundwater quality are frequently reported in fractured-rock aquifers. This investigation identifies landscape areas...

Biological nitrogen fixation represents the largest natural flux of new nitrogen (N) into terrestrial ecosystems, providing a critical N source to support net primary productivity of both natural and agricultural systems. When they are common, symbiotic associations between plants and bacteria can add more than 100 kg N ha−1 y−1 to ecosystems. Yet, these associations are uncommon in many

The earthquake swarm accompanying the January 2022 Hunga Tonga‐Hunga Ha'apai (HTHH) volcanic eruption includes a large number of posteruptive moderate‐magnitude seismic events and presents a unique opportunity to use remote monitoring methods to characterize and compare seismic activity with other historical caldera‐forming eruptions. We compute improved epicentroid locations, magnitudes...

Estimates of sex- and age-specific survival are important for guiding population management decisions for white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). However, differences in deer survival between public and private lands can exist and, if unaccounted for, may affect wildlife agencies' ability to effectively manage statewide and local deer populations. From 2014 to 2016, we radiocollared...

To help better interpret computational models in predicting drift of carp eggs in rivers, we present a series of model assessments for the longitudinal egg dispersion. Two three-dimensional Lagrangian particle tracking models, SDrift and FluEgg, are evaluated in a series of channels with increasing complexity. The model evaluation demonstrates that both models are able to accommodate...