Publications

The diets of wild ungulates are a foundational component of their ecology, influencing their behavior, body condition, and demography. With changing environmental conditions, there is a significant need to identify important forage items for ungulates, but this has often proved challenging. Declines in several barren-ground caribou herds across the North American Arctic have raised...

Visual encounter surveys are commonly used to document site occupancy for the eastern massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus; EMR). Efficacy of surveys depends on visual and auditory cues, with basking behavior and burrow use strongly affecting detection. Our goal was to predict body exposure and probability of burrow use from telemetered EMR to better inform implementation of visual encounter...

Climate change is transforming the ecology of lakes at a rapid pace, shifting some lakes toward warmwater-dominant habitats. As a result, warmwater fishes are increasingly becoming more prevalent in lakes where they already existed, altering the patterning and strength of species interactions. Understanding shifting species interactions (e.g., competition, predation), and the role of...

The use of acoustic telemetry is steadily expanding to help answer questions related to habitat use, movement, and behavior of fishes. Significant time and resources are invested to start acoustic telemetry studies; therefore, careful planning is needed to limit post-release mortality of tagged individuals. Deep, cold-water species present additional challenges to acoustic tagging...

Remote sensing-derived evapotranspiration (RSET) products capture the spatiotemporal variations of evapotranspiration (ET) from field to basin scales with unprecedented details. However, their accuracy varies across RSET estimation methods and diverse hydroclimate regions. While ET modeling efforts to account for biophysical processes and controlling parameters have made good progress in...

Burmese pythons (Python molurus bivittatus) and African rock pythons (Python sebae) have established invasive populations in southern Florida, severely disrupting local ecosystems. We analysed necropsy data from 2,179 pythons captured between 2006 and 2022, revealing nine cases of coelomic foreign bodies, primarily consisting of bird beaks, which presumably entered the coelom following

AActual evapotranspiration (ETa) is an essential climate variable that can be used for drought monitoring and water availability assessment because of its close connection with vegetation, soil moisture, and the water cycle. An operational ETa using the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) and global weather datasets was developed through the Simplified Surface Energy...

n the Gulf of Alaska, a series of marine heat waves depleted Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) biomass to the lowest abundance ever recorded and led to the fishery’s closure in 2020. Although the fishery has been productive for decades, this collapse may have historical precedents. Traditional knowledge holders refer to cod as ‘the fish that stop’, and there is a suggested period of...

Measurements of chlorophyll concentration reported by fluorometers (fChl) are used in environmental research and monitoring, as inputs to models, and in the interpretation of remote sensing data. Researchers and managers benefit from understanding how to interpret and ensure the accuracy of fChl data collected by in situ fluorometers. Although fChl values produced by different...

Climate change is reducing snowpack across temperate regions with negative consequences for human and natural systems. Because forest canopies create microclimates that preserve snowpack, managing forests to support snow refugia—defined here as areas that remain relatively buffered from contemporary climate change over time that sustain snow quality, quantity, and/or timing appropriate...

A direct-injection liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry method was developed to determine 34 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including selected branched isomers, in centrifuge supernatant of matrix-modified (amended with approximately 50 percent methanol) water samples. The method has been validated in reagent water, surface water, groundwater, and wastewater...

Structure contours and other geologic information from numerous published geologic maps were digitized and compiled into a digital dataset showing the configuration of a single stratigraphic datum, the base of the Dakota Sandstone and its equivalents across the Colorado Plateau. The principal maps compiled in digital form are a series of 1:250,000-scale 1 degree (°) × 2° quadrangle maps...