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Blooming wildflowers in Pinnacles National Park.

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Tricolored Heron at Ding Darling National Park

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Yellow-billed Loon on a lake in the northern area of Alaska.

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Book review: Beyond the North American model of wildlife conservation: From lethal to compassionate conservation. Anja Heister. 2022. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, Switzerland. 273 pp. $139.99 hardcover. ISBN: 978-3031141485

No abstract available.
Authors
John F. Organ
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Cooperative Research Units

Nocturnal basking in freshwater turtles: A global assessment

Diurnal basking (“sunning”) is common in many ectotherms and is generally thought to be a behavioural mechanism for thermoregulation. Recent studies have reported the occurrence of nocturnal basking in a few distantly-related species of freshwater turtles, but the true extent of this behaviour is unknown, and it may be underreported due to sampling biases (e.g., not surveying for turtles at night)
Authors
Donald T. McKnight, Kendall Ard, Renoir J. Auguste, Gaurav Barhadiya, Michael F. Benard, Paige Boban, Martin L. Dillon, Colleen T. Downs, Brett Alexander DeGregorio, Brad Glorioso, Rachel M. Goodman, Coen Hird, Ethan C. Hollender, Malcolm Kennedy, Rosie A. Kidman, Andrhea Massey, Pearson McGovern, Max Mühlenhaupt, Kayhan Ostovar, Danusia Podgorski, Cormac Price, Beth A. Reinke, Louise M. Streeting, Jane Venezia, Jeanne Young, Eric J. Nordberg
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Cooperative Research Units, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center

Diverse portfolios: Investing in tributaries for restoration of large river fishes in the Anthropocene

Rehabilitation of large Anthropocene rivers requires engagement of diverse stakeholders across a broad range of sociopolitical boundaries. Competing objectives often constrain options for ecological restoration of large rivers whereas fewer competing objectives may exist in a subset of tributaries. Further, tributaries contribute toward building a “portfolio” of river ecosystem assets through phys
Authors
Kristen L. Bouska, Brian Daniel Healy, Michael James Moore, Corey Garland Dunn, Jonathan J Spurgeon, Craig Paukert
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Cooperative Research Units, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

Rapid prototyping for quantifying belief weights of competing hypotheses about emergent diseases

Emerging diseases can have devastating consequences for wildlife and require a rapid response. A critical first step towards developing appropriate management is identifying the etiology of the disease, which can be difficult to determine, particularly early in emergence. Gathering and synthesizing existing information about potential disease causes, by leveraging expert knowledge or relevant exis
Authors
Ellen Padgett Robertson, Daniel P. Walsh, Julien Martin, Thierry M. Work, Christina A. Kellogg, James S. Evans, Aine C. Hawthorn, Greta Aeby, Valerie J. Paul, Brian Walker, Yasu Kiryu, Cheryl M. Woodley, Julie L. Meyer, Stephanie M. Rosales, Michael S. Studivan, Jennifer Moore, Marilyn E. Brandt, Andrew Bruckner
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Cooperative Research Units, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center , Eastern Ecological Science Center, National Wildlife Health Center, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

An assessment of the relation between metal contaminated sediment and freshwater mussel populations in the Big River, Missouri

The Big River in southeast Missouri drains the largest historical lead mining area in the United States. Ongoing releases of metal contaminated sediments into this river are well documented and are suspected of suppressing freshwater mussel populations. We characterized the spatial extent of metal contaminated sediments and evaluated its relationship with mussel populations in the Big River. Musse
Authors
Andrew D Roberts, John M. Besser, Josh Hundley, Dave Mosby, Amanda E. Rosenberger, Kristen L. Bouska, Bryan Simmons, Stephen E. McMurray, Scott Faiman, Leslie Lueckenhoff
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Cooperative Research Units, Columbia Environmental Research Center, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

Movement ecology of diploid and triploid grass carp in a large reservoir and upstream tributaries

Grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella, is an herbivorous fish originally brought to North America from Asia in 1963 to control nuisance aquatic vegetation. Since their arrival, detrimental alterations to aquatic ecosystems have sometimes occurred in waterways where they were initially stocked and into which they have escaped. The movements of grass carp from lentic systems into tributaries required f
Authors
Tyler Michael Hessler, Duane Chapman, Craig Paukert, Jeff C. Jolley, Michael E. Byrne
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Cooperative Research Units, Columbia Environmental Research Center

Decision making for Centennial Valley Arctic Grayling conservation on Red Rocks Lake National Wildlife Refuge

This report describes a decision analysis process that was conducted in support of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Environmental Assessment on Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus) on Red Rocks Lake National Wildlife Refuge in the Centennial Valley, Montana.
Authors
Jonathan D. Cook, Kyle Flynn, Donovan A. Bell, Matthew E. Jaeger, Jeff Warren, Ryan Kreiner, Jarrett Payne, Jaron Andrews, Andrew Brummond, Evan H. Campbell Grant, Sarah Nelson Sells
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Cooperative Research Units, Eastern Ecological Science Center

Decision science as a framework for combining geomorphological and ecological modeling for the management of coastal systems

The loss of ecosystem services due to climate change and coastal development is projected to have significant impacts on local economies and conservation of natural resources. Consequently, there has been an increase in coastal management activities such as living shorelines, oyster reef restoration, marsh restoration, beach and dune nourishment, and revegetation projects. Coastal management decis
Authors
Julien Martin, Matthew S. Richardson, Davina Passeri, Nicholas Enwright, Simeon Yurek, James Flocks, Mitchell Eaton, Sara Zeigler, Hadi Charkhgard, Bradley James Udell, Elise R. Irwin
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Climate Adaptation Science Centers, Cooperative Research Units, Eastern Ecological Science Center, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center , Gulf of Mexico

Tracking anadromous fish over successive freshwater migrations reveals the influence of tagging effect, previous success and abiotic factors on upstream passage over barriers

Predicting and mitigating the impact of anthropogenic barriers on migratory fish requires an understanding of the individual and environmental factors that influence barrier passage. Here, the upstream spawning migrations of iteroparous twaite shad Alosa fallax were investigated over three successive spawning migrations in a highly fragmented river basin using passive acoustic telemetry (n=184). M
Authors
Peter Davies, J. Robert Britton, Theodore R. Castro-Santos, Charles Crundwell, Jamie R. Dodd, Andrew D. Nunn, Randolph Velterop, Jonathan D. Bolland
By
Cooperative Research Units, Eastern Ecological Science Center

Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program—2022 year in review

Established in 1935, the CRU program is a unique cooperative partnership among State Fish and Wildlife agencies, host universities, Wildlife Management Institute, U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Designed to meet the scientific needs of natural resource management agencies and to produce trained wildlife management professionals, the program has grown from the origin
Authors
Elise R. Irwin, Donald E. Dennerline, J. Barry Grand, Jonathan R. Mawdsley
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Cooperative Research Units

Wind-energy development alters pronghorn migration at multiple scales

Migration is a critical behavioral strategy necessary for population persistence and ecosystem functioning, but migration routes have been increasingly disrupted by anthropogenic activities, including energy development. Wind energy is the world's fastest growing source of electricity and represents an important alternative to hydrocarbon extraction, but its effects on migratory species beyond bir
Authors
Megan C. Milligan, Aaron N. Johnston, Jeffery L. Beck, Kaitlyn L. Taylor, Embere Hall, Lee Knox, Teal Cufaude, Cody F. Wallace, Geneva W. Chong, Matthew Kauffman
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Cooperative Research Units, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Gene flow influences the genomic architecture of local adaptation in six riverine fish species

Understanding how gene flow influences adaptive divergence is important for predicting adaptive responses. Theoretical studies suggest that when gene flow is high, clustering of adaptive genes in fewer genomic regions would protect adaptive alleles from recombination and thus be selected for, but few studies have tested it with empirical data. Here, we used restriction site-associated sequencing t
Authors
Yue Shi, Kristen L. Bouska, Garrett J. McKinney, William Dokai, Andrew Bartels, Megan V. McPhee, Wesley Larson
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Cooperative Research Units, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center