Publications

The relationship between body size and latitude have been the focus of dozens of studies across many species. However, results of testing Bergmann’s Rule – that organisms in colder climates or at higher latitudes possess larger body sizes – have been inconsistent across studies. We investigated whether snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) follow the Rule by investigating differences in body...

Simultaneous autoregressive (SAR) models are useful for accommodating various forms of dependence among data that have discrete support in a space of interest. These models are often specified hierarchically as mixed-effects regression models with first-moment structure controlled by a conventional linear regression term and second-moment structure induced by correlated random effects...

Alligator Gar Atractosteus spatula are increasingly being stocked to restore populations, making the need to identify stocked individuals important for monitoring. Oxytetracycline (OTC) immersion allows for large numbers of fish to be marked simultaneously, thus eliminating the need to handle fish individually, but protocols for doing so have not been investigated fully for this species...

In cooperatively breeding animals, genetic relatedness among group members often determines the extent of reproductive sharing, cooperation and competition within a group. Studies of species for which cooperative behaviour is not entirely based on kinship are key for understanding the benefits favouring the evolution and maintenance of cooperative breeding among nonrelatives. In the...

Unnatural water regimes of flood control reservoirs limit vegetation establishment in littoral zones and produce mudflats with low structural complexity insufficient for many juvenile fishes. One strategy to enhance habitat on mudflats is to sow cool-season plants to provide submerged structure when inundated. However, how long the structure of these plants persists following inundation...

Knowledge of vulnerability provides the foundation for developing actions that minimize impacts on people while maximizing the sustainability of ecosystem goods and services. As a result, it is becoming increasingly important to determine how resource-dependent people are vulnerable to environmental hazards. This is particularly true in coastal Louisiana where the current era of rapid...

Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides) are one of the most popular freshwater sport fish in the United States and managers in southeastern states have stocked the Florida Bass (M. s. floridanus) subspecies outside of its natural range to increase size structure of existing Largemouth Bass populations. In Tennessee, fisheries for Largemouth Bass are concentrated in reservoirs of the...

Significant effort towards conservation has contributed to the recovery of historically depleted pinniped populations world-wide. However, in several locations where pinnipeds have increased, they have been blamed for preventing the recovery of commercially valuable fish species through predation. Prompted by increasing pinniped abundance within the Columbia River (CR) USA, over a six...

Instream habitat degradation and loss are major threats to freshwater fishes and critical conservation issues among nongame species, due to a lack of research and knowledge concerning their habitat requirements. Instream physical cover is an important component of fish habitat, especially for benthic species that require cover for reproduction and shelter from predators. One such species...

Sicydiine gobies are major contributors to Caribbean stream fish biodiversity, and ecosystem functions and services. In the Caribbean, Sicydiine gobies are represented by a single genus, Sicydium, but species-level Sicydium taxonomy and distributions remain unresolved in this region. A previous study posited that four species of Sicydium are present in Puerto Rico, including the recently...

Climate change is altering glacial lake fisheries in the United States, presenting a complex challenge for fisheries managers. Here we provide a regional perspective to guide management of heterogeneous and yet interdependent fishery resources in glacial lakes of the upper Midwest. Our main objective was to promote the adaptation of inland glacial lakes fisheries management to climate...

Individuals should prefer and use habitats that confer high fitness, but habitat use is not always adaptive. Vegetation in natural landscapes changes gradually and the ability of species to adaptively adjust their habitat use to long-term changes is largely unstudied. We studied nest patch and territory use over 28 yr in Orange-crowned Warblers (Oreothlypis celata) in a system that has...