Publications

The Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx) historically ranged across the Arabian Peninsula and neighboring countries until its extirpation in 1972. In 1963–1964 a captive breeding program for this species was started at the Phoenix Zoo (PHX); it ultimately consisted of 11 animals that became known as the ‘World Herd’. In 1978–1979 a wild population was established at the Shaumari Wildlife Reserve...

In the early 2000’s, declines in the brown trout (Salmo trutta) fishery in Rapid Creek, South Dakota, caused concern for anglers and fisheries managers. We conducted a radio telemetry study in 2010 and 2011 to identify predation mortality associated with mink, using hatchery-reared (2010) or wild (2011) brown trout. Estimated predation rates by mink (Mustela vison) on radio-tagged brown...

We examined the relationship between fishing trip expenditures and anglers’ species preferences from a survey of Oklahoma resident anglers conducted in 2014. Understanding patterns in fishing trip expenditures is important because a significant share of state wildlife agency revenue comes from taxes on purchases of fishing equipment. Presently, there is little research that addresses the...

Determining the distribution pattern of a species is important to increase scientific knowledge, inform management decisions, and conserve biodiversity. To infer spatial and temporal patterns, species distribution models have been developed for use with many sampling designs and types of data. Recently, it has been shown that count, presence-absence, and presence-only data can be...

Lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) support the primary commercial fishery in Lake Michigan. Discrete genetic stocks of lake whitefish have been identified and tagging data suggest stocks are mixed throughout much of the year. Our objectives were to determine if (1) differential stock harvest occurs in the commercial catch, (2) spatial differences in genetic composition of harvested...

Population delineation throughout the annual life cycle for migratory birds is needed to formulate regional and national management and conservation strategies. Despite being well studied continentally, connectivity of sandhill crane Grus canadensis populations throughout the western portion of their North American range remains poorly described. Our objectives were to 1) use global...

Capturing breeding adults of colonially nesting species can entail risks of nest failure and even colony abandonment, especially in species that react strongly to human disturbance. A low-disturbance technique for capturing specific adult Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) at a ground-nesting colony was developed to reduce these risks and is described here. Nesting habitat

We modeled patch occupancy to examine factors that best predicted the prevalence of four functionally important focal stream consumers (Tallaperla spp., Cambarus spp.,Pleurocera proxima, and Cottus bairdi) among 37 reaches within the Little Tennessee River basin of the southern Appalachian Mountains, USA. We compared 34 models of patch occupancy to examine the association of catchment...

North American migratory shorebirds have declined markedly since the 1980s, underscoring the importance of population surveys to conduct status and trend assessments. Shorebird surveys were conducted during three multi-year periods between 1985 and 2014 and used to assess changes in numbers and species composition at the Cabo Rojo Salt Flats, Puerto Rico, USA, a site of regional...

The listing of the northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis) as federally threatened under the Endangered Species Act following severe population declines from white-nose syndrome presents considerable challenges to natural resource managers. Because the northern long-eared bat is a forest habitat generalist, development of effective conservation measures will depend on...

The R package monitoR contains tools for managing an acoustic-monitoring program including survey metadata, template creation and manipulation, automated detection and results management. These tools are scalable for use with small projects as well as larger long-term projects and those with expansive spatial extents. Here, we describe typical workflow when using the tools in monitoR...

Bacterial pathogens of the families Anaplasmataceae and Rickettsiaceae are often spread to humans or other animals from bites from infected arthropod hosts. Recently, an increasing number of studies have implicated migratory birds in the circulation of these pathogens through the spread of arthropod vectors. However, few studies have examined the potential for resident bird populations...