Publications

ABSTRACTObjective Although most facets of Largemouth Bass Micropterus nigricans ecology have been researched, the upper tiers of weight distributions (i.e., ≥3.6 kg; herein, “lunkers”) have received little attention due to the challenges of collecting sufficient sample sizes. Our aim was to estimate Largemouth Bass recruitment to higher weights after reaching 3.6 kg and to identify...

Floating photovoltaic (FPV) systems are emerging as a promising strategy for large-scale clean energy production worldwide. However, by altering key physical drivers such as solar radiation and wind mixing, FPV installations may have also unintended consequences for lakes and reservoirs. Given the wide diversity of freshwater systems globally, understanding the consistency in direction...

Collared pikas (Ochotona collaris) are cold adapted alpine lagomorphs of western Canada and Alaska, USA, that are vulnerable to direct and indirect effects of climate change. However, how and to what extent such changes influence persistence for this species is not well understood, particularly at fine spatial scales. Our goal was to evaluate how microclimate and microhabitat...

Background Drought, human disturbance, and invasive species are reshaping disturbance regimes and increasing the scale, severity, and frequency of wildfire in many ecosystems around the globe, including the sagebrush steppe of western North America. Recent studies suggested greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) adhere to strong site fidelity in the aftermath of wildfire...

Periodical cicada emergences can positively affect vertebrate reproduction and breeding behavior, yet this response is not well studied for bats. We examined the acoustic response of 6 species/phonic groups of bats in 2021 to the emergence of Brood X periodical cicadas, along the Potomac River corridor, in Maryland and Virginia. Using a before-after-control-impact study design, we...

Adult salmon enteritis (ASE), characterised by severe ulcerative enteritis, has been linked to prespawn mortality (PSM) in spring Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in certain rivers in Oregon, USA. Catastrophic losses of spring Chinook salmon have resulted from PSM, a significant threat to their population stability. Understanding the causes of ASE is therefore critical for...

Objective Florida’s Freshwater Fisheries Long-Term Monitoring Program was implemented in 2006 to track changes in freshwater fish populations and communities. As part of an evaluation of the program, this study used a simulation framework to assess trend detection for fish abundance and biomass indices and how sampling intensity (number of samples per year) and frequency (number of years...

Selenium bioaccumulation in aquatic food webs poses risks to wildlife, particularly in wetlands receiving irrigation runoff. The Salton Sea, California’s largest lake, is primarily sustained by agricultural drainage. This drainage creates wetland habitat along the lakeshore that many bird species depend on, including the federally endangered Yuma Ridgway’s rail (Rallus obsoletus...

The Atlantic salmon Salmo salar L. is an endangered species in the United States, but post-spawn downstream movements remain poorly understood. We conducted a 2-year acoustic telemetry study to characterize downstream movements and to quantify apparent mortality and downstream passage of post-spawn adults (kelts) in the Penobscot River, Maine, USA (N = 112). The majority of tagged S...

Multiple hypotheses have arisen that predict how mammals with the ability to adapt fetal sex ratios should invest in male versus female offspring to maximize inclusive fitness, but large wild-population datasets necessary for testing these hypotheses are challenging to collect. We used whaling data (n = 209 254 sexed fetuses from seven rorqual whale species) to test whether mothers with...

Genetic diversity is an important driver affecting the health of wildlife populations. In cooperatively breeding species, human impacts and breeder turnover can affect genetic diversity in groups. We generally do not have strong inferences about how the genetic composition of a group changes through time as individuals are lost (e.g., die, emigrate) or adopted (e.g., immigrate). I wanted...

Effective conservation requires an understanding of drivers of a species' distribution as well as long-term changes in their distribution. In recent decades, advances in data collection and analysis have allowed researchers to integrate a wide range of information to model species distributions, particularly by allowing presence-only data and detection-nondetection data to be formally...