Publications

Daily ring counts in young-of-the-year fishes are important for estimating important vital rates, such as growth, mortality, and timing of hatch. To accurately estimate some of these rates, the timing of the first daily ring must be estimated accurately. Variation in the timing of the first daily ring can be attributed to many factors, including biology of the species and experience of...

Objective Several species of New World cichlids have recently invaded reservoirs in Puerto Rico, potentially jeopardizing established recreationally important, albeit nonnative, sport fish populations. Interactions between invasive species and important sport fish must be understood so that they can be mitigated when feasible. This study compared monthly prey consumption between three...

ObjectiveKnowledge of invasive Silver Carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix population demographics and distributions may inform estimates of efforts necessary to achieve reductions in abundance and identify locations to conduct removal. Although extensively studied in other parts of their invasive range (e.g., Mississippi and Illinois rivers), less is known regarding Silver Carp population...

Pterodroma hasitata, the Black-capped Petrel (locally known as Diablotin), is the only extant Pterodroma petrel nesting in the Caribbean. The species is listed as globally Endangered by the IUCN and was recently listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Pterodroma hasitata show a phenotypic gradient, ranging from a darker, smaller form to a paler, heavier form, that is...

Environmental and associated ecosystem change may affect the persistence of fish species based on their ability to adapt to changing conditions, including decreasing flows and rising water temperatures. Exceeding the thermal tolerances of stream fish will likely result in a loss of ability to maintain metabolic processes. We evaluated the critical thermal maximum (CTmax) of bigmouth...

1. Species that are secretive, imperilled and consequently data deficient often re-quire conservation action despite limited available information. In such scenarios, Bayesian networks (BNs) offer a versatile and intuitive approach for utilizing various information sources, including literature reviews, community science data sets and expert knowledge. Although it has been suggested that...

The Mississippi Alluvial Plain (MAP) of Arkansas is a landscape where many wetlands have been altered for use as aquaculture ponds or agricultural ditches. Commercial harvest of freshwater turtles within the MAP is not restricted or limited, with reported harvest numbers for 2019 alone exceeding 4000 for spiny softshell turtles (Apalone spinifera) and 39,000 for red-eared sliders...

Stable isotopes are commonly used to characterize food web structure and resource use by aquatic organisms. White muscle is generally preferred for stable isotope analysis of fishes. However, obtaining white muscle tissue typically requires lethal take or invasive sampling techniques, which are undesirable for small-bodied species or those of conservation concern. We assessed the use of...

ContextInterspecific interactions shape ecological communities, influence community dynamics, and drive co-evolution. Despite their ecological significance, predation and competition remain understudied in plains spotted skunks (Spilogale interrupta), a species of conservation concern. Clarifying how predator management influences their occurrence is crucial for effective conservation...

Daytime water quality was determined monthly over two years in an instream series of four urban reservoirs with recurring blooms of Prymnesium parvum—a cool-season toxigenic species. Temperature, pH, and laboratory-measured total alkalinity were used to estimate pCO2. System-wide, pCO2 was negatively associated with dissolved oxygen. Chlorophyll-a, phycocyanin (cyanobacterial pigment)...

Secretive marsh birds experienced precipitous declines due to losses in wetland habitat across North America. However, from 1998 to 2004, wetland area increased, and between 2009 and 2019, the extent of emergent wetlands did not significantly decrease. This raises the question: how did secretive marsh birds, which are tied to emergent wetlands, respond to this period of relative...

ABSTRACTObjectiveAlthough 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...