Publications

Establishing commercial tree plantations in native grassland ecosystems introduces a different structural and functional vegetation cover type, with expected implications for biodiversity. To better understand biodiversity responses to afforestation, we conducted a resource-use study with birds as a focal group, during the 2013–2014 breeding season in the Northern Campos grasslands of...

Corticosterone is a steroid hormone integral to a variety of physiological pathways and is strongly associated with the vertebrate stress response. In avian species, circulating corticosterone is sequestered into developing feathers and is used as an indicator of energy allocation during feather growth and widely applied in conservation physiology.The northern spotted owl Strix...

Corticosterone is a steroid hormone integral to a variety of physiological pathways and is strongly associated with the vertebrate stress response. In avian species, circulating corticosterone is sequestered into developing feathers and is used as an indicator of energy allocation during feather growth and widely applied in conservation physiology.The northern spotted owl Strix...

Adult “silver-phase” American Eels Anguilla rostrata were a focus of commercial fisheries in the 1970s and 1980s, but stocks have been depleted due to many anthropogenic factors. One significant source of mortality occurs during the downstream migration of eels when passing through turbines at hydroelectric facilities. We sought to construct a model to predict eel migration timing to...

Prymnesium parvum is a toxin-producing harmful alga that has caused ecological and economic damage worldwide. Effective methods to control blooms of this species in the field, however, are unavailable. This study examined five natural compounds present in the invasive plant Arundo donax and one synthetic derivative (5,6-dichlorogramine) for their effect on P. parvum growth. All compounds...

Owls are important avian predators in forested systems, but little is known about landscape use by most forest-adapted owl species in environments impacted by mixed-severity wildfire. To better understand species-specific patterns of post-wildfire landscape use within an owl guild, we used passive acoustic monitoring using autonomous recording units. The technology is effective for multi...

Coastal wetlands along the Gulf of Mexico support a wide diversity of wildlife, are important nurseries for sport and commercial fisheries, provide erosion and flood control, and serve many other ecological functions and services. These marshes have been declining in area and degrading at alarming rates since the 1930s. Effective conservation planning is vital to protect these ecosystems...

Retaliatory killing of large carnivores due to livestock predation is one of the major threats for the conservation of many declining populations of predators. According to empirical observations, there is a higher incidence of livestock predation when native prey abundance is low. In this study, we applied a treatment consisting of augmentation of prey abundance by translocation of...

Agricultural landscapes are the bleeding-edge in the advancement of sustainability and climate change adaptation. Our study focuses on how individual support for sustainability policy is shaped in coupled natural and human systems. We present an agent-based model in which a cultural decision-rule quantifies the probability that a stakeholder decides to support an easement policy for a...

Water quality standards based on sub-lethal effects and performance optima for aquatic organisms, rather than onset of mortality, are more ecologically relevant for management of species of conservation concern. We investigated the effects of hypoxia, temperature (with acclimation), nitrogenous chemical compounds, and chloride on Topeka shiners (Notropis topeka) by monitoring behavioral...

Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) creates highly productive habitats in coastal areas, providing support for many important species of fish and wildlife. Despite the importance and documented loss of SAV across fresh to marine habitats globally, we lack consistent baseline data on estuarine SAV resources, particularly in the northern Gulf of Mexico (NGOM) estuaries. To understand SAV...

Understanding the neutral (demographic) and adaptive processes leading to the differentiation of species and populations is a critical component of evolutionary and conservation biology. In this context, recently diverged taxa represent a unique opportunity to study the process of genetic differentiation. Northern and southern Idaho ground squirrels (Urocitellus brunneus—NIDGS, and U...