Publications

Over the next two decades, half of all hydropower projects in the USA will require relicensing by the Federal Regulatory Commission (FERC). Relicensing proceedings invoke a range of informational sources and agency regulators are tasked with using the “best available science” (BAS) to make informed decisions about hydropower operations and management. Although embraced as the standard...

Drone use in wildlife biology has greatly increased as they become cheaper and easier to deploy in the field. In this paper we describe a less invasive method of using drones and exploring their limitations for studying colonial nesting waterbirds. Western Grebes, like most colonial nesting waterbirds, can be very sensitive to human interaction. Using a 3DR Solo quad copter equipped with...

The Smith River is a popular recreational sport fishery in western Montana, but salmonid abundances there are thought to be artificially limited by riparian land-use alterations, irrigation water withdrawals, and high summer water temperatures. We used integrated networks of temperature loggers, PIT tag antenna stations, and in situ temperature mapping to investigate the thermal...

Understanding the effects of predicted rising sea levels, combined with changes in precipitation and freshwater inflow on key estuarine ecosystem engineers such as the eastern oyster would provide critical information to inform restoration design and predictive models. Using oyster ladders with shell bags placed at three heights to capture a range of inundation levels, oyster growth of...

Droughts are expected to increase in frequency and severity with climate change. Population impacts of such harsh environmental events are theorized to vary with life history strategies among species. However, existing demographic models generally do not consider behavioural plasticity that may modify the impact of harsh events. Here we show that tropical songbirds in the New and Old...

Captive-rearing conservation programs focus primarily on maximizing postrelease survival. Survival increases with size in a variety of taxa, often leading to the use of enhanced size as a means to minimize postrelease losses. Head-starting is a specific captive-rearing approach used to accelerate growth in captivity prior to release in the wild. We explored the effect of size at release...

Institutional trust and perceptions of regulatory efficacy can affect support for management. This study examined how institutional trust, specific trust related to information/management, and support for/perceived efficacy of current regulations related to deer hunters’ attitudes about chronic wasting disease (CWD) management. Results are from a survey of southeastern Minnesota deer...

Organisms living at high elevations generally grow and develop more slowly than those at lower elevations. Slow montane ontogeny is thought to be an evolved adaptation to harsh environments that improves juvenile quality via physiological trade-offs. However, slower montane ontogeny may also reflect proximate influences of harsh weather on parental care and offspring development. We...

Metabolism is thought to mediate the connection between environmental selection pressures and a broad array of life history tradeoffs, but tests are needed. High juvenile predation correlates with fast growth, which may be achieved via fast juvenile metabolism. Fast offspring metabolism and growth can create physiological costs later in life that should be minimized in species with low...

Invasive species introduction and expansion is the second greatest threat to global biodiversity decline after habitat degradation. Introduced in the 1930s, the benthivorous Longnose Sucker (Catostomus catostomus) became established in Yellowstone Lake, Wyoming, USA, and used tributary streams for spawning. With this introduction, concerns were raised regarding their possible competition...

While large-scale oil spills can cause acute mortality events in birds, there is increasing evidence that sublethal oil exposure can trigger physiological changes that have implications for individual performance and survival. Therefore, improved methods for identifying small amounts of oil on birds are needed. Because ultraviolet (UV) light can be used to identify thin crude oil films...

Introductions of dreissenid mussels in North America have been a significant concern over the last few decades. This study assessed the distribution of synthetic organic compounds (SOCs) in the food web of Lake Mead, Nevada/Arizona, USA and how this distribution was influenced by the introduction of invasive quagga mussels. A clear spatial gradient of SOC concentrations in water was...