Publications

Although it is widely accepted that juvenile turtles experience high levels of predation, such events are rarely observed, providing limited evidence regarding predator identities and how juvenile habitat selection and availability of sensory cues to predators affects predation risk. We placed three-dimensional printed models resembling juvenile box turtles (Terrapene carolina) across...

Generating public interest in fish and their biology is often challenging. Many aquatic species are cryptic and largely invisible to the public. Therefore, increasing public awareness of cryptic fishes and elevating their visibility to broad audiences requires innovation. Inexpensive technological advancements now provide fisheries biologists, managers, and researchers with means never...

Winter drawdowns in flood control reservoirs create expansive mudflats that lack the vegetation typical of littoral zones, which reduces the amount of structure available for fish habitat. This study investigated the feasibility of establishing agricultural plantings as a management action to ameliorate mudflats by providing structural cover following reservoir refilling. We tested cool...

Pinnipeds are commonly monitored using aerial photographic surveys at land- or ice-based sites, where animals come ashore for resting, pupping, molting, and to avoid predators. Although these counts form the basis for monitoring population change over time, they do not provide information regarding where animals occur in the water, which is often of management and conservation interest...

Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) thrives across the estuarine salinity gradient providing valuable ecosystem services. Within the saline portion of estuaries, seagrass areas are frequently cited as hotspots for their role in capturing and retaining organic carbon (Corg). Non-seagrass SAV, located in the fresh to brackish estuarine areas, may also retain significant soil Corg, yet their...

Intermittent rivers are becoming more ecologically stressed worldwide. Flow cessation occurs naturally and spatiotemporally in these systems and anthropogenic activities such as wastewater discharges can have considerable impacts. Public entities mostly monitor water quality in permanent streams, leading to insufficient monitoring of intermittent streams and consequently to their...

Groundwater influences stream environments in numerous ways including structuring biotic assemblages. However, associations between groundwater influence and warmwater fish assemblages are under-studied. We examined relationships between groundwater contribution, population size, and total length (TL) for 5 warmwater fishes at 32 stream reaches in the Ozark Highlands ecoregion. When we...

For vector-borne diseases, the abundance and competency of different vector species and their host preferences will impact the transfer of pathogens among hosts. Sylvatic plague is a lethal disease caused by the primarily flea-borne bacterium Yersinia pestis. Sylvatic plague was introduced into the western United States in the early 1900s and impacts many species of rodents. Plague may...

The geology of the Pleistocene, and particularly the Last Glacial Maximum approximately 26.5 ka, is a critical driver of species’ present-day distributions and levels of genetic diversity in northern regions. Using mitochondrial DNA sequence data, we tested several predictions relating to the postglacial recolonization of the northern United States and southern Canada by Mudpuppies...

Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) survival and population growth in north-central New Mexico, USA, was previously reported to be limited by nutritional constraints due to poor forage conditions in degraded habitats. Management recommendations suggested thinning of pinyon–juniper to improve habitat quality for mule deer. To evaluate the influence of these vegetation treatments, we monitored...

In addition to its resident Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), the Southern Great Plains of North America receives an influx of migrant Golden Eagles each winter. However, little current or quantitative information is available regarding eagle presence or the species' land cover associations across the region. During the winters of 2014/2015 and 2015/2016, we surveyed Golden Eagles along...

Habitat Loss is a primary cause of species decline, and predicting the distribution of quality habitats across broad scales is needed for conservation of rare species. Secretive marsh birds are a group of emergent-wetland specialists that include multiple threatened and endangered species whose populations have been impacted by wetland loss and modification. Habitat suitability for marsh...