Publications

Proxies that use changes in the composition of ecological communities to reconstruct temporal changes in an environmental covariate are commonly used in paleoclimatology and paleolimnology. Existing methods, such as weighted averaging and modern analog technique, relate compositional data to the covariate in very simple ways, and different methods are seldom compared systematically. We...

Temperature and salinity and their interaction exert a major control on the life cycle of the eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica), affecting reproduction, development, growth, and mortality. Quantifying specific temperature and salinity relationships on oyster growth and mortality has however proven difficult, with data suggesting potentially region-specific responses. Legacy and...

Yellowstone Lake is the site of actions to suppress invasive Lake Trout Salvelinus namaycush and restore native Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri and natural ecosystem function. Although gill netting is effective (Lake Trout λ ≤ 0.6 from 2012 through 2018), the effort costs more than US$2 million annually and only targets Lake Trout age 2 and older. To increase...

Visual identification of fish eggs is difficult and unreliable due to a lack of information on the morphological egg characteristics of many species. We used random forests machine learning to predict the identity of genetically identified Bighead Carp Hypophthalmichthys nobilis, Grass Carp Ctenopharyngodon idella, and Silver Carp H. molitrix eggs based on egg morphometric and...

Population genetics-based approaches can provide robust and cost-effective ways to assess the effects of potential barriers, including dams and road-stream crossings, on the passage and population connectivity of aquatic organisms. Determining the best way to apply and modify genetic tools for different species and situations is essential for making these genetics-based approaches...

The Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) is a migratory shorebird of temperate and tropical America. Declining wetland quality and associated declines in hydrological integrity may contribute to widespread habitat loss for stilts nesting on the upper Texas Gulf of Mexico coast of the USA, as both fresh and brackish marshes are converting to open water and saline marsh. Nests (n =...

Anthropogenic activities, such as oil and natural gas development (ONGD), have significantly altered the landscape. It is often challenging to identify the mechanistic processes underlying ecological responses to land-use change (LUC). In aquatic ecosystems, alterations to habitat and food availability and water quality associated with increased LUC are key mechanistic pathways that...

Oyster reefs provide habitat for numerous fish and decapod crustacean species that mediate ecosystem functioning and support vibrant fisheries. Recent focus on the restoration of eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) reefs stems from this role as a critical ecosystem engineer. Within the shallow estuaries of the northern Gulf of Mexico (nGoM), the eastern oyster is the dominant reef...

Turtle populations are imperiled worldwide, but limited ecological information from unaltered systems hampers science‐based management and conservation of some species, especially riverine turtles such as the spiny softshell (Apalone spinifera). We therefore investigated movements and spatial habitat selection of 54 A. spinifera in 633 river kilometres (rkm) of the least‐altered river in...

We examine the annual, seasonal, monthly, and diurnal climate responses to the land use change (LUC) in eastern United States and Cuba during four epochs (1650, 1850, 1920, and 1992) with ensemble simulations conducted with the RegCM4 regional climate model that includes the Biosphere Atmosphere Transfer Scheme (BATS1e) surface physics package (Dickinson et al., 1993). We derived the...

Birds with altricial offspring need to feed them regularly, but each feeding visit risks drawing attention to the nest and revealing its location to potential predators. Synchronisation of visits by both parents has been suggested as a behavioural adaptation to reduce the risk of nest predation. Under this hypothesis, higher risk of nest predation favours greater synchrony of parental...

Degradation of wetland ecosystems has negatively impacted many species, perhaps none more so than marsh birds that breed in vegetative emergent wetlands throughout North America. The U.S. Department of Defense manages approximately 29 million acres of land within the continental U.S., and many military installations contain wetland complexes that may be important for wetland birds. Thus...