Publications

The Alligator Gar Atractosteus spatula (AG) is a long-lived fish of growing management and conservation interest. Situated on the border of Texas and Oklahoma, Lake Texoma supports one of the last robust AG populations in Oklahoma; however, a genetic evaluation of this population is lacking. We genotyped AG individuals with 17 microsatellite loci, 7 of which also cross-amplified in three...

Climatic variation is a key driver of freshwater physical processes that in turn control stream fish growth and population dynamics at fine spatial scales and species distributions across broad landscapes. A recent downturn in Chinook Salmon returns across the Yukon River basin, Alaska, USA, and Yukon Territories, Canada, has led to hardship among user groups and increased interest in

The Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge, Florida, USA (27.946°N, − 80.494°W) represents one of the largest loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) nesting sites in the Western Hemisphere. Surprisingly, little work has been conducted to determine females’ post-nesting migratory behavior and characteristics of their foraging areas. Between 2008 and 2017, satellite telemetry was used to trace...

No abstract available.

Black Oystercatchers Haematopus bachmani, a species of conservation concern, depend on marine intertidal prey resources. We examined diet, feeding rates, growth, and survival of Black Oystercatcher broods in southcentral Alaska, 2013-2014. To determine the importance of diet on brood survival, we modeled daily survival rates of broods as a function of energy intake rate and other...

Golden alga Prymnesium parvum Carter is a euryhaline, ichthyotoxic haptophyte (Chromista). Because of its presumed coastal/marine origin where SO42- levels are high, the relatively high SO42- concentration of its brackish inland habitats, and the sensitivity of marine chromists to sulfur deficiency, this study examined whether golden alga growth is sensitive to SO42- concentration...

Head‐starting is a conservation strategy in which young animals are protected in captivity temporarily before their release into the wild at a larger size, when their survival is presumably increased. The Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) is in decline, and head‐starting has been identified as one of several conservation measures to assist in recovery. To evaluate the efficacy...

Although most wildlife professionals agree that science should inform wildlife management decisions, disconnect still exists between researchers and managers. If researchers are not striving to incorporate their findings into management decisions, support for research programs by managers can wane. If managers are not using research findings to inform management decisions, those...

The majority of seabirds breed colonially and exhibit considerable site fidelity over the course of their long lifespans. Initial colony selection can therefore have substantial fitness consequences; however, factors contributing to recruitment into colonies and subsequent fidelity remain unclear. We used multi-state capture-recapture models to test several hypotheses related to apparent...

The timing and spatial distribution of aquatic insect emergence is linked to the abiotic and biotic environment in streams. Studies of aquatic insect emergence are needed to generate baseline data to identify potential shifts in phenology and habitat-related emergence with global change. The purpose of this study was to 1) compare the timing of Plecoptera (stonefly) species emergence...

Attempts to assess behavioral responses of prey to predation risk are often confounded by depredation of prey. Moreover, the scale at which the response of prey is assessed has important implications for discovering how predation risk alters prey behavior. Herein, we assessed space use of wild Ring-necked Pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) in response to spatial and temporal variation in...

The use of PIT tags has rapidly proliferated since their introduction, and new mobile detection methods have been developed. However, the presence of ghost tags (i.e., PIT tags left in the system after a fish dies) creates uncertainty about the status (live or dead) of tags detected. Herein, we describe our raft-based mobile PIT tag antenna system, which was used to evaluate the...