Publications

Although many studies demonstrate lake warming, few document trends from lakes with sparse data. Diel and seasonal variability of surface temperatures limit conventional trend analyses to datasets with frequent repeated observations. Thus, remote lakes, including many high elevation lakes, are underrepresented in trend analyses. We used a Bayesian technique to analyze sparse data that...

Interspecific competition is hypothesized to be a strong force that sets species range limits and drives parapatric distributions of closely related species on tropical mountains. Yet, experimental evidence that competition drives spatial segregation of closely related species on elevational gradients is rare. To test whether competition limits elevational ranges of tropical songbirds...

The ontogenetic diet shift to piscivory can be energetically beneficial for fish growth and allows larger, more energetically profitable prey to be consumed. A shift to piscivory may be easier for longer individuals within a cohort due to larger gape size, and an early shift is likely advantageous, potentially leading to increased growth rates and survival. Such length-dependent...

The genomics revolution has initiated a new era of population genetics where genome-wide data are frequently used to understand complex patterns of population structure and selection. However, the application of genomic tools to inform management and conservation has been somewhat rare outside a few well studied species. Fortunately, two recently developed approaches, amplicon sequencing...

Home range estimation is an important analytical method; yet best practices for addressing the effects of spatial variation in detection probability on home range estimates remains elusive. We introduce the R package “DiagnoseHR,” simulation tools for assessing how variation in detection probability arising from landscape, animal behavior, and methodological processes affects home range...

Fish mercury concentrations have received considerable attention due to human health implications. Fish mercury concentrations are variable within and among systems due to a suite of biotic and abiotic influences that vary among regions and are difficult to predict. Understanding factors associated with variability in fish mercury concentrations would help guide consumption advisories...

Automated acoustic monitoring of wildlife has been used to characterize populations of sound-producing species across large spatial scales. However, false negatives and false positives produced by automated detection systems can compromise the utility of these data for researchers and land managers, particularly for research programs endeavoring to describe colonization and extinction...

Understanding of fish growth, the spatial variability in individual growth, and the potential drivers of such variability is a fundamental component of many ecological investigations. However, sampling gears are always size-selective, and this selectivity can result in biased parameter estimates that can lead to, for example, biased stock assessments that use growth estimates. Using...

After the pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) was listed as endangered in 1990, a variety of management actions focusing on early life history needs have been implemented to aid species recovery. Given the scarcity of age-0 pallid sturgeon, managers and scientists have relied on sympatric congeners to evaluate the effectiveness of management actions in the short term; however...

Habitat alterations and introduction of nonnative fishes reduced the distributions of the Flannelmouth Sucker Catostomus latipinnis, Bluehead Sucker C. discobolus, and Roundtail Chub Gila robusta to less than 50% of their historical ranges. Climate change models generally predict decreased streamflows and increased water temperatures that may further affect these species. Understanding...

Disturbance legacies structure communities and ecological memory, but due to increasing changes in disturbance regimes, it is becoming more difficult to characterize disturbance legacies or determine how long they persist. We sought to quantify the characteristics and persistence of material legacies (e.g., biotic residuals of disturbance) that arise from variation in fire severity in an...

Our current understanding of the relationship between imperiled species and forest management can benefit from global positioning system (GPS) technologies. Fauna of lateseral stage forests have historically been difficult to detect and track in rugged terrain, leading to challenges in movement characterization and conservation. We investigated movement of California Spotted Owls (Strix