Publications

We’ve been asked to provide a short introduction to R and its utility in natural resource management. In this short introduction, we can guarantee one thing: you won’t learn R in a few days. That would be like learning to speak French in a few days. To actually learn R, you need to practice….Bode Miller didn’t win his Olympic medals without hours and hours of practice. However, in this...

Numerous species have been introduced to Coeur d'Alene Lake, Idaho over the last century, but minimal research has been completed to understand their population dynamics. The objective of this study was to describe the population demographics and dynamics of northern pike (Esox lucius) and smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu), two important nonnative sport fishes in the system to...

Intertidal aquaculture for geoducks (Panopea generosa Gould, 1850) is expanding in southern Puget Sound, Washington, where gently sloping sandy beaches are used for field culture. Geoduck aquaculture contributes significantly to the regional economy, but has become controversial because of a range of unresolved questions involving potential biological impacts on marine ecosystems. From...

The Topeka shiner Notropis topeka is a federally endangered fish species that is estimated to occupy only 20% of its historic range. In Iowa Topeka shiners have been in decline for decades. Our goal was to determine the present distribution of Topeka shiners in the west-central portion of their range in Iowa and to characterize the extent of its decline. We compared the current...

In spatial generalized linear mixed models (SGLMMs), covariates that are spatially smooth are often collinear with spatially smooth random effects. This phenomenon is known as spatial confounding and has been studied primarily in the case where the spatial support of the process being studied is discrete (e.g., areal spatial data). In this case, the most common approach suggested is...

Intersex fish are increasingly being reported worldwide, primarily in rivers that receive treated wastewater, but few studies have investigated intersex in waters that do not receive wastewater. In a recent reconnaissance survey of intersex fish in North America, a high rate of intersex was reported for Largemouth Bass Micropterus salmoides in some southeastern U.S. rivers; however, the...

Brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) were listed as endangered in the United States in 1970, largely due to reproductive failure and mortality caused by organochlorine contaminants, such as DDT. The southeast population, P.o. carolinensis, was delisted in 1985, while the west coast population, P.o. californicus, was not delisted until 2009. As fish-eating coastal seabirds, brown...

Interpolation of stream habitat can be very useful for habitat assessment. Using a small number of habitat samples to predict the habitat of larger areas can reduce time and labor costs as long as it provides accurate estimates of habitat. The spatial correlation of stream habitat variables such as substrate and depth improves the accuracy of interpolated data. Several geographical...

The term ‘seabird’ is generally applied to avian species that forage in the marine environment over open water. Seabirds typically nest in colonies and are long-lived species with low annual reproductive rates. Seabird breeding sites typically occur on islands or along coasts and as such are often at the boundaries of ecological or political zones. During the breeding season, seabirds...

The breadth and complexity of stochastic decision processes in natural resources presents a challenge to analysts who need to understand and use these approaches. The objective of this paper is to describe a class of decision processes that are germane to natural resources conservation and management, namely Markov decision processes, and to discuss applications and computing algorithms...

No abstract available.

Largemouth bass virus (LMBV), a recently identified pathogen, affected largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) in the southeastern United States beginning in the 1990s. Concern about the impacts of this little-known pathogen on largemouth bass populations, effects on fisheries management, and the need to provide anglers and the media with consistent and accurate information prompted a...