Publications

Resource matching can be a common assumption that underlies anthropogenic rangeland improvements for wildlife or livestock. Countless resources are spent on targeted vegetation manipulations for both livestock and wildlife, but selection for improved areas has not been well quantified in livestock. This case study investigates whether cattle exhibit preferential use of historically...

Theory predicts that that the strength and direction of species interactions can shift from being competitive in benign environments toward being facilitative in stressful environments. However, the environmental context dependency of species interactions has rarely been tested in animal communities. We capitalized on a 15-year, landscape-scale dataset, collected annually in a relatively...

Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) and blueback herring (A. aestivalis) require connectivity among freshwater, estuarine, and marine environments to complete their life cycle. Impediments to watershed connectivity are major drivers of population declines along the eastern United States, where physical barriers and low-flow conditions can inhibit or delay juvenile outmigration, limiting...

North American grassland birds have experienced steeper population declines than any other avian guild, yet conservation efforts remain largely reactive and fragmented. We used nearly four decades of North American Breeding Bird Survey data to identify biome-scale spatial patterns (clustering) of grassland bird abundance for the Great Plains. Our results reveal an ecological core in the...

The recovery of the Canada goose (Branta canadensis) is one of North America's greatest conservation success stories. Today, continental abundance of temperate-breeding Canada geese (those breeding in southern Canada and lower 48 states in the United States) greatly exceeds historical levels. As a result of increased abundance, human–goose conflicts have also increased, ranging from...

Empiricists and modellers use information on energy density, proximate composition, stable isotopes, fatty acids, thiamine, and bioaccumulative tracers (e.g., PCBs and mercury) to understand the state and inter-relationships of aquatic food webs. Data exist in many published and unpublished sources, but are not consolidated in an easily accessible database that would serve as a vital...

Stable isotopes of hydrogen (δ2H) have long been used to trace the movement and geographic origins of wildlife. δ2H analysis of individual amino acids (AA) offer a multivariate alternative to bulk tissue analysis, but the geographic resolving power of this approach remains underexplored. Here, we analyzed AA δ2H, along with bulk tissue δ2H, δ13C, and δ15N values of 32 feathers collected...

Humpback whales produce complex, structured songs that vary among individuals, populations, and through time. This study presents a novel method of studying changes in humpback whale song elements through time while accounting for detection probability.

Designing effective wildlife corridors is a critical conservation challenge in fragmented landscapes. GPS-based step selection functions strongly predict dispersal corridors and connectivity, but GPS collaring can be expensive and invasive. Camera-based occupancy models are widely used for connectivity analyses but may involve trade-offs in data resolution. Despite widespread use of both

Agricultural intensification and the loss of floral resources are suspected factors in bumble bee declines in North America. Understanding the effects of land use on bumble bee communities at the local and landscape scale is important to support conservation efforts.We surveyed 55 prairie and grassland sites in a highly agricultural landscape in 2023 and 2024. We used a multispecies...

Grasslands in Nebraska, USA, face threats from agricultural conversion, urban development, and woody encroachment, all of which negatively affect prairie grouse (Tympanuchus spp.) populations. To optimize conservation planning, Nebraska wildlife agencies developed probabilistic area-based surveys for greater prairie-chicken (T. cupido) and sharp-tailed grouse (T. phasianellus) to sample...

Over recent decades, the Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) population has grown across most of its range, the exception being the northern coast of the western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). In the Ross Sea, the very large Cape Crozier colony grew to reach ~9% of the global population. Demographic factors driving the Cape Crozier trend have yet to be identified. However, low chick fledging...