Massachusetts Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
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February 18, 2026
The Massachusetts Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit (est. 1948) is a partnership among the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, University of Massachusetts, the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Wildlife Management Institute.
At the Massachusetts Coop Unit, we are committed to promoting a safe, and productive environment with a focus on excellence, training, and mentorship. We encourage students from all backgrounds to come work with us, where we strive to offer the support, mentorship, experience, and inspiration students need to succeed in science.
Media
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Freshwater fish and mussel projections in the Northeastern United States at the HUC12 scale under different climate and land use scenarios Freshwater fish and mussel projections in the Northeastern United States at the HUC12 scale under different climate and land use scenarios
These data comprise the results of an analysis to 1. develop freshwater fish and mussel models using survey occurrence data, land use data, stream flow data, and stream temperature data within the Northeast United states, 2. predict the impacts of climate change on vulnerable groups of freshwater fish and mussel species, and 3. assess the potential for different management interventions...
Fish species occurrence data (HUC12) in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island Fish species occurrence data (HUC12) in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island
This data release includes the results of state agency led electrofishing surveys conducted in lotic habitats in six states in the Northeastern U.S.: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The following state agencies collected the electrofishing data: Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife, Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife, Vermont...
Daily ice cover fractions for 107,257 lakes in the Northern Hemisphere Daily ice cover fractions for 107,257 lakes in the Northern Hemisphere
This dataset provides estimated daily ice cover fractions for 107,257 lakes across the Northern Hemisphere from 1980 to 2022. The ice cover fractions were generated using a deep learning model trained on Landsat observations. The model's code is publicly available in the USGS GitLab repository: https://doi.org/10.5066/P13ZGUGE. The dataset consists of 42 CSV files, each corresponding to...
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) survey by hunters in Massachusetts in early 2023. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) survey by hunters in Massachusetts in early 2023.
We implemented an online survey questionnaire for adult Massachusetts licensed hunters in December 2022-February 2023 using the Qualtrics survey platform (Qualtrics, Provo, UT). The online survey covers a number of topics related to chronic wasting disease (CWD) such as knowledge, risk perception, management acceptability, hunting behavior, channel use, and trust in different sources. Of...
Winter tick counts and covariates in Massachusetts and New Hampshire from fall 2022 Winter tick counts and covariates in Massachusetts and New Hampshire from fall 2022
The dataset accompanies manuscript: "Monitoring off-host winter tick abundance on traditional moose hunting lands" . It is a single table that includes counts of winter tick (Dermacentor albipictus) obtained by a modified flagging technique developed by the Penobscot Nation. The table includes both detection and site covariates used for the data analyses presented in the paper. Data were...
Data used to test a video monitoring and computational system for estimating juvenile fish abundance Data used to test a video monitoring and computational system for estimating juvenile fish abundance
We developed and tested neural network-based models to recognize and count emigrating juvenile river herring in continuous video. Continuous video was collected from an underwater camera installed at Great Herring Pond in Bourne, Massachusetts (USA) between June and November 2017. Our algorithm extracts video frames to assess presence/absence of fish and count numbers of fish emigrating...
Developing a Stochastic Hydrological Model for Informing Lake Water Level Drawdown Management Developing a Stochastic Hydrological Model for Informing Lake Water Level Drawdown Management
This data release consists of four datasets which were used for evaluating winter drawdown (WD) lakes to follow the Massachusetts general WD guidelines. The first dataset ("Water level observations.csv") provides water level monitoring data of 21 (18 WD and 3 non-WD) recreational lakes in Massachusetts from 2014 to 2018. The water levels were measured by paired nonvented pressure...
In-vitro Propagation and Fish Assessments to Inform Restoration of Dwarf Wedgemussel (Alasmidonta Heterodon) In-vitro Propagation and Fish Assessments to Inform Restoration of Dwarf Wedgemussel (Alasmidonta Heterodon)
The dwarf wedgemussel (Alasmidonta heterodon) is a federally endangered freshwater mussel that once ranged from New Brunswick to North Carolina, but now only exists in isolated populations throughout its diminished range. Laboratory propagation in conjunction with augmentation or reintroduction is considered a critical component of dwarf wedgemussel restoration. The presented data aimed...
Watershed forest cover and habitat restoration can offset some negative impacts of climate change on freshwater fishes and mussels Watershed forest cover and habitat restoration can offset some negative impacts of climate change on freshwater fishes and mussels
Many species of freshwater fishes and freshwater mussels have experienced population declines over the past century due to threats including habitat degradation, overexploitation, species invasion, and climate change. Management actions may offset climate-related changes to biodiversity, although identifying appropriate strategies is challenging. Our goal was to identify the impacts of...
Authors
Jennifer B. Rogers, Graziella Vittoria DiRenzo, Allison H. Roy, Jason Carmignani, Rebecca S.M. O’Brien, Rebecca M. Quiñones, Todd Richards
Similar population dynamics before and after a chytridiomycosis outbreak in a tropical riparian amphibian species Similar population dynamics before and after a chytridiomycosis outbreak in a tropical riparian amphibian species
Emerging infectious diseases can cause rapid, widespread host mortality, and the lack of demographic data before and after pathogen emergence complicates understanding mechanisms of host persistence. This challenge is further compounded by environmental conditions that influence host behavior, while driving pathogen growth and virulence. These interactions create complex disease outcomes...
Authors
Graziella Vittoria DiRenzo, Rebecca M. McCaffery, Ana V. Longo, Kelly R. Zamudio, Karen R. Lips
An approach to urban waterway assessment using holistic values and reciprocity An approach to urban waterway assessment using holistic values and reciprocity
Current aquatic ecosystem assessment methods and tools often focus on physical, chemical, and biological indicators of ecosystem health. This approach to ecosystem assessment is not always straightforward to execute in urban environments and ignores potential connectivity between social and environmental outcomes. During a workshop at the Symposium on Urbanization and Stream Ecology in...
Authors
Mateo Scoggins, Isabelle C. Barrett, Belinda I. Margetts, Eugenia Martí, Brian M. Murphy, Allison H. Roy, Ruth I. Shear, Sergia S. Sabat-Bonilla, Natalie A. Griffiths, Vinitha Nanjappa, Kate Mussett, Kasey M. Stirling, Susan Chiblow, Shayenna Nolan
Museum records provide unique information about the distribution of the Yellow Lampmussel Lampsilis cariosa (Unionidae) Museum records provide unique information about the distribution of the Yellow Lampmussel Lampsilis cariosa (Unionidae)
Natural history museum records may provide unique information on the distribution of species that can supplement survey data collected by resource managers. However, there can be challenges to using museum data for analyses, such as spurious geographic information, misidentifications, and incorrect labeling. Museum records have been centralized by open-source repositories with flags for...
Authors
Jillian Fedarick, Christina Amy Murphy, Sydne Record, Allison H. Roy
Urban heterogeneity drives dissolved organic matter sources, transport, and transformation from local to macro scales Urban heterogeneity drives dissolved organic matter sources, transport, and transformation from local to macro scales
Urbanization reshapes dissolved organic matter (DOM) sources, transport, and transformations through changes in vegetation, hydrology, and management of waste and water. Yet the impacts of urbanization on DOM are variable within and among cities. Predicting heterogeneous responses to urbanization is challenged by diverse human activities and underlying biophysical variation along stream...
Authors
Rebecca Hale, Kristina G. Hopkins, Krista A. Capps, John S. Kominoski, Jennifer L. Morse, Allison H. Roy, Shuo Chen, Annika Quick, Andrew Blinn, Liz Ortiz Muñoz, Gwendolynn Folk
Catchment prioritization for freshwater mussel conservation in the Northeastern United States based on distribution modelling Catchment prioritization for freshwater mussel conservation in the Northeastern United States based on distribution modelling
Freshwater mussels are critical to the health of freshwater systems, but their populations are declining dramatically throughout the world. The limited resources available for freshwater mussel conservation necessitates the geographic prioritization of conservation-related actions. However, lack of knowledge about freshwater mussel spatial distributions hinders decision making in this...
Authors
Rebecca S.M. O’Brien, Graziella Vittoria DiRenzo, Allison H. Roy, Jason Carmignani, Rebecca M. Quinones, Jennifer B. Rogers, Beth I. Swartz
Dead giveaway: Rising mortality rates suggest effectiveness of Lake Erie grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) response Dead giveaway: Rising mortality rates suggest effectiveness of Lake Erie grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) response
Grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) are large, invasive fish that threaten Lake Erie’s economy and ecosystem. Incidental catches of grass carp have occurred since the 1980s in Lake Erie, while multi-day removal events were carried out in 2014 and 2017. To mitigate ecosystem impacts, a large-scale, multi-agency response to remove as many grass carp as possible from the Lake Erie basin (...
Authors
Kaitlen Lang, Christine M Mayer, Mark Richard Dufour, Song S. Qian, William D. Hintz, Patrick M. Kocovsky, Ryan Young, Matthew Ross Acre, Eric Weimer, Tammy L. Wilson, Chris M. Kemp, John M. Dettmers, Lucas Nathan, Ryan Brown
Monitoring animal populations with cameras using open, multistate, N-mixture models Monitoring animal populations with cameras using open, multistate, N-mixture models
Remote cameras have become a mainstream tool for studying wildlife populations. For species whose developmental stages or states are identifiable in photographs, there are opportunities for tracking population changes and estimating demographic rates. Recent developments in hierarchical models allow for the estimation of ecological states and rates over time for unmarked animals whose...
Authors
Alexej P.K. Siren, Michael T. Hallworth, Jillian R. Kilborn, Chris A. Bernier, Nicholas L. Fortin, Katherina D. Geider, Riley K. Patry, Rachel M. Cliche, Leighlan S. Prout, Suzanne J. Gifford, Scott Wixsom, Toni Lyn Morelli, Tammy L. Wilson
Code for Chronic wasting disease (CWD) knowledge, risk perception, and management acceptance are influenced by media engagement and trust among deer hunters in Massachusetts Code for Chronic wasting disease (CWD) knowledge, risk perception, and management acceptance are influenced by media engagement and trust among deer hunters in Massachusetts
This repository contains all of the scripts to reproduce the analyses, figures, and tables associated with the manuscript Hoven et al. in prep. There is 1 Rmarkdown script that does the following: (1) format the data, (2) explores the data, and (3) goes through the analyses for each of the hypotheses (both linear models and path analysis).
Code for similar population dynamics before and after a chytridiomycosis outbreak in a tropical riparian amphibian species 2.0 Code for similar population dynamics before and after a chytridiomycosis outbreak in a tropical riparian amphibian species 2.0
This software release contains 4 files with R scripts organized according to the objective (e.g., format the data, model fitting, etc.). The overall objective of the project was to: analyzed ten years of capture-mark-recapture data spanning 2000 − 2014 for a population of Espadarana prosoblepon in El Copé, Panama, encompassing a period before and after a Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis...
Code for freshwater fish and mussel biodiversity and distribution in the Northeastern United States under climate change and management scenarios Code for freshwater fish and mussel biodiversity and distribution in the Northeastern United States under climate change and management scenarios
This software contains five R Markdown files and two R script files that comprise an analysis to 1. develop freshwater fish and mussel models using survey occurrence data, land use data, stream flow data, and stream temperature data within the Northeast United states, 2. predict the impacts of climate change on vulnerable groups of freshwater fish and mussel species, and 3. asses the...
Freshwater fish biodiversity and distribution in the Northeastern United States Freshwater fish biodiversity and distribution in the Northeastern United States
This software contains 3 separate R Markdown files and 1 R script file that comprise an analysis to 1. collate freshwater fish survey data from within the northeastern United States, 2. develop separate models to predict the probability of occurrence and the proportional abundance of 53 freshwater fish species, and 3. combine model results by fish species traits and habitat...
The Massachusetts Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit (est. 1948) is a partnership among the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, University of Massachusetts, the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Wildlife Management Institute.
At the Massachusetts Coop Unit, we are committed to promoting a safe, and productive environment with a focus on excellence, training, and mentorship. We encourage students from all backgrounds to come work with us, where we strive to offer the support, mentorship, experience, and inspiration students need to succeed in science.
Media
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Freshwater fish and mussel projections in the Northeastern United States at the HUC12 scale under different climate and land use scenarios Freshwater fish and mussel projections in the Northeastern United States at the HUC12 scale under different climate and land use scenarios
These data comprise the results of an analysis to 1. develop freshwater fish and mussel models using survey occurrence data, land use data, stream flow data, and stream temperature data within the Northeast United states, 2. predict the impacts of climate change on vulnerable groups of freshwater fish and mussel species, and 3. assess the potential for different management interventions...
Fish species occurrence data (HUC12) in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island Fish species occurrence data (HUC12) in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island
This data release includes the results of state agency led electrofishing surveys conducted in lotic habitats in six states in the Northeastern U.S.: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The following state agencies collected the electrofishing data: Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife, Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife, Vermont...
Daily ice cover fractions for 107,257 lakes in the Northern Hemisphere Daily ice cover fractions for 107,257 lakes in the Northern Hemisphere
This dataset provides estimated daily ice cover fractions for 107,257 lakes across the Northern Hemisphere from 1980 to 2022. The ice cover fractions were generated using a deep learning model trained on Landsat observations. The model's code is publicly available in the USGS GitLab repository: https://doi.org/10.5066/P13ZGUGE. The dataset consists of 42 CSV files, each corresponding to...
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) survey by hunters in Massachusetts in early 2023. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) survey by hunters in Massachusetts in early 2023.
We implemented an online survey questionnaire for adult Massachusetts licensed hunters in December 2022-February 2023 using the Qualtrics survey platform (Qualtrics, Provo, UT). The online survey covers a number of topics related to chronic wasting disease (CWD) such as knowledge, risk perception, management acceptability, hunting behavior, channel use, and trust in different sources. Of...
Winter tick counts and covariates in Massachusetts and New Hampshire from fall 2022 Winter tick counts and covariates in Massachusetts and New Hampshire from fall 2022
The dataset accompanies manuscript: "Monitoring off-host winter tick abundance on traditional moose hunting lands" . It is a single table that includes counts of winter tick (Dermacentor albipictus) obtained by a modified flagging technique developed by the Penobscot Nation. The table includes both detection and site covariates used for the data analyses presented in the paper. Data were...
Data used to test a video monitoring and computational system for estimating juvenile fish abundance Data used to test a video monitoring and computational system for estimating juvenile fish abundance
We developed and tested neural network-based models to recognize and count emigrating juvenile river herring in continuous video. Continuous video was collected from an underwater camera installed at Great Herring Pond in Bourne, Massachusetts (USA) between June and November 2017. Our algorithm extracts video frames to assess presence/absence of fish and count numbers of fish emigrating...
Developing a Stochastic Hydrological Model for Informing Lake Water Level Drawdown Management Developing a Stochastic Hydrological Model for Informing Lake Water Level Drawdown Management
This data release consists of four datasets which were used for evaluating winter drawdown (WD) lakes to follow the Massachusetts general WD guidelines. The first dataset ("Water level observations.csv") provides water level monitoring data of 21 (18 WD and 3 non-WD) recreational lakes in Massachusetts from 2014 to 2018. The water levels were measured by paired nonvented pressure...
In-vitro Propagation and Fish Assessments to Inform Restoration of Dwarf Wedgemussel (Alasmidonta Heterodon) In-vitro Propagation and Fish Assessments to Inform Restoration of Dwarf Wedgemussel (Alasmidonta Heterodon)
The dwarf wedgemussel (Alasmidonta heterodon) is a federally endangered freshwater mussel that once ranged from New Brunswick to North Carolina, but now only exists in isolated populations throughout its diminished range. Laboratory propagation in conjunction with augmentation or reintroduction is considered a critical component of dwarf wedgemussel restoration. The presented data aimed...
Watershed forest cover and habitat restoration can offset some negative impacts of climate change on freshwater fishes and mussels Watershed forest cover and habitat restoration can offset some negative impacts of climate change on freshwater fishes and mussels
Many species of freshwater fishes and freshwater mussels have experienced population declines over the past century due to threats including habitat degradation, overexploitation, species invasion, and climate change. Management actions may offset climate-related changes to biodiversity, although identifying appropriate strategies is challenging. Our goal was to identify the impacts of...
Authors
Jennifer B. Rogers, Graziella Vittoria DiRenzo, Allison H. Roy, Jason Carmignani, Rebecca S.M. O’Brien, Rebecca M. Quiñones, Todd Richards
Similar population dynamics before and after a chytridiomycosis outbreak in a tropical riparian amphibian species Similar population dynamics before and after a chytridiomycosis outbreak in a tropical riparian amphibian species
Emerging infectious diseases can cause rapid, widespread host mortality, and the lack of demographic data before and after pathogen emergence complicates understanding mechanisms of host persistence. This challenge is further compounded by environmental conditions that influence host behavior, while driving pathogen growth and virulence. These interactions create complex disease outcomes...
Authors
Graziella Vittoria DiRenzo, Rebecca M. McCaffery, Ana V. Longo, Kelly R. Zamudio, Karen R. Lips
An approach to urban waterway assessment using holistic values and reciprocity An approach to urban waterway assessment using holistic values and reciprocity
Current aquatic ecosystem assessment methods and tools often focus on physical, chemical, and biological indicators of ecosystem health. This approach to ecosystem assessment is not always straightforward to execute in urban environments and ignores potential connectivity between social and environmental outcomes. During a workshop at the Symposium on Urbanization and Stream Ecology in...
Authors
Mateo Scoggins, Isabelle C. Barrett, Belinda I. Margetts, Eugenia Martí, Brian M. Murphy, Allison H. Roy, Ruth I. Shear, Sergia S. Sabat-Bonilla, Natalie A. Griffiths, Vinitha Nanjappa, Kate Mussett, Kasey M. Stirling, Susan Chiblow, Shayenna Nolan
Museum records provide unique information about the distribution of the Yellow Lampmussel Lampsilis cariosa (Unionidae) Museum records provide unique information about the distribution of the Yellow Lampmussel Lampsilis cariosa (Unionidae)
Natural history museum records may provide unique information on the distribution of species that can supplement survey data collected by resource managers. However, there can be challenges to using museum data for analyses, such as spurious geographic information, misidentifications, and incorrect labeling. Museum records have been centralized by open-source repositories with flags for...
Authors
Jillian Fedarick, Christina Amy Murphy, Sydne Record, Allison H. Roy
Urban heterogeneity drives dissolved organic matter sources, transport, and transformation from local to macro scales Urban heterogeneity drives dissolved organic matter sources, transport, and transformation from local to macro scales
Urbanization reshapes dissolved organic matter (DOM) sources, transport, and transformations through changes in vegetation, hydrology, and management of waste and water. Yet the impacts of urbanization on DOM are variable within and among cities. Predicting heterogeneous responses to urbanization is challenged by diverse human activities and underlying biophysical variation along stream...
Authors
Rebecca Hale, Kristina G. Hopkins, Krista A. Capps, John S. Kominoski, Jennifer L. Morse, Allison H. Roy, Shuo Chen, Annika Quick, Andrew Blinn, Liz Ortiz Muñoz, Gwendolynn Folk
Catchment prioritization for freshwater mussel conservation in the Northeastern United States based on distribution modelling Catchment prioritization for freshwater mussel conservation in the Northeastern United States based on distribution modelling
Freshwater mussels are critical to the health of freshwater systems, but their populations are declining dramatically throughout the world. The limited resources available for freshwater mussel conservation necessitates the geographic prioritization of conservation-related actions. However, lack of knowledge about freshwater mussel spatial distributions hinders decision making in this...
Authors
Rebecca S.M. O’Brien, Graziella Vittoria DiRenzo, Allison H. Roy, Jason Carmignani, Rebecca M. Quinones, Jennifer B. Rogers, Beth I. Swartz
Dead giveaway: Rising mortality rates suggest effectiveness of Lake Erie grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) response Dead giveaway: Rising mortality rates suggest effectiveness of Lake Erie grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) response
Grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) are large, invasive fish that threaten Lake Erie’s economy and ecosystem. Incidental catches of grass carp have occurred since the 1980s in Lake Erie, while multi-day removal events were carried out in 2014 and 2017. To mitigate ecosystem impacts, a large-scale, multi-agency response to remove as many grass carp as possible from the Lake Erie basin (...
Authors
Kaitlen Lang, Christine M Mayer, Mark Richard Dufour, Song S. Qian, William D. Hintz, Patrick M. Kocovsky, Ryan Young, Matthew Ross Acre, Eric Weimer, Tammy L. Wilson, Chris M. Kemp, John M. Dettmers, Lucas Nathan, Ryan Brown
Monitoring animal populations with cameras using open, multistate, N-mixture models Monitoring animal populations with cameras using open, multistate, N-mixture models
Remote cameras have become a mainstream tool for studying wildlife populations. For species whose developmental stages or states are identifiable in photographs, there are opportunities for tracking population changes and estimating demographic rates. Recent developments in hierarchical models allow for the estimation of ecological states and rates over time for unmarked animals whose...
Authors
Alexej P.K. Siren, Michael T. Hallworth, Jillian R. Kilborn, Chris A. Bernier, Nicholas L. Fortin, Katherina D. Geider, Riley K. Patry, Rachel M. Cliche, Leighlan S. Prout, Suzanne J. Gifford, Scott Wixsom, Toni Lyn Morelli, Tammy L. Wilson
Code for Chronic wasting disease (CWD) knowledge, risk perception, and management acceptance are influenced by media engagement and trust among deer hunters in Massachusetts Code for Chronic wasting disease (CWD) knowledge, risk perception, and management acceptance are influenced by media engagement and trust among deer hunters in Massachusetts
This repository contains all of the scripts to reproduce the analyses, figures, and tables associated with the manuscript Hoven et al. in prep. There is 1 Rmarkdown script that does the following: (1) format the data, (2) explores the data, and (3) goes through the analyses for each of the hypotheses (both linear models and path analysis).
Code for similar population dynamics before and after a chytridiomycosis outbreak in a tropical riparian amphibian species 2.0 Code for similar population dynamics before and after a chytridiomycosis outbreak in a tropical riparian amphibian species 2.0
This software release contains 4 files with R scripts organized according to the objective (e.g., format the data, model fitting, etc.). The overall objective of the project was to: analyzed ten years of capture-mark-recapture data spanning 2000 − 2014 for a population of Espadarana prosoblepon in El Copé, Panama, encompassing a period before and after a Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis...
Code for freshwater fish and mussel biodiversity and distribution in the Northeastern United States under climate change and management scenarios Code for freshwater fish and mussel biodiversity and distribution in the Northeastern United States under climate change and management scenarios
This software contains five R Markdown files and two R script files that comprise an analysis to 1. develop freshwater fish and mussel models using survey occurrence data, land use data, stream flow data, and stream temperature data within the Northeast United states, 2. predict the impacts of climate change on vulnerable groups of freshwater fish and mussel species, and 3. asses the...
Freshwater fish biodiversity and distribution in the Northeastern United States Freshwater fish biodiversity and distribution in the Northeastern United States
This software contains 3 separate R Markdown files and 1 R script file that comprise an analysis to 1. collate freshwater fish survey data from within the northeastern United States, 2. develop separate models to predict the probability of occurrence and the proportional abundance of 53 freshwater fish species, and 3. combine model results by fish species traits and habitat...