Publications

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Investigations into cellular and molecular characteristics of male gametes obtained from fish in natural ecosystems require careful sample handling and shipping in order to minimize artifacts. Maintaining sample integrity engenders confident assessments of ecosystem health, whereby animal condition is often reflected by gamete biomarkers - indicators that respond in measurable ways to...

Using an automated shuttlebox system, we conducted patch choice experiments with 32, 8–12 g bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) to test a behavioral energetics hypothesis of habitat choice. When patch temperature and food levels were held constant within patches but different between patches, we expected bluegill to choose patches that maximized growth based on the bioenergetic...

Geological effects of the 2010 Chilean tsunami were quantified at five near-field sites along a 200 km segment of coast located between the two zones of predominant fault slip. Field measurements, including topography, flow depths, flow directions, scour depths, and deposit thicknesses, provide insights into the processes and morphological changes associated with tsunami inundation and...

Approaches using telemetry, precise reproductive assessments, and surgically implanted data storage tags (DSTs) were used in combination with novel applications of analytical techniques for fish movement studies to describe patterns in migratory behavior and predict spawning success of gravid shovelnose sturgeon. From 2004 to 2007, over 300 gravid female shovelnose sturgeon...

A draft update of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ambient water quality criteria (AWQC) for ammonia substantially lowers the ammonia AWQC, primarily due to the inclusion of toxicity data for freshwater mussels. However, most of the mussel data used in the updated AWQC were generated from water-only exposures and limited information is available on the potential influence of the...

Lake Okeechobee in south-central Florida is the second largest freshwater lake in the contiguous United States. Excessive phosphorus loading, harmful high and low water levels, and rapid expansion of non-native vegetation have threatened the health of the lake in recent decades. A study was conducted to monitor discharge and nutrient concentrations from selected tributaries into Lake...

Avian conservation efforts must account for changes in vegetation composition and structure associated with climate change. We modeled vegetation change and the probability of occurrence of birds to project changes in winter bird distributions associated with climate change and fire management in the northern Chihuahuan Desert (southwestern U.S.A.). We simulated vegetation change in a...

Amendments of sediment from dredging activities have played an important role in raising the elevation of sinking coastal wetlands. This study compared the soil characteristics of sediment- amended coastal swamps in the Barataria Preserve unit of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve with natural swamps along Bayou des Familles. The sandy sediment amendments used in the...

A method to estimate speed of free-ranging fishes using a passive sampling device is described and illustrated with data from the Everglades, U.S.A. Catch per unit effort (CPUE) from minnow traps embedded in drift fences was treated as an encounter rate and used to estimate speed, when combined with an independent estimate of density obtained by use of throw traps that enclose 1 m2 of...

Assessment of recently collected geophysical and sediment-core data identifies an extensive shoal field located off Dauphin and Petit Bois Islands. The shoals are the product of Pleistocene fluvial deposition and Holocene marine-transgressive processes, and their position and orientation oblique to the modern shoreline has been stable over the past century. The underlying stratigraphy...

Three years of weekly- to biweekly-resolved sediment-trap data show that almost 90% of the total flux of tests of the planktic foraminifer Globorotalia truncatulinoides to sediments in the northern Gulf of Mexico occurs in January and February. Comparison of δ18O from tests of non-encrusted Gl. truncatulinoides in sediment-trap samples with calculated calcification depths indicates that...