Publications

Louisiana contains nearly 40% of estuarine herbaceous wetlands in the contiguous United States, supporting valuable ecosystem services and providing significant economic benefits to the state and the entire United States. However, coastal Louisiana is a hotspot for rapid land loss from factors including hurricanes, land use change, and high subsidence rates contributing to high relative...

This research reports the findings of a Landsat Next expert review panel that evaluated the use of narrow shortwave infrared (SWIR) reflectance bands to measure ligno-cellulose absorption features centered near 2100 and 2300 nm, with the objective of measuring and mapping non-photosynthetic vegetation (NPV), crop residue cover, and the adoption of conservation tillage practices within...

Three recent collections of Najas marina (spiny water-nymph) from Missoula County, Montana are documented and illustrated. These collections are the first records for Montana and for the Pacific Northwest region. The occurrence of N. marina in Montana reflects a significant northward expansion of this species in the Mountain West. The North American distribution of this species is also...

In this paper we consider the problem of how to quantitatively characterize the degree to which a study object exhibits a generalized response. By generalized response, we mean a multivariate response where numerous individual properties change in concerted fashion due to some internal integration. In latent variable structural equation modeling (LVSEM), we would typically approach this...

Instrumental variable regression (RegIV) provides a means for detecting and correcting parameter bias in causal models. Widely used in economics, recently several papers have highlighted its potential utility for ecological applications. Little attention has thus far been paid to the fact that IV methods can also be implemented within structural equation models (SEMIV). In this paper I...

Climate extremes are becoming more frequent with global climate change and have the potential to cause major ecological regime shifts. Along the northern Gulf of Mexico, a coastal wetland in Texas suffered sudden vegetation dieback following an extreme precipitation and flooding event associated with Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Historical salt marsh dieback events have been linked to...

As many ecosystems worldwide are in peril, efforts to manage them sustainably require scientific advice. While numerous researchers around the world use a great variety of models to understand ecological dynamics and their responses to disturbances, only a small fraction of these models are ever used to inform ecosystem management. There seems to be a perception that ecological models...

West Indian manatees (Trichechus manatus) are separated into two allopatric subspecies: the Florida manatee (T. m. latirostris) and the Antillean manatee (T. m. manatus). In the winter of 2020–2021, an adult manatee was sighted off the coast of Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico, in areas where Antillean manatees are not typically seen. The individual had distinct watercraft scars on its body...

Livebearers in the family Poeciliidae are some of the most widely introduced fishes. Native poeciliid translocations within the U.S. are mostly due to deliberate stocking for mosquito control. Introductions of exotic poeciliids, those not native to the U.S., are more likely to be due to release from aquaria or escape from farms. Many of these non-natives originate from warm climate...

Nannizziopsis guarroi is an ascomycete fungus associated with a necrotizing dermatitis in captive green iguanas (Iguana iguana) and bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps) across both Europe and North America. Clinical signs of the disease include swelling and lesion formation. Lesions develop from white raised bumps on the skin and progress into crusty, yellow, discolored scales, eventually...

Vernal pools of the northeastern United States provide important breeding habitat for amphibians but may be sensitive to droughts and climate change. These seasonal wetlands typically fill by early spring and dry by mid-to-late summer. Because climate change may produce earlier and stronger growing-season evapotranspiration combined with increasing droughts and shifts in precipitation...

Chemical contamination of freshwaters is a global problem. In the United States alone, millions of kilometers of rivers and hectares of lakes and wetlands are impaired from contamination by chemicals including mercury, pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and trace metals (US Environmental Protection Agency, 2017). Efforts to mitigate the risks of contamination have largely...