Publications

The Colorado River is often referred to as “the lifeblood of the west.” The basin supplies municipal water to nearly 40 million people and irrigates approximately 22,000 km2 of agricultural lands. Twenty-two major rivers converge with the Colorado after it begins its descent from the Rocky Mountains and winds through the plateaus of Colorado, Utah, and Arizona, onto the deserts of southwestern Ari

Snake fungal disease, caused by Ophidiomyces ophidiicola, is recognized as a potential concern for North American snakes. We tested skin swabs from Northern Pine Snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus melanoleucus) in the New Jersey pinelands for the presence of O. ophidiicola before emergence from hibernation. We used qPCR to test the collected swabs for the presence of O. ophidiicola, then determined pa

Migratory diversity can promote population differentiation if sympatric phenotypes become temporally, spatially, or behaviorally segregated during breeding. In this study, the potential for spatiotemporal segregation was tested among three migratory phenotypes of lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) that spawn in the St. Clair River of North America’s Laurentian Great Lakes but differ in how often

Warming winters due to climate change can facilitate the range expansion of invasive non-native species. In the southeastern United States, the frequency and intensity of extreme winter temperatures determines the northern range limits of many tropical organisms including many species of invasive non-native plants. However, the effects of winter climate change on invasive species’ range limits hav

We compared a bead RNA extraction method with a one-tube method that required only a heat block and ice. RNA was first extracted from liver samples from nine rabbits dying from rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2 (RHDV2) using magnetic beads, and RT-PCR was used to detect RHDV2 sequence. Following freezing, RNA was extracted a second time using the SwiftX™ Swabs Viral RNA Extraction Reagent. RHDV2

Sex ratio, and the extent to which it varies over time, is an important factor in the demography, management, and conservation of wildlife populations. Greater sage-grouse Centrocercus urophasianus populations in western North America are monitored using counts of males at leks in spring. Population estimates derived from lek-count data typically assume a constant, female-biased sex ratio, yet few

The recent development of animal-borne sensors coupled with location data can provide insights into how individuals modify their behaviour with respect to specific habitat features. Animals can express a diverse array of behaviours as they navigate heterogenous landscapes, yet few studies have specifically evaluated the interaction of behaviours with habitat characteristics. We used a novel broadc

AimTidal wetlands are greatly impacted by climate change, and by the invasion of alien plant species that are being exposed to salinity changes and longer inundation periods resulting from sea level rise. To explore the capacity for the invasion of Iris pseudacorus to persist with sea level rise, we initiated an intercontinental study along estuarine gradients in the invaded North American range a

Lakes provide important habitat for salmonids that may use them as a primary feeding area between periods of reproduction. The seasonal changes in vertical thermal structure in lakes can affect the distribution of salmonids on seasonal and diel time scales as they search for, consume, and digest prey that also exploits the water column's distribution of food, temperature and light. Our goal was to

Since 1978, surveys of Lake Ontario preyfish communities have provided information on the status and trends of the benthic preyfish community related to Fish Community Objectives that includes understanding preyfish population dynamics and community diversity. Beginning in 2015, the benthic preyfish survey expanded from US-only to incorporate Canadian sites, increasing the survey’s spatial coverag

Across the globe, bird morphology is changing rapidly. Although trajectories of change are frequently consistent across studies, rates of change among species vary in magnitude—a phenomenon that remains unexplained. By analyzing two independently collected datasets demonstrating consistent changes in morphology in 129 species, we show that rates of phenotypic change are negatively correlated with

Establishing realistic targets for fish community composition is needed to assess the effectiveness of river restoration projects. We used environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding with MiFish primers to obtain estimates of fish community composition across 17 sites upstream, downstream and within a restoration mitigation project area (Kaihotsu–Kasumi) located in the Shigenobu River system, Ehime Pre