Publications
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Home in the heat: Dramatic seasonal variation in home range of desert golden eagles informs management for renewable energy development
Renewable energy is expanding quickly with sometimes dramatic impacts to species and ecosystems. To understand the degree to which sensitive species may be impacted by renewable energy projects, it is informative to know how much space individuals use and how that space may overlap with planned development. We used global positioning system–global system for mobile communications (GPS...
Authors
Melissa Braham, Tricia Miller, Adam E. Duerr, Michael Lanzone, Amy Fesnock-Parker, Larry LaPre, Daniel G. Driscoll, Todd Eli Katzner
Managing habitat to slow or reverse population declines of the Columbia spotted frog in the Northern Great Basin
Evaluating the effectiveness of habitat management actions is critical to adaptive management strategies for conservation of imperiled species. We quantified the response of a Great Basin population of the Columbia spotted frog (Rana luteiventris) to multiple habitat improvement actions aimed to reduce threats and reverse population declines. We used mark-recapture data for 1,394 adult...
Authors
David Pilliod, Richard D. Scherer
Sampling animal sign in heterogeneous environments: how much is enough?
Animal ecologists often use animal sign as a surrogate for direct observation of organisms, especially when species are secretive or difficult to observe. Spatial heterogeneity in arid environments makes it challenging to consistently detect and precisely characterize animal sign, which can bias estimates of animal abundance or habitat use. Piute ground squirrels (Urocitellus mollis) and...
Authors
Joseph D. Holbrook, Robert Arkle, Janet L. Rachlow, Kerri T. Vierling, David Pilliod
Estimation of occupancy, breeding success, and predicted abundance of golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) in the Diablo Range, California, 2014
We used a multistate occupancy sampling design to estimate occupancy, breeding success, and abundance of territorial pairs of golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) in the Diablo Range, California, in 2014. This method uses the spatial pattern of detections and non-detections over repeated visits to survey sites to estimate probabilities of occupancy and successful reproduction while...
Authors
David Wiens, Patrick Kolar, Mark R. Fuller, W. Grainger Hunt, Teresa L. Hunt
Higher-order statistical moments and a procedure that detects potentially anomalous years as two alternative methods describing alterations in continuous environmental data
Statistics of central tendency and dispersion may not capture relevant or desired characteristics of the distribution of continuous phenomena and, thus, they may not adequately describe temporal patterns of change. Here, we present two methodological approaches that can help to identify temporal changes in environmental regimes. First, we use higher-order statistical moments (skewness...
Authors
Ivan Arismendi, Sherri L Johnson, Jason B. Dunham
Mitigation effectiveness for improving nesting success of greater sage-grouse influenced by energy development
Sagebrush Artemisia spp. habitats being developed for oil and gas reserves are inhabited by sagebrush obligate species — including the greater sage-grouse Centrocercus urophasianus (sage-grouse) that is currently being considered for protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Numerous studies suggest increasing oil and gas development may exacerbate species extinction risks...
Authors
Christopher P. Kirol, Andrew L. Sutphin, Laura S. Bond, Mark R. Fuller, Thomas L. Maechtle
Convergence of soil nitrogen isotopes across global climate gradients
Quantifying global patterns of terrestrial nitrogen (N) cycling is central to predicting future patterns of primary productivity, carbon sequestration, nutrient fluxes to aquatic systems, and climate forcing. With limited direct measures of soil N cycling at the global scale, syntheses of the 15 N: 14 N ratio of soil organic matter across climate gradients provide key insights into...
Authors
Joseph M. Craine, Andrew J. Elmore, Lixin Wang, Laurent Augusto, W.T. Baisden, E. N. J. Brookshire, Michael D. Cramer, Niles J. Hasselquist, Erik A. Hobbie, Ansgar Kahmen, Keisuke Koba, J. Marty Kranabetter, Michelle M Mack, Erika Marin-Spiotta, Jordan R. Mayor, Kendra K. McLauchlan, Anders Michelsen, Gabriela Bielefeld Nardoto, Rafael Silva Oliveira, Steven Perakis, Pablo Luis Peri, Carlos A. Quesada, Andreas Richter, Louis A. Schipper, Bryan A. Stevenson, Benjamin L. Turner, Ricardo A. G. Viani, Wolfgang Wanek, Bernd Zeller
Long-term plant responses to climate are moderated by biophysical attributes in a North American desert
Recent elevated temperatures and prolonged droughts in many already water-limited regions throughout the world, including the southwestern U.S., are likely to intensify according to future climate-model projections. This warming and drying can negatively affect perennial vegetation and lead to the degradation of ecosystem properties. To better understand these detrimental effects, we...
Authors
Seth Munson, Robert Webb, David C. Housman, Kari E. Veblen, Kenneth E. Nussear, Erik A. Beever, Kristine B. Hartney, Maria N. Miriti, Sue Phillips, Robert E. Fulton, Nita G. Tallent
Fire modulates climate change response of simulated aspen distribution across topoclimatic gradients in a semi-arid montane landscape
Content Changing aspen distribution in response to climate change and fire is a major focus of biodiversity conservation, yet little is known about the potential response of aspen to these two driving forces along topoclimatic gradients. Objective This study is set to evaluate how aspen distribution might shift in response to different climate-fire scenarios in a semi-arid montane...
Authors
Jian Yang, Peter J. Weisberg, Douglas J. Shinneman, Thomas E. Dilts, Susan L. Earnst, Robert M. Scheller
Characterizing the distribution of an endangered salmonid using environmental DNA analysis
Determining species distributions accurately is crucial to developing conservation and management strategies for imperiled species, but a challenging task for small populations. We evaluated the efficacy of environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis for improving detection and thus potentially refining the known distribution of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in the Methow and Okanogan...
Authors
Matthew Laramie, David S. Pilliod, Caren S. Goldberg
Intercontinental genetic structure and gene flow in Dunlin (Calidris alpina), a potential vector of avian influenza
Waterfowl (Anseriformes) and shorebirds (Charadriiformes) are the most common wild vectors of influenza A viruses. Due to their migratory behavior, some may transmit disease over long distances. Migratory connectivity studies can link breeding and nonbreeding grounds while illustrating potential interactions among populations that may spread diseases. We investigated Dunlin (Calidris...
Authors
Mark P. Miller, Susan M. Haig, Thomas D. Mullins, Luzhang Ruan, Bruce Casler, Alexei Dondua, H. River Gates, J. Micheal Johnson, Steven J. Kendall, Pavel S. Tomkovich, Diane Tracy, Olga P. Valchuk, Richard Lanctot
Mortality estimation from carcass searches using the R-package carcass: a tutorial
This article is a tutorial for the R-package carcass. It starts with a short overview of common methods used to estimate mortality based on carcass searches. Then, it guides step by step through a simple example. First, the proportion of animals that fall into the search area is estimated. Second, carcass persistence time is estimated based on experimental data. Third, searcher...
Authors
Fränzi Korner-Nievergelt, Oliver Behr, Robert Brinkmann, Matthew A. Etterson, Manuela M. Huso, Daniel Dalthorp, Pius Korner-Nievergelt, Tobias Roth, Ivo Niermann