Publications

The African wild cat is one of the smallest wild cats and its future is threatened by hybridization with domestic cats. Nuclear transfer, a valuable tool for retaining genetic variability, offers the possibility of species continuation rather than extinction. The aim of this study was to investigate the ability of somatic cell nuclei of the African wild cat (AWC) to dedifferentiate...

The objectives of this study were to determine effects of nutrient enrichment on plant growth, nutrient dynamics, and photosynthesis in a disturbed mangrove forest in an abandoned mosquito impoundment in Florida. Impounding altered the hydrology and soil chemistry of the site. In 1997, we established a factorial experiment along a tree-height gradient with three zones, i.e., fringe...

We investigated salinity and temperature effects on routine metabolic rate (RMR), temperature tolerance (CTMax, critical thermal maximum), and salinity tolerance of Limia melanonotata, a poecliid fish that occurs in west-central inland waters of Hispaniola. Routine metabolic rate and CTMax were measured in fish acclimated to three salinities (0, 30, and 60 ppt) and temperatures (25??, 30...

An important component of the Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA) Comprehensive Coastwide Ecosystem Restoration Study is the projection of a “future condition” for the Louisiana coast if no further restoration measures were adopted. Such a projection gives an idea of what the future might hold without implementation of the LCA plan and provides a reference against which various ecosystem...

Our objective was to improve knowledge about effects of broad-scale road and development variables on bird communities in protected desert landscapes. Bird species richness and the relative abundance or probability of occurrence of many species were significantly associated with total length of roads within each of two spatial extents (1- and 2-km radii), distance to the nearest road...

Our objectives were to explain the prospects and constraints of applying empirical models that relate bird community metrics to broad-scale characteristics of roads and development. We explored the practical value of regression models that were derived for a large protected area in the Chihuahuan Desert. These models related bird species richness, relative abundance, or probability of...

Rhizophora mangle was first introduced to Hawaii in 1902 to promote shoreline stabilization. Intertidal competition with native and introduced salt marsh species was low, and beyond the early 1920s, mangrove forests expanded rapidly. An additional mangrove species, Bruguiera sexangula, was introduced in 1922 and currently co-occurs with R. mangle in only a few stands on the north shore...

Herein I compare the relative importance of preference for structurally complex habitat against avoidance of competitors and predators in two benthic fishes common in the Gulf of Mexico. The code goby Gobiosoma robustum Ginsburg and clown goby Microgobius gulosus (Girard) are common, ecologically similar fishes found throughout the Gulf of Mexico and in the southeastern Atlantic Ocean...

Bayesian inference and decision theory may be used in the solution of relatively complex problems of natural resource management, owing to recent advances in statistical theory and computing. In particular, Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms provide a computational framework for fitting models of adequate complexity and for evaluating the expected consequences of alternative management...

We measured sediment elevation and accretion dynamics in mangrove forests on the islands of Guanaja and Roatan, Honduras, impacted by Hurricane Mitch in 1998 to determine if collapse of underlying peat was occurring as a result of mass tree mortality. Little is known about the balance between production and decomposition of soil organic matter in the maintenance of sediment elevation of...

We sampled a population of two species of hylid treefrogs using 90 vertical ground-placed PVC pipes of 3 diameters positioned along a 1500-m transect at a forest-open pond ecotone in north-central Florida in order to identify potential capture biases. We recorded 1,981 treefrog observations (778 unmarked, 1,203 recaptures) in 8 months. Our results identified species-specific seasonal and...

Global sea-level rise is projected to accelerate two-to four-fold during the next century, increasing storm surge and shoreline retreat along low-lying, unconsolidated coastal margins. The Mississippi River Deltaic Plain in southeastern Louisiana is particularly vulnerable to erosion and inundation due to the rapid deterioration of coastal barriers combined with relatively high rates of...