Publications

Foundation plant species play a critical role in coastal wetlands, often modifying abiotic conditions that are too stressful for most organisms and providing the primary habitat features that support entire ecological communities. Here, we consider the influence of climatic drivers on the distribution of foundation plant species within coastal wetlands of the conterminous USA. Using region-level s

A goal of wetland restoration is the establishment of resilient plant communities that persist under a variety of environmental conditions. We investigated the role of intraspecific and interspecific variation on plant community establishment in a brackish marsh that had been restored by sediment addition. Plant growth, sediment accretion, and surface elevation change in planted, not-planted, and

Periodicity of fire disturbance is a known driver of ecosystem function and is reported as important in both promoting and maintaining viable breeding habitat for the endangered Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow (Ammospiza maritima mirabilis; CSSS). In south Florida, the CSSS serves as a fine-scale indicator of the marl and mixed-marl prairie communities of the Florida Everglades. The CSSS distribution i

Background Many mangrove ecosystems are periodically exposed to high velocity winds and surge from tropical cyclones and often recover with time and continue to provide numerous societal benefits in the wake of storm events. Scope This review focuses on the drivers and disturbance mechanisms (visible and functional) that tropical cyclones of various intensities have on mangrove ecosystem properti

The Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge (refuge), Boynton Beach, Florida, contains approximately 147,000 acres southeast of Lake Okeechobee. Water quality in the interior portion of the refuge is strongly influenced by rainfall, resulting in slightly acidic waters with low dissolved ions. Desmids, a unique, ornate group of green algae loosely associated with submerged vascular

Functional responses describe how changing resource availability affects consumer resource use, thus providing a mechanistic approach to prediction of the invasibility and potential damage of invasive alien species (IAS). However, functional responses can be context dependent, varying with resource characteristics and availability, consumer attributes, and environmental variables. Identifying cont

Actively monitoring the timing, development, and reproductive patterns of endangered species is critical when managing for population recovery. Freshwater mussels are among the most imperiled organisms in the world, but information about early larval (glochidial) development and brooding periods is still lacking for many species. Previous studies have focused on the complex life history stage when

Coastal Louisiana host 37% of the coastal wetland area in the conterminous US, including one of the deltaic coastal regions more susceptible to the synergy of human and natural impacts causing wetland loss. As a result of the construction of flood protection infrastructure, dredging of channels across wetlands for oil/gas exploration and maritime transport activities, coastal Coastal Louisiana hos

Bullseye Snakehead Channa marulius (Hamilton 1822) was first detected in the southern Florida town of Tamarac in 2000 and has been expanding its geographic range since. Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis is a newly-developed technique used to noninvasively detect cryptic or low-density species or those that are logistically difficult-to-study. Genetic material shed into the environment through tis

USA: LOUISIANA: PLAQUEMINES PARISH: 0.15 km S of the intersection of LA-23 and Jump  road, Venice (29.266630°N, 89.35570°W; WGS 84). 2 May 2019. V. C. Montross and W. McGighan. Verified by Aaron M. Bauer. Florida Museum of Natural History (UF 189238; photo voucher). New parish record. On 2 May 2019, three Hemidactylus parvimaculatus were observed after lifting an abandoned door left on the side of

Mangrove forests in the Florida Everglades (USA) are frequently affected by hurricanes that produce high-velocity winds, storm surge, and extreme rainfall, but also provide sediment subsidies that help mangroves adjust to sea-level rise. The long-term influence of hurricane sediment inputs on soil elevation dynamics in mangrove forests are not well understood. Here, we assessed the effects of sedi

The introduction of snakeheads from their origins in Asia is relatively recent to the conterminous United States with the first of many collections beginning in the late 1990s. For decades they have been commercially fished and aquacultured around the world for human food and, to a lesser degree, for the aquarium trade. Over a dozen snakehead species known to be of economic importance outside the