Publications
Explore WARC's science publications.
Filter Total Items: 3374
Assessment of adult pallid sturgeon fish condition, Lower Missouri River—Application of new information to the Missouri River Recovery Program
During spring 2015, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (NGPC) biologists noted that pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) were in poor condition during sampling associated with the Pallid Sturgeon Population Assessment Project and NGPC’s annual pallid sturgeon broodstock collection effort. These observations prompted concerns that reduced fish condition could compromise reproductive health and po
Authors
Michael T. Randall, Michael E. Colvin, Kirk D. Steffensen, Timothy L. Welker, Landon L. Pierce, Robert B. Jacobson
Linear and nonlinear effects of temperature and precipitation on ecosystem properties in tidal saline wetlands
Climate greatly influences the structure and functioning of tidal saline wetland ecosystems. However, there is a need to better quantify the effects of climatic drivers on ecosystem properties, particularly near climate-sensitive ecological transition zones. Here, we used climate- and literature-derived ecological data from tidal saline wetlands to test hypotheses regarding the influence of climat
Authors
Laura C. Feher, Michael J. Osland, Kereen T. Griffith, James B. Grace, Rebecca J. Howard, Camille L. Stagg, Nicholas M. Enwright, Ken W. Krauss, Christopher A. Gabler, Richard H. Day, Kerrylee Rogers
Optimal control of an invasive species using a reaction-diffusion model and linear programming
Managing an invasive species is particularly challenging as little is generally known about the species’ biological characteristics in its new habitat. In practice, removal of individuals often starts before the species is studied to provide the information that will later improve control. Therefore, the locations and the amount of control have to be determined in the face of great uncertainty abo
Authors
Mathieu Bonneau, Fred A. Johnson, Brian J. Smith, Christina M. Romagosa, Julien Martin, Frank J. Mazzotti
Food-web dynamics and isotopic niches in deep-sea communities residing in a submarine canyon and on the adjacent open slopes
Examination of food webs and trophic niches provide insights into organisms' functional ecology, yet few studies have examined trophodynamics within submarine canyons, where the interaction of canyon morphology and oceanography influences habitat provision and food deposition. Using stable isotope analysis and Bayesian ellipses, we documented deep-sea food-web structure and trophic niches in Balti
Authors
Amanda W.J. Demopoulos, Jennifer McClain-Counts, Steve W. Ross, Sandra Brooke, Furu Mienis
Alligator mississippiensis (American Alligator): Novel non-native prey
American Alligators are opportunistic predators and their food habits have been well studied (Elsey et al. 1992. Proc. Annu. Conf. Southeast. Assoc. Fish Wildl. Agencies 46:57–66, and references therein and below). Composition of
A. mississippiensis diet often varies due to regional limitation in prey availability (Neill 1971. The Last of the Ruling Reptiles. Alligators, Crocodiles, and their Kin.
Authors
Ruth M. Elsey, Eric Ledet, Jacoby Carter
Genetic composition and connectivity of the Antillean manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus) in Panama
Genetic diversity and haplotype composition of the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus) population from the San San Pond Sak wetland in Bocas del Toro, Panama was studied using a segment of mitochondrial DNA (D’loop). No genetic information has been published to date for Panamanian populations. Due to the secretive behavior and small population size of the species in the area, DNA extraction w
Authors
Edgardo Díaz-Ferguson, Margaret Hunter, Héctor M. Guzmán
Measuring the role of seagrasses in regulating sediment surface elevation
Seagrass meadows provide numerous ecosystem services and their rapid global loss may reduce human welfare as well as ecological integrity. In common with the other ‘blue carbon’ habitats (mangroves and tidal marshes) seagrasses are thought to provide coastal defence and encourage sediment stabilisation and surface elevation. A sophisticated understanding of sediment elevation dynamics in mangroves
Authors
Maria Potouroglou, James C. Bull, Ken W. Krauss, Hilary A. Kennedy, Marco Fusi, Daniele Daffonchio, Mwita M. Mangora, Michael N. Githaiga, Karen Diele, Mark Huxham
Fatal attraction? Intraguild facilitation and suppression among predators
Competition and suppression are recognized as dominant forces that structure predator communities. Facilitation via carrion provisioning, however, is a ubiquitous interaction among predators that could offset the strength of suppression. Understanding the relative importance of these positive and negative interactions is necessary to anticipate community-wide responses to apex predator declines an
Authors
Kelly J. Sivy, Casey B. Pozzanghera, James B. Grace, Laura R. Prugh
The extremely divergent maternally- and paternally-transmitted mitochondrial genomes are co-expressed in somatic tissues of two freshwater mussel species with doubly uniparental inheritance of mtDNA
Freshwater mussel species with doubly uniparental inheritance (DUI) of mtDNA are unique because they are naturally heteroplasmic for two extremely divergent mtDNAs with ~50% amino acid differences for protein-coding genes. The paternally-transmitted mtDNA (or M mtDNA) clearly functions in sperm in these species, but it is still unknown whether it is transcribed when present in male or female soma.
Authors
Sophie Breton, Karim Bouvet, Gabrielle Auclair, Stephanie Ghazal, Bernard E. Sietman, Nathan A. Johnson, Stefano Bettinazzi, Donald T. Dtewart, Davide Guerra
Observations of raccoon (Procyon lotor) predation on the invasive Maculata apple snail (Pomacea maculata) in southern Louisiana
We used camera traps to determine which predators were responsible for depredated Pomacea maculata (Maculata Apple Snail) shells at 2 different study sites. Evidence of predation at these sites included operculums near the shells with a small amount of flesh attached and shells accumulating a meter or more from the water’s edge with no evidence of recent flooding. In both locations, the most frequ
Authors
Jacoby Carter, Sergio Merino, Drew Prejean, Gary Jr. LaFleur
The state of the world’s mangroves in the 21st century under climate change
Concerted mangrove research and rehabilitation efforts over the last several decades have prompted a better understanding of the important ecosystem attributes worthy of protection and a better conservation ethic toward mangrove wetlands globally. While mangroves continue to be degraded and lost in specific regions, conservation initiatives, rehabilitation efforts, natural regeneration, and climat
Authors
Ilka C. Feller, Daniel A. Friess, Ken W. Krauss, Roy R. Lewis
Assessing coastal wetland vulnerability to sea-level rise along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast: Gaps and opportunities for developing a coordinated regional sampling network
Coastal wetland responses to sea-level rise are greatly influenced by biogeomorphic processes that affect wetland surface elevation. Small changes in elevation relative to sea level can lead to comparatively large changes in ecosystem structure, function, and stability. The surface elevation table-marker horizon (SET-MH) approach is being used globally to quantify the relative contributions of pro
Authors
Michael J. Osland, Kereen T. Griffith, Jack C. Larriviere, Laura C. Feher, Donald R. Cahoon, Nicholas M. Enwright, David A. Oster, John M. Tirpak, Mark S. Woodrey, Renee C. Collini, Joseph J. Baustian, Joshua L. Breithaupt, Julia A Cherry, Jeremy R. Conrad, Nicole Cormier, Carlos A. Coronado-Molina, Joseph F. Donoghue, Sean A. Graham, Jennifer W. Harper, Mark W. Hester, Rebecca J. Howard, Ken W. Krauss, Daniel Kroes, Robert R. Lane, Karen L. McKee, Irving A. Mendelssohn, Beth A. Middleton, Jena A. Moon, Sarai Piazza, Nicole M. Rankin, Fred H. Sklar, Gregory D. Steyer, Kathleen M. Swanson, Christopher M. Swarzenski, William Vervaeke, Jonathan M Willis, K. Van Wilson