Publications

Animal behavior can be difficult, time-consuming, and costly to observe in the field directly. Innovative modeling methods, such as hidden Markov models (HMMs), allow researchers to infer unobserved animal behaviors from movement data, and implementations often assume that transitions between states occur multiple times. However, some behavioral shifts of interest, such as parturition, migration i

No abstract available.

The conservation and management of wildlife populations, particularly for threatened and endangered species are greatly aided with abundance, growth rate, and density measures. Traditional methods of estimating abundance and related metrics represent trade-offs in effort and precision of estimates. Pedigree reconstruction is an emerging, attractive alternate approach because its use of one-time, n

Life-history traits of a species have been postulated as a factor in abundance and occupancy patterns. Understanding how traits contribute to the ubiquity and rarity of taxa can facilitate the development of effective conservation policy by establishing a connection between species requirements and resource. The goal was to evaluate fish assemblages in artificial lakes for evidence of the abundanc

Freshwater ecosystems are undergoing rapid thermal shifts, making it increasingly important to understand species-specific responses to these changes. Traditional techniques for determining a species’ thermal tolerance are often lethal and time consuming. Using the enzyme activity associated with the electron transport system (ETS; hereafter referred to as enzyme assay) may provide a non-lethal, r

We conducted a population genomic study of the crested caracara (Caracara plancus) using samples (n = 290) collected from individuals in Florida, Texas, and Arizona, United States. Crested caracaras are non-migratory raptors ranging from the southern tip of South America to the southern United States, including a federally protected relict population in Florida long thought to have been isolated s

Population size is a key metric for management and policy decisions, yet wildlife monitoring programmes are often limited by the spatial and temporal scope of surveys. In these cases, citizen science data may provide complementary information at higher resolution and greater extent.We present a case study demonstrating how data from the eBird citizen science programme can be combined with regional

Translocation is a management tool used to restore or augment wildlife populations, but outcomes of translocations are often poorly documented and can have varying levels of success for improving wildlife population declines. The lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) is a prairie grouse endemic to the southern Great Plains. In response to declining abundance and distribution, in 2023

ObjectiveSome graylings Thymallus spp. possess an elongated dorsal fin and other morphological traits that can be sexually dimorphic, as demonstrated in the European Grayling T. thymallus. North American Arctic Grayling T. arcticus are assumed to follow these trends, but decisive evidence is lacking. This study aimed to determine whether sexually dimorphic characteristics, including posterior dors

No abstract available.

Knowledge about the demographic and environmental factors underlying population dynamics is fundamental to designing effective conservation measures to recover depleted wildlife populations. However, sparse monitoring data or persistent knowledge gaps about threats make it difficult to identify the drivers of population dynamics. In situations where small, declining, or depleted populations show c

ObjectiveReducing Largemouth Bass Micropterus salmoides recruitment and therefore population density could benefit recreational fisheries in small impoundments by improving individual growth rates and increasing the average size and condition of Largemouth Bass. To achieve these effects, methods of controlling Largemouth Bass recruitment should avoid reducing the productivity of their primary prey