Publications

Researchers have successfully designed aerial surveys that provided precise estimates of wintering populations of ducks over large physiographic regions, yet few conservation agencies have adopted these probability-based sampling designs for their surveys. We designed and evaluated an aerial survey to estimate abundance of wintering mallards {Anas platyrhynchos), dabbling ducks (tribe Anatini) ot

Molecular and morphological data were used to derive a phylogenetic hypothesis for the Eurylaimides, an Old World bird group now known to be distributed pantropically, and to investigate the evolution and biogeography of the group. Phylogenetic results indicated that the Eurylaimides consist of two monophyletic groups, the pittas (Pittidae) and the broadbills (Eurylaimidae sensu lato), and that t

Marine and estuarine habitats near urban or industrialized regions are vulnerable to contaminated runoff. Harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardsi), which occur throughout much of the northern hemisphere, are useful mammalian biomonitors because they feed, reproduce, and rest near or on shore and are high-level trophic consumers. They have often been monitored for contaminants in Europe (Wagemann

Informed management of waterfowl (or any animal population) requires management goals and objectives, the ability to implement management actions, periodic information about population and goal-related varlables, and knowledge of effects of management actions on population and goal-related variables. In North America, international treaties mandate a primary objective of protecting migratory bird

A major part of the midcontinent greater white-fronted goose (Anser albifrons) population stages for several weeks in spring in the Rainwater Basin Area (RBA) of south-central Nebraska where substantial mortality from disease occurs periodically. Effective management of this population requires better data on use of habitat, vulnerability to disease, and the role of staging areas in migration and

Results of tests for rickettsiae and viruses on 4,266 ticks taken from more than 10,000 birds, comprising 150 species, in the eastern United States indicated the presence of two agents: Rickettsia rickettsii and an agent of the typhus group. Infection with R. rickettsii was indicated in 24 pools of Haemaphysalis leporispalustris, five pools of Ixodes dentatus, one pool of Ixodes brunneus, and two

No abstract available.

Within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota, soils were collected from 116 sites in areas of primarily virgin forest with fire-origin stand years (year of last recognizable stand-killing wildfire) that range from the 1759 to 1976. Median concentrations for total mercury in soils for this span of 217 years range from 0.28 ± 0.088 ppm (1759) to 0.09 ± 0.047 ppm (1976)

Unknown compounds detected in Ardea herodias tissues are identified by gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry as residues of octachlorostyrene. Heptachlorostyrene and hexachlorostyrene were tentatively identified.

The field of paleoclimatology relies on physical, chemical, and biological proxies of past climate changes that have been preserved in natural archives such as glacial ice, tree rings, sediments, corals, and speleothems. Paleoclimate archives obtained through field investigations, ocean sediment coring expeditions, ice sheet coring programs, and other projects allow scientists to reconstruct clima

During September 12-15, 2008, rainfall ranging from 2 to more than 11 inches fell on northwestern Indiana. The rainfall resulted in extensive flooding on many streams within the Lake Michigan and Kankakee River Basins during September 12-18, causing two deaths, evacuation of hundreds of residents, and millions of dollars of damage to residences, businesses, and infrastructure. In all, six counties

We developed components of a decision structure that could be used in an adaptive management framework for responding to invasion of hemlock woolly adelgid Adeleges tsugae on the Cumberland Plateau of northern Tennessee. Hemlock woolly adelgid, an invasive forest pest, was first detected in this area in 2007. We used a structured decision-making process to identify and refine the management proble