All Publications

Nihoa and Laysan Island, part of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, are host to three endangered passerine species—Nihoa finch (Telespiza ultima), Nihoa millerbird (Acrocephalus familiaris kingi), and Laysan finch (Telespiza cantans). Using point-transect distance sampling survey records from 2010 to 2022 for Nihoa and 2013 to 2019 for Laysan Island, we estimated the density and abundance of all t

A cellular automata model was developed and parameterized to test the effectiveness of application of biological control insects to water hyacinth (Pontederia crassipes), which is an invasive floating plant species in many parts of the world and outcompetes many submersed native aquatic species in southern Florida. In the model, P. crassipes was allowed to compete with Nuttall’s waterweed (Elodea

Dams are one of the greatest threats to freshwater biodiversity and efforts to remove dams to restore riverine systems are increasing. However, dam-removal studies have primarily focused on taxonomic responses to large dam removals with little work on the functional trait responses of fish to small-dam removals; such a focus limits the application of results in regions with different taxonomic com

ObjectiveObtaining demographic rates often requires complex open-population capture–mark–recapture (CMR) study designs. Conducting such studies for small-bodied fishes has been limited in part by excessive mortality after tagging procedures and poor tag retention. As new tag types emerge, information regarding fish survival and tag retention over varying time scales may benefit resource managers t

Understanding controls on solute export to streams is challenging because heterogeneous catchments can respond uniquely to drivers of environmental change. To understand general solute export patterns, we used a large-scale inductive approach to evaluate concentration–discharge (C–Q) metrics across catchments spanning a broad range of catchment attributes and hydroclimatic drivers. We leveraged pa

Due to geological complexities and observational gaps, it is challenging to identify the governing physical processes of geothermal field deformation including ground subsidence and earthquakes. In the west and east regions of the Heber Geothermal Field (HGF), decade-long subsidence was occurring despite injection of heat-depleted brines, along with transient reversals between uplift and subsidenc

Foragers on patchy landscapes must efficiently balance time between searching for and consuming resources to meet their daily energetic requirements. Spatial aggregation foraging behaviors may improve foraging efficiency by sharing information on locations of resource hotspots. Wading birds are an example of patch foragers that form colonial aggregations during the breeding season to obtain suffic

This report characterizes changes in peak streamflow in Illinois and the relation of these changes to climatic variability, and provides a foundation for future studies that can address nonstationarity in peak-flow frequency analysis in Illinois. Records of annual peak and daily streamflow at streamgages and gridded monthly climatic data (observed and modeled) were examined across four trend perio

Effect concentrations of ammonia, nickel, sodium chloride, and potassium chloride from short-term 7-day tests were compared to those from standard chronic 28-day toxicity tests with juvenile mussels (fatmucket, Lampsilis siliquoidea) to evaluate the sensitivities of the 7-day tests. The effect concentrations for nickel (59 µg Ni/L), chloride (316–519 mg Cl/L, a range from multiple tests), and pota

Features of landscape morphology—including slope, curvature, and drainage dissection—are important controls on runoff generation in upland landscapes. Over long timescales, runoff plays an essential role in shaping these same features through surface erosion. This feedback between erosion and runoff generation suggests that modeling long-term landscape evolution together with dynamic runoff genera

We examine how the choice of ground‐motion‐to‐intensity conversion equations (GMICEs) in earthquake early warning (EEW) systems affects resulting alert regions. We find that existing GMICEs can underestimate observed shaking at short rupture distances or overestimate the extent of low‐intensity shaking. Updated GMICEs that remove these biases would improve the accuracy of alert regions for the Sha

Understanding genetic structure and diversity among remnant populations of rare species can inform conservation and recovery actions. We used a population genetic framework to spatially delineate gene pools and estimate gene flow and effective population sizes for the endangered California Freshwater Shrimp Syncaris pacifica. Tissues of 101 individuals were collected from 11 sites in 5 watersheds,