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Publications

Since its inception in 2008, CASC-funded research projects have generated over 2,000 publications in academic journals across the sciences, including articles in high-impact journals such as Science and Nature. Browse a selection of publications from CASC-funded projects below. For a complete list of our scientific projects, publications, and data, explore our Project Explorer database.

Filter Total Items: 497

A global dataset of inland fisheries expert knowledge

Inland fisheries and their freshwater habitats face intensifying effects from multiple natural and anthropogenic pressures. Fish harvest and biodiversity data remain largely disparate and severely deficient in many areas, which makes assessing and managing inland fisheries difficult. Expert knowledge is increasingly used to improve and inform biological or vulnerability assessments, especially in
Authors
Gretchen L. Stokes, Abigail Lynch, Simon Funge-Smith, John Valbo-Jørgensen, T. Douglas Beard, Benjamin S. Lowe, Jesse P. Wong, Samuel J. Smidt

The ten steps to responsible Inland fisheries in practice: Reflections from diverse regional case studies around the globe

Inland fisheries make substantial contributions to food security and livelihoods locally, regionally, and globally but their conservation and management have been largely overlooked by policy makers. In an effort to remedy this limited recognition, a cross-sectoral community of scientists, practitioners, and policy makers from around the world convened a high-level meeting in 2015 at the Food and
Authors
Steven J. Cooke, Elizabeth A. Nyboer, Abigail Bennett, Abigail J. Lynch, Dana M. Infante, Ian G. Cowx, Douglas Beard, Devin Bartley, Craig Paukert, Andrea J. Reid, Simon Funge-Smith, Edith Gondwe, Emmanuel Kaunda, John D. Koehn, Nicholas J. Souter, Gretchen L. Stokes, Leandro Castello, Nancy J. Leonard, Christian Skov, Soren Berg, William W. Taylor

Toward climate change refugia conservation at an ecoregion scale

Climate change uncertainty poses serious challenges to conservation efforts. One emerging conservation strategy is to identify and conserve climate change refugia: areas relatively buffered from contemporary climate change that enable persistence of valued resources. This management paradigm may be pursued at broad scales by leveraging existing resources and placing them into a tangible framework
Authors
Cathleen Balantic, Andrea Adams, Shana Gross, Rachel Mazur, Sarah Sawyer, Jody Tucker, Marian Vernon, Claudia Mengelt, Jennifer Morales, James Thorne, Timothy Brown, Nicole Athearn, Toni Lyn Morelli

Twenty-five essential research questions to inform the protection and restoration of freshwater biodiversity

Freshwater biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate. Freshwater conservationists and environmental managers have enough evidence to demonstrate that action must not be delayed but have insufficient evidence to identify those actions that will be most effective in reversing the current trend.Here, the focus is on identifying essential research topics that, if addressed, will contribute di
Authors
Meagan Harper, Hebah S. Mejbel, Dylan Longert, Robin Abell, T. Douglas Beard, Joseph R. Bennett, Stephanie M. Carlson, William Darwall, Anthony Dell, Sami Domisch, David Dudgeon, Jörg Freyhof, Ian Harrison, Kathy A. Hughes, Sonja C. Jähnig, Jonathan M. Jeschke, Richard Lansdown, Mark Lintermans, Abigail Lynch, Helen M. R. Meredith, Sanjay Molur, Julian D. Olden, Steve J. Ormerod, Harmony Patricio, Andrea J. Reid, Astrid Schmidt-Kloiber, Michele Thieme, David Tickner, Eren Turak, Olaf L. F. Weyl, Steve J. Cooke

Optimizing preservation for multiple types of historic structures under climate change

Cultural resources in coastal parks and recreation areas are vulnerable to climate change. The US National Park Service (NPS) is facing the challenge of insufficient budget allocations for both maintenance and climate adaptation of historic structures. Research on adaptation planning for cultural resources has predominately focused on vulnerability assessments of heritage sites; however, few studi
Authors
Xiao Xiao, Erin Seekamp, Junyu Lu, Mitchell Eaton, Max Post van der Burg

Managing for RADical ecosystem change: Applying the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework

Ecosystem transformation involves the emergence of persistent ecological or social–ecological systems that diverge, dramatically and irreversibly, from prior ecosystem structure and function. Such transformations are occurring at increasing rates across the planet in response to changes in climate, land use, and other factors. Consequently, a dynamic view of ecosystem processes that accommodates r
Authors
Abigail Lynch, Laura Thompson, Erik A. Beever, Augustin C. Engman, Cat Hawkins Hoffman, Stephen T. Jackson, Trevor J. Krabbenhoft, David J Lawrence, Douglas Limpinsel, Robert T. Magill, Tracy Melvin, John M. Morton, Robert Newman, Jay Peterson, Mark T. Porath, Frank J. Rahel, Gregor Schuurman, Suresh Sethi, Jennifer L. Wilkening

Factors influencing distributional shifts and abundance at the range core of a climate-sensitive mammal

Species are frequently responding to contemporary climate change by shifting to higher elevations and poleward to track suitable climate space. However, depending on local conditions and species’ sensitivity, the nature of these shifts can be highly variable and difficult to predict. Here, we examine how the American pika (Ochotona princeps), a philopatric, montane lagomorph, responds to climatic
Authors
Peter D Billman, Erik A. Beever, Dave B. McWethy, Lindsey Thurman, Kenny C Wilson

Translational invasion ecology: Bridging research and practice to address one of the greatest threats to biodiversity

Effective natural resource management and policy is contingent on information generated by research. Conversely, the applicability of research depends on whether it is responsive to the needs and constraints of resource managers and policy makers. However, many scientific fields including invasion ecology suffer from a disconnect between research and practice. Despite strong socio-political impera
Authors
Toni Lyn Morelli, Carrie Brown-Lima, Jenica M. Allen, Evelyn M. Beaury, Emily J. Fusco, Audrey Barker-Plotkin, Brittany B. Laginhas, Brendan Quirion, Bridget Griffin, Blair McLaughlin, Lara Munro, Nancy Olmstead, Julie Richburg, Bethany A. Bradley

Climate change scenario planning for resource stewardship at Wind Cave National Park

This report explains scenario planning as a climate change adaptation tool in general, then describes how it was applied to Wind Cave National Park as the second part of a pilot project to dovetail climate change scenario planning with National Park Service (NPS) Resource Stewardship Strategy development. In the orientation phase, Park and regional NPS staff, other subject-matter experts, natural
Authors
Amber N. Runyon, Gregor W. Schuurman, Brian W. Miller, Amy Symstad, Amanda Hardy

Interacting effects of density-dependent and density-independent factors on growth rates in southwestern Cutthroat Trout populations

Density-dependent (DD) and density-independent (DI) effects play an important role in shaping fish growth rates, an attribute that correlates with many life history traits in fishes. Consequently, understanding the extent to which DD and DI effects influence growth rates is valuable for fisheries assessments because it can inform managers about how populations may respond as environmental conditio
Authors
Brock M. Huntsman, Abigail Lynch, Colleen A. Caldwell

Translocations maintain genetic diversity and increase connectivity in sea otters, Enhydra lutris

Sea otters, Enhydra lutris, were once abundant along the nearshore areas of the North Pacific. The international maritime fur trade that ended in 1911 left 13 small remnant populations with low genetic diversity. Subsequent translocations into previously occupied habitat resulted in several reintroduced populations along the coast of North America. We sampled sea otters between 2008 and 2011 throu
Authors
Shawn E. Larson, Roderick B. Gagne, James L. Bodkin, Michael J. Murray, Katherine Ralls, Lizabeth Bowen, Raphael Leblois, Sylvain Piry, Maria Cecilia Penedo, M. Tim Tinker, Holly B. Ernest

Cape Romain partnership for coastal protection

This final report summarizes activities, outcomes, and lessons learned from a 3-year project titled “Climate Change Adaptation for Coastal National Wildlife Refuges” with the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and local partners in the surrounding South Carolina Lowcountry. The Lowcountry is classified as the 10-county area encompassing the coastal plain of South Carolina (this report spec
Authors
Mitchell J. Eaton, Fred A. Johnson, Jessica Mikels-Carrasco, David J. Case, Julien Martin, Bradley Stith, Simeon Yurek, Bradley Udell, Laura Villegas, Laura Taylor, Zulquarnain Haider, Hadi Charkhgard, Changhyun Kwon