A5039697369- Rangeland and Wildlife Management
- Fire effects on ecosystems
- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Amphibian and Reptile Biology
- Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies
- Fish Ecology and Management Studies
- Identification and Quantification in Food
- Landslides and related hazards
- Remote Sensing and LiDAR Applications
- Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
- Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Wildlife-Road Interactions and Conservation
- Genetic diversity and population structure
- Plant and animal studies
- Animal and Plant Science Education
- Remote Sensing in Agriculture
- Hydrology and Sediment Transport Processes
- Botany and Plant Ecology Studies
- Turfgrass Adaptation and Management
- Botany, Ecology, and Taxonomy Studies
- Ecology and biodiversity studies
- Turtle Biology and Conservation
- Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology
United States Geological Survey
2015-2024
Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center
2015-2024
Rocky Mountain Research Station
2003-2020
Fort Collins Science Center
2020
Idaho Water Science Center
2019
Ecological Society of America
2019
United States Department of the Interior
2018
Boise State University
2014
US Forest Service
2004-2009
Rocky Mountain Research (United States)
2002-2008
Summary Species detection using environmental DNA ( eDNA ) has tremendous potential for contributing to the understanding of ecology and conservation aquatic species. Detecting species methods, rather than directly sampling organisms, can reduce impacts on sensitive increase power field surveys rare elusive The sensitivity however, requires a heightened awareness attention quality assurance control protocols. Additionally, interpretation data demands careful consideration multiple factors....
Environmental DNA (eDNA) methods for detecting aquatic species are advancing rapidly, but with little evaluation of field protocols or precision resulting estimates. We compared sampling results from traditional eDNA two amphibians in 13 streams central Idaho, USA. also evaluated three water collection and the influence location, time day, distance animals on concentration water. found no difference detection amount among protocols. had slightly higher rates than methods, particularly when...
Stream ecosystems harbor many secretive and imperiled species, studies of vertebrates in these systems face the challenges relatively low detection rates high costs. Environmental DNA (eDNA) has recently been confirmed as a sensitive efficient tool for documenting aquatic wetlands large river canal system. However, it was unclear whether this could be used to detect low-density fast-moving streams where shed cells may travel rapidly away from their source. To evaluate potential utility eDNA...
Environmental DNA (eDNA) methods for detecting and estimating abundance of aquatic species are emerging rapidly, but little is known about how processes such as secretion rate, environmental degradation, time since colonization or extirpation from a given site affect eDNA measurements. Using stream-dwelling salamanders quantitative PCR (qPCR) analysis, we conducted three experiments to assess eDNA: (i) production rate; (ii) persistence under different temperature light conditions; (iii)...
Abstract Landscape features such as mountains, rivers, and ecological gradients may strongly affect patterns of dispersal gene flow among populations thereby shape population dynamics evolutionary trajectories. The landscape have a particularly strong effect on in amphibians because are thought to poor abilities. We examined genetic variation at six microsatellite loci Columbia spotted frogs ( Rana luteiventris ) from 28 breeding ponds western Montana Idaho, USA, order investigate the...
Determining species distributions accurately is crucial to developing conservation and management strategies for imperiled species, but a challenging task small populations. We evaluated the efficacy of environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis improving detection thus potentially refining known distribution Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in Methow Okanogan Subbasins Upper Columbia River, which span border between Washington, USA British Columbia, Canada. developed an assay target 90 base...
Since amphibian declines were first proposed as a global phenomenon over quarter century ago, the conservation community has made little progress in halting or reversing these trends. The early search for "smoking gun" was replaced with expectation that are caused by multiple drivers. While field observations and experiments have identified factors leading to increased local extinction risk, evidence effects of drivers is lacking at large spatial scales. Here, we use 389 time-series 83...
The discovery that macroorganisms can be detected from their environmental DNA (eDNA) in aquatic systems has immense potential for the conservation of biological diversity. This special issue contains 11 papers review and advance field eDNA detection vertebrates other macroorganisms, including studies production, transport, degradation; sample collection processing to maximize rates; applications using citizen scientists. body work is an important contribution ongoing efforts take technical...
Summary Invasive annual grasses alter fire regimes in shrubland ecosystems of the western USA , threatening ecosystem function and fragmenting habitats necessary for shrub‐obligate species such as greater sage‐grouse. Post‐fire stabilization rehabilitation treatments have been administered to stabilize soils, reduce invasive spread restore or establish sustainable which native are well represented. Long‐term effectiveness these has rarely evaluated. We studied vegetation at 88 sites where...
Abstract Larger, more frequent wildfires in arid and semi‐arid ecosystems have been associated with invasion by non‐native annual grasses, yet a complete understanding of fine fuel development subsequent wildfire trends is lacking. We investigated the complex relationships among weather, fuels, fire Great Basin, USA . first modeled time‐lagged effects precipitation temperature on herbaceous vegetation cover litter accumulation over 26‐year period northern Basin. then how these fuels weather...
Abstract Explaining functional connectivity among occupied habitats is crucial for understanding metapopulation dynamics and species ecology. Landscape genetics has primarily focused on elucidating how ecological features between observations influence gene flow. Functional connectivity, however, may be the result of both these between‐site (landscape resistance) landscape characteristics at‐site (patch quality) processes that can captured using network based models. We test hypotheses...
Changing climate will impact species' ranges only when environmental variability directly impacts the demography of local populations. However, measurement demographic responses to change has largely been limited single species and locations. Here we show that amphibian communities are responsive climatic variability, using >500,000 time-series observations for 81 across 86 North American study areas. The effect on colonization persistence probabilities varies among eco-regions depends...
Land treatments occurring over millions of hectares public rangelands in the Great Basin last 75 years represent one largest vegetation manipulation and restoration efforts world. The ability to use legacy data from land adaptive management ecological research has improved with creation Treatment Digital Library (LTDL), a spatially explicit database conducted by U.S. Bureau Management. LTDL contains information on 9,000 confirmed Basin, composed seedings (58%), control (24%), other types or...
A recurrent challenge in the conservation of wide‐ranging, imperiled species is understanding which habitats to protect and whether we are capable restoring degraded landscapes. For Greater Sage‐grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus ), a concern western United States, approached this problem by developing multi‐scale empirical models occupancy 211 randomly located plots within 40 million ha portion species' range. We then used these predict sage‐grouse habitat quality at 826 associated with 101...
Abstract Restoration and rehabilitation of native vegetation in dryland ecosystems, which encompass over 40% terrestrial is a common challenge that continues to grow as wildfire biological invasions transform plant communities. The difficulty part stems from low variable precipitation, combined with limited understanding about how weather conditions influence restoration outcomes, increasing recognition one‐time seeding approaches can fail if they do not occur during appropriate...
Comparative studies of mortality in the wild are necessary to understand evolution aging; yet, ectothermic tetrapods underrepresented this comparative landscape, despite their suitability for testing evolutionary hypotheses. We present a study aging rates and longevity across tetrapod ectotherms, using data from 107 populations (77 species) nonavian reptiles amphibians. test hypotheses how thermoregulatory mode, environmental temperature, protective phenotypes, pace life history contribute...
Abstract: Chytridiomycosis is linked to the worldwide decline of amphibians, yet little known about demographic effects disease. We collected capture–recapture data on three populations boreal toads ( Bufo boreas [Bufo = Anaxyrus] ) in Rocky Mountains (U.S.A.). Two were infected with chytridiomycosis and one was not. examined effect presence amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis [Bd]; agent chytridiomycosis) survival probability population growth rate. Toads that Bd had...
1. The need to increase our understanding of factors that regulate animal population dynamics has been catalysed by recent, observed declines in wildlife populations worldwide. Reliable estimates demographic parameters are critical for addressing basic and applied ecological questions the response perturbations (e.g. disease, habitat loss, climate change). However, fully assess impact perturbation on dynamics, all contributing target must be estimated. 2. We reverse-time model Pradel Program...