Foraging Site Selection of California Condors in the Utah-Arizona Population
California Condors were reintroduced to Arizona in 1996, and their population has continued to grow with yearly releases of captive individuals and successful breeding in the wild. Little is known about foraging sites of the population that resides in Ari...
Overstating trophic cascade strength following large carnivore restoration in Yellowstone: A comment on Painter et al. (2025)
Painter et al. (2025) claim that large-carnivore recovery in Yellowstone National Park has produced a strong trophic cascade compared to other systems, citing a 152-fold increase in aspen sapling density and widespread recruitment of new trees. We show th...
Growth form and lifespan of herbaceous species mediate the role of traits in short-term drought response
Increased climate variability is expected to intensify short-term drought events. Plants have evolved stress tolerance strategies, yet how these strategies promote drought resistance across different herbaceous plant groups remains unknown. We identified ...
Physical Characteristics and Horn Development
Since 2000, the wealth of information about the physical characteristics and horn growth of mountain and thinhorn sheep has grown in depth and breadth. We reviewed the literature to update information useful to biologists in the management and conservatio...
Drivers of wolf depredation reporting and compensation use intentions by livestock producers
Across the western United States, compensation programs that pay livestock producers for losses seek to mitigate the impact of carnivore depredation on livestock. Data suggest not all livestock producers report wolf depredations or utilize compensation pr...
Genomic diversity of cougars across Utah: evidence for latitudinal differentiation in a continuous population
Genetic data on wide-ranging wildlife species can inform population structure, management decisions, and landscape connectivity. The genetic structure of a population can change over time, alongside changes to population size and connectivity. We analyzed...
Foraging benefits promote fitness in migratory mule deer
Although migration is widespread among many animal taxa, including ungulates,1 the fitness benefits associated with different migratory tactics have rarely been documented.2,3 Here, we evaluated a 9-year dataset on a migratory population of mule deer in w...
Extraction-free iDNA metabarcoding of small dung beetles is an efficient m in tropical forests
Surveying mammals in tropical rainforests, particularly those that inhabit the rainforest canopy, can be challenging. We tested a novel method for detecting rainforest mammals with metabarcoding of iDNA at Los Amigos Biological Station in the Peruvian Ama...
Lack of capture-induced mortality of neonates associated with variation in handling protocols
Though few studies have quantified handling-induced effects on neonates, there is concern from stakeholders that handling neonates affects survival.
Roads as dynamic stressors: physiological response of mule deer to roads differs during range residency and migration
Wildlife responses to disturbance may include physiological stress responses that are often difficult to observe yet important for wildlife health. Coupling physiological biologgers with tracking data can identify anthropogenic features associated with st...
Public awareness and visual water quality thresholds at a bloom-prone urban lake (Utah Lake, Utah, USA)
This study evaluated the extent to which recreationists and nearby residents were aware of water quality issues at Utah Lake and whether specific aesthetic thresholds—particularly related to chl-a and turbidity—influenced perceptions of recreational suita...
Most Utahns Support Affirming Rights of Great Salt Lake
Water diversions and climate change-related shifts have led to record low water levels and increasing salinity at Great Salt Lake. Low water levels not only impact those directly dependent on the lake—brine shrimpers and migratory birds, for example—but a...
Bee Diversity Across Forest and Farm Habitats on Organic Tree Farms in Idaho: Evidence for Sustainable Farming Supporting Native Pollinators
We surveyed bee communities across an organic conifer tree farm landscape in northern Idaho to assess how managed forest–agriculture mosaics support pollinator diversity. Bees were collected from farm fields, adjacent conservation forests, and a pollinato...
Social, Economic, and Ecological Challenges Facing Gateway Communities: A Unifying Systems Model
Gateway communities can experience tourism as either a boon or a bane, with the valence of outcomes often dependent on governance capacity and proactive policy. This chapter advances a systems model in which amenity quality and destination reputation can ...
Perceived vulnerability to wildfire diverges from parcel-level hazard assessments: evidence from nordic Valley, Utah (USA)
Communities in the wildland–urban interface face rising wildfire risk, making it essential to understand how residents perceive their vulnerability and decide whether to mitigate. We combine parcel-level Wildfire Hazard Lot Assessments with semi-structure...
AccelerometerBehavior: R Package for Classifying Ungulate Behaviors Into Three States
Advances in technology provide new opportunities to study animal behavior at increasingly fine scales. GPS collars for wildlife are commonly equipped with accelerometers, which record fine-scale movements with relatively little energy demand, yet the data...
Large-scale experimental assessment of coyote behavior across urban and rural landscapes
Carnivores must navigate the complexities of human modifications to their environment. Natural resources and biodiversity decline in urban areas, while people in rural areas often pose greater direct risk through actions such as hunting. We evaluated if c...
Linking behavior and predation data improves inference on interspecific risk perception in carnivores
Competition between carnivores and scavengers can alter predation rates and foraging behavior, shaping the effects of predation on complex community dynamics. The perceived risks of conflict and resource loss may influence a predator's response to competi...
Viral outbreak dynamics and evolution in wildlife at the interface with humans
In this study, we used a multi-faceted approach to understand patterns of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 transmission and persistence in a wild white-tailed deer population. Serology data indicated transmission and persistence during the ...
Drought stress detected in tree rings suggests an impending tipping point for forests on the Navajo Nation
Forests across the southwestern U.S. face escalating challenges from changing climate. The objective of this study, conducted in partnership with the Navajo Forestry Department (NFD), was to assess the impact of climate variability and change on forest he...
Long-term benefits of burns for large mammal habitat undermined by large, severe fires in the American West
Escalating wildfire frequency and severity are altering wildland habitats worldwide. Yet investigations into fire impacts on wildlife habitat rarely extend to the macroecological scales relevant to species conservation and global change processes. We eval...
Living in ice: Examining the effects of temperature on thermal and metabolic physiology of glacier ice worms (Mesenchytraeus solifugus)
Animals employ many strategies to survive in extreme cold. Glacier ice worms are the largest animals that spend their entire life cycle in ice, spending most of their lives near 0°C. The degree to which ice worms can survive temperatures above and below f...
Priorities for peri-urban recreation ecology research, policy, and practice in a transforming world
Peri-urban landscapes are increasingly expected to support both outdoor recreation and biodiversity conservation. Different trade-offs and potential synergies between these two objectives call for a clear, interdisciplinary, and comprehensive framework fo...
Leveraging multiple data sources to assess competition between introduced wild pigs and native deer
Introduced species have diverse impacts on native wildlife and ecosystems. Negative effects of introduced species on native species through competition or amensalism are frequently hypothesized, but are challenging to test in the field, particularly for l...
Quantification of the effect of lagomorph herbivory on grazing resources in a semiarid rangeland
Lagomorphs are selective herbivores that can strongly influence rangeland condition if their population densities increase through predator release. However, the effect size of lagomorph herbivory has not previously been quantified for the semiarid rangel...
Pathogenesis of Hazara orthonairovirus infection in type I interferon receptor-deficient mice and resolution of disease following 4′-fluorouridine therapy
Here, we present a detailed characterization of Hazara virus (HAZV) infection in mice deficient in type I interferon signaling, providing insights into the natural history of orthonairovirus disease and highlighting similarities and differences between th...
Mapping valley bottom inundation patterns from beaver dam activity: A potential proxy for hydrologic inefficiency
Structural elements, such as beaver dams, can impact hydraulics and alter downstream water conveyance. We mapped inundation extent and type (free flowing, ponded, and overflowing) in beaver dam complexes in diverse hydrogeomorphic settings as a simple met...
Overstating trophic cascade strength following large carnivore restoration in Yellowstone: A comment on Painter et al. (2025)
Painter et al. (2025) claim that large-carnivore recovery in Yellowstone National Park has produced a strong trophic cascade compared to other systems, citing a 152 fold increase in aspen sapling density and widespread recruitment of new trees. We show th...
Leveraging animal behaviour can improve translocation success in the face of anthropogenic stressors
Anthropogenic stressors, such as habitat loss and fragmentation, destabilize animal populations, putting species at risk of extirpation or extinction. Though conservation translocations are increasingly necessary to combat species decline, success is vari...
Impacts of lake elevation decline on spawning habitat of a critical native forage species
Water management and climate influence the surface elevation of lakes. We found that the quality and area of nearshore spawning habitat for a keystone fish, the Tui Chub, are impacted by water level fluctuations and warming trends.
Dusky grouse seasonal resource selection in the Great Basin isolated mountain ranges of Nevada, USA
Dusky grouse are a montane forest grouse species with a paucity of information regarding their temporal and spatial resource use during critical times of high mortality and reproductive output. Our objective was to evaluate dusky grouse resource selection...
Predicting community interactions under grizzly bear rewilding and anthropogenic change
Rewilding is increasingly recognized as an impactful conservation strategy, but a key question remains: how do ecological systems respond to the return of species long absent from the landscape? We developed a priori predictions that grizzly recovery woul...
Flawed analysis invalidates claim of a strong Yellowstone trophic cascade after wolf reintroduction: A comment on Ripple et al. (2025)
Ripple et al. (2025) recently argued that large carnivore recovery in Yellowstone National Park triggered one of the world’s strongest trophic cascades, citing a 1500 % increase in willow crown volume derived from plant height data. In this comment, we sh...
Pollination, Production, and Profits
The relationship between managed pollination and production outcomes is important in theory and practice. In this paper we estimate semi-parametric production and profit functions with respect to honey bee use in the US apple sector. Our results suggest a...
Acute drought desiccates highly used habitat and drives herbivores into irrigated croplands
In arid and semiarid regions, extreme, extended droughts are becoming more frequent due to climate change. Drought is driving wildlife to seek out food or water resources where they are not as limited, such as in irrigated croplands. We collected GPS loca...
Beyond Habitat: Memory Versus Environment in Shaping Animal Space Use
For nearly half a century, ecologists have sought to explain animal space use through characteristics of the environment. Recent evidence suggests animals also use memory of previous experiences to decide when and where to move. Using six large ungulate s...
Cloud Seeding: Enhancing Winter Snowpack to Bolster Utah’s Water Supply
Declining snowpack paired with a shorter period of snow accumulation is negatively impacting Utah because the state relies heavily on snowpack for its water supply, agriculture, and recreation. In this fact sheet, we describe what cloud seeding is, where ...
Understanding mammal avoidance of human settlements
Anthropogenic land conversion is increasingly affecting wildlife populations. To mitigate impacts, we must understand how animals are affected by different types of human activity. Here, we examine if terrestrial mammals altered their movements around bui...
Age and spatial behavior determine survival of male elk during the hunting season
Understanding factors that influence the vulnerability of wild animals to harvest is of interest to wildlife managers as they strive to implement management strategies that achieve population and distribution objectives. Growing evidence suggests that ung...
A Preliminary, Photography-Based Assessment of Bee Diversity at the Finca Botánica Organic Farm in the Central Pacific Coast of Ecuador
Understanding wild bee diversity is critical for pollinator conservation, particularly in understudied tropical regions like coastal Ecuador. This preliminary study provides a photography-based assessment of bee diversity at Finca Botánica, an organic and...
A call for using rangeland-based livestock operations as model systems for studying the movement ecology of terrestrial animals
The popularity of the field of movement ecology has increased in recent decades in part due to advances in tracking and computing technology. Here we propose the use of rangeland-based livestock operations, where livestock range freely in large, heterogen...
Creating Wildfire-Resilient Communities in Utah: Fuel Treatments in the Wildland-Urban Interface
In the western United States, decades of wildfire suppression and grazing have led to changes in the amount and type of wildland fuels. These areas now threaten to burn at uncharacteristically high fire severity, a metric based on how much vegetation is k...
Differential effects of environmental predictability on ungulate movement behavior in disparate ecosystems
Increasing ecological perturbations resulting from global change processes are altering the environmental predictability (EP) of critical forage and water resources for wildlife. We examine how EP of forage in mule deer seasonal home ranges relates to ave...
Global evidence that cold rocky landforms support icy springs in warming mountains
Climate change is reducing the extent of cold aquatic habitats and their unique biodiversity in mountain areas. However, a variety of cold rocky landforms (CRLs) are thermally buffered and feed cold springs (<2 °C) that may represent climate refugia for c...
Shrinking channels, growing threats: Habitat degradation from channel narrowing and invasive vegetation in three dryland rivers
Water development and the proliferation of invasive riparian vegetation have led to widespread habitat loss and simplification of rivers in the western United States, contributing to the imperilment of native fishes. Here, we quantify channel narrowing an...
Shrinking channels, growing threats: Habitat degradation from channel narrowing and invasive vegetation in three dryland rivers
Water development and the proliferation of invasive riparian vegetation have led to widespread habitat loss and simplification of rivers in the western United States, contributing to the imperilment of native fishes. Here, we quantify channel narrowing an...
Drought intensity and duration interact to magnify losses in primary productivity.
As droughts become longer and more intense, impacts on terrestrial primary productivity are expected to increase progressively. Yet, some ecosystems appear to acclimate to multi-year drought, with constant or diminishing reductions in productivity as drou...
Comparative Life-Cycle Analyses Reveal Interacting Climatic and Biotic Drivers of Population Responses to Climate Change
Responses of natural populations to climate change are driven by how multiple climatic and biotic factors affect survival and reproduction, and ultimately shape population dynamics. Yet, despite substantial progress to synthesize the sensitivity of popula...
Wild canids and felids differ in their reliance on reused travel routeways
Diverse factors, including environmental features and cognitive processes, can drive animals’ movements and space use, with far-reaching implications. By analyzing GPS movement tracks for 1,239 range-resident mammalian carnivores, we found strong evidence...
Surveillance Analysis and Sample Size Explorer (SASSE): Learning How to Plan Disease Surveillance in Wildlife
Wildlife disease surveillance helps in protecting public health, agriculture, and biodiversity. Planning effective surveillance involves strategic methods for identifying an effective sampling design for a program's objectives.
Evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 antibody detection methods for wild Cervidae
Wildlife surveillance programs often use serological data to monitor exposure to pathogens. Diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of a serological assay quantify the true positive and negative rates of the diagnostic assay, respectively. However, an assa...
Native American-Focused Cultural Centers: Lessons Learned and Insights for Bears Ears
This study examines the feasibility, governance, and economic implications of developing a Native American–focused cultural center at Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah. Informed by a semi-systematic literature review of existing visitor an...
Exploring angler participation: The role of constraints, negotiation strategies, and crowding responses
This study explores how angler characteristics, perceived constraints, use of negotiations, and responses to crowding differ between lapsed, recruited, re-activated, and retained anglers. Using Utah’s fishing license database, we surveyed a stratified ran...
The influence of human presence and footprint on animal space use in US national parks
Given the importance of protected areas for biodiversity, the growth of visitation to many areas has raised concerns about the effects of humans on wildlife. We compiled GPS tracking data from 229 individuals of 10 mammal species in 14 parks and used thir...
Bird richness as a mediator between greenspace and mental health relationships
Neighborhood greenspaces are widely known to benefit bird diversity and human mental health. However, whether bird richness mediates the relationship between greenspace and mental health is unknown. We ascertain such mediation effects in 294 census tracts...
Wildfire and Water Security: Post-Fire Erosion and Sedimentation Threaten Utah's Reservoirs
As an arid state with limited water, Utah relies heavily on reservoir storage to maintain its water supply throughout the year. This vital water storage, however, is increasingly at risk due to contemporary wildfires. Wildfires pose a risk to water storag...
Characterizing genetic adaptations and plastic stress responses within a transcontinental North American keystone species
This study examined genetic variation in quaking aspen across four lineages, assessing leaf traits and stress responses. A common garden experiment with drought and heat revealed lineage-specific physiological and molecular adaptations.
Stonefly systematics: past, present, and future
Stoneflies are a widespread group of freshwater insects known for their ecological significance and sensitivity to environmental change. This diverse order encompasses over 4,000 species across 17 families, with the number of described species predicted t...
Post-Wildfire Erosion and Sedimentation: An Escalating Threat for Utah’s Fisheries
Wildfires are a natural part of the western U.S. landscape and provide numerous benefits, including enhanced nutrient cycling and habitat rejuvenation. Utah’s fish populations evolved with wildfire as a common disturbance. However, the increasing size and...
Unintended indirect effects limit elk productivity from supplemental feeding in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
The widespread practice of supplemental feeding, a bottom-up forcing of resource availability, is intended to improve wildlife population health and survival. However, supplemental feeding could trigger indirect effects by altering predation rates and dis...
Principles of Riverscape Health
Healthy riverscapes have three principles identified by riverscape scientists and restoration practitioners. Understanding the context, anthropogenic influences, boundary conditions, and legacy effects influencing riverscapes is essential for the appropr...
Food Subsidies Reduce Livestock Depredations by a Recovering Carnivore
Finding methods to reduce livestock depredations is important for conserving recovering populations of large carnivores and mitigating impacts on ranching livelihoods. This is especially true for ensuring the successful reintroductions of endangered carni...
Health as an outcome and driver of human–wildlife interactions
Human–wildlife interactions (HWIs) influence the health of humans and wildlife but a unifying framework is needed to understand the causes of HWIs to anticipate health-associated outcomes. In this article, we present a novel conceptual framework that posi...
Translocation Guidelines for Greater Sage-Grouse, Gunnison Sage-Grouse, and Sharp-tailed Grouse
Restoration of grouse populations using conservation translocation, the movement of wild animals from one location to another, has become a fundamental component of grouse conservation and management. It is especially important in western North America, a...
Competitive interactions among Gymnogyps californianus (California Condor) and other avian scavengers in southern Utah
California Condor were reintroduced to southern Utah and northern Arizona in 1996, and their presence at carcasses may adversely impact the historic scavenger community. Little is known about their foraging patterns, including interactions among scavenger...
Variation in the opinions of residents from urban, rural, and urban-rural municipalities regarding the population size of the European bison (Bison bonasus) in Poland
Understanding social tolerance is essential for effective wildlife management and conservation policy. This study investigates social tolerance of European bison (Bison bonasus) in different Polish regions by measuring opinion on population size.
A Degenerate Primer Set for eDNA Metabarcoding of Freshwater Amphibians, Turtles and Fish
Metabarcoding of environmental DNA enables aquatic species detection but is often marker-dependent. We developed a redesigned 16S rRNA marker detecting amphibians, turtles, and fish, validated across 525 eDNA samples, demonstrating robust global applicabi...
Generalizing animal movement predictions across landscapes: a scalable framework grounded in empirical telemetry data
Accurately predicting animal movement across broad ecological contexts is vital for effective wildlife management, yet most models are developed for specific locations and fail to generalize across diverse landscapes. We developed a modeling framework to ...
Expanding National-Scale Wildlife Disease Surveillance Systems With Research Networks
This study outlines the rapid development of a landscape-scale targeted surveillance system for SARS-CoV-2 in free-ranging deer, highlighting the partnerships, adaptive sampling strategies, and research network needed to understand disease transmission me...
Experiments to enhance post-fire aspen seedling survival and growth
Aspen forests provide wildlife, watershed, and aesthetic value, and the potential for reduced fire occurrence, behavior, and severity. There is interest in planting aspen to achieve various management objectives. However, few studies have investigated the...
Rangeland Management Practices Used to Increase Usable Habitat Space: A Case Study with Greater Sage-Grouse
This paper can be found on page 1050, as part of a larger document presented by the 12th International Rangeland Congress. Greater sage-grouse need forbs for chick diet and growth in sagebrush habitat. Sagebrush cover may limit the abundance of forbs in t...
Systems thinking for complex recreation management: a case study in Moab, Utah, USA
Previous research advocating for the use of systems thinking to tackle challenges in outdoor recreation management emphasizes the necessity for a paradigm shift in our perspectives and approaches to complex public land outdoor recreation management issues...
Association between greenspace morphology and disability prevalence mediated by physical activity and mental health in Los Angeles city
Neighborhood greenspace has been linked to various disability risk factors, including immunoregulation, mental health issues, and neurological and degenerative diseases. However, the precise nature of the relationship between greenspace and disability rem...
FlashTags: Evaluating a Novel Deterrent to Reduce Livestock Depredation
Many livestock producers find current methods of preventing conflicts through non-lethal deterrents inadequate for extensive systems with widely spread, minimally supervised livestock. To address this issue, we developed and tested FlashTags to reduce liv...
On the importance and practical conservation of nongame fishes
Fisheries management often prioritizes game species, yet most fishes are nongame. Conserving nongame species prevents overlooked declines, sustains ecosystems, and can indirectly support game fish. This review highlights key functional roles of freshwater...
Megaherbivores suppress precipitation-driven plant irruptions in a tropical savanna
Irruptions in plant and animal populations are not uncommon, but the factors underlying irruptions are rarely explored quantitatively. In addition, it has been suggested that these irruptions may be reduced by predators or herbivores, but there is a pauci...
Rapid recovery of an arctic lake ecosystem from a pulse disturbance caused by thermokarst failure
Rapid climate change is increasing disturbances in arctic ecosystems, including land-surface failures from melting ground ice. These failures move sediment and organic material into surface waters, potentially altering ecosystem function and species inter...
Mercury and Selenium Concentrations in Phalaropes on Great Salt Lake, Utah, and Implications for Populations Trends
The worldwide population of Wilson's Phalaropes has declined by 70% since the 1980s, causing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to be petitioned to list Wilson's Phalaropes as a threatened species. The petition noted that Great Salt Lake (GSL) has been sh...
Combining N-mixture and occupancy analysis offers a more complete picture of carnivore habitat use in Northeastern Türkiye
Occupancy and N-mixture analyses are widely used to study habitat use, yet they answer different questions and can yield varying insights. Using long-term camera trap data from northeastern Türkiye, we compared these approaches to assess how modeling choi...
Caribou and Reindeer Population Cycles Are Driven by Top-Down and Bottom-Up Mechanisms Across Space and Time
Human-driven change affects Rangifer population cycles. Empirical and modeled data show food scarcity and predation intensify booms and busts, echoing patterns seen in small mammals.
Caribou and Reindeer Population Cycles Are Driven by Top-Down and Bottom-Up Mechanisms Across Space and Time
Anthropogenic change is reshaping the regulation and stability of animal population dynamics across broad biogeographic gradients. For example, abiotic and biotic interactions can cause gradients in population cycle period and amplitude, but this research...
Dynamic riskscapes for prey: disentangling the impact of human and cougar presence on deer behavior using GPS smartphone locations
Mule deer adjust behavior based on varying risks from humans and cougars. Responses differ by site, hunting pressure, and individual exposure. Deer often view humans as dominant threats but adapt behaviorally, sometimes tolerating predators in high human-...
Dynamic riskscapes for prey: disentangling the impact of human and cougar presence on deer behavior using GPS smartphone locations
Prey species adjust their behavior along human-use gradients by balancing risks from predators and humans. During hunting seasons, prey often exhibit strong antipredator responses to humans but may develop tolerance in suburban areas to exploit human-medi...
Impacts of deglaciation on biodiversity and ecosystem function
Glaciers and glacially influenced ecosystems host unique biodiversity spanning all kingdoms of life, but glaciers are retreating as the global climate warms, threatening specialist species, ecosystem functions and stability. We outline the impacts and con...
Homogenization Reveals Large-Scale Dynamics in the Spread of Chronic Wasting Disease
Thresholds in environmental transmission can significantly alter the dynamics of disease spread in wildlife. However, the impact of thresholds in landscapes with high spatial variability is not well understood. We investigate this phenomenon in chronic wa...
Who Carries Bear Spray? Reducing Risk in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Through Leave No Trace Communication
As bear populations increase in areas like the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, human-bear interactions are rising, with grizzly bear encounters more than doubling in the past decade. To reduce conflicts, land management agencies promote Leave No Trace beha...
Conservation translocation immediately reverses decline in imperiled sage-grouse populations
Conservation translocation can be an extremely useful conservation action to increase the abundance of isolated populations following successful habitat restoration. However, managers seek to weigh the benefits against costs to the source population from ...
Using Trail Cameras to Detect Small Mammals
Traditional methods to detect wildlife are not often successful at detecting small mammals, but modifying the trail cameras to include a portable tunnel has been successful.
Fisheries disrupt marine nutrient cycles through biomass extraction
Fisheries’ effects on marine life have been widely acknowledged for decades, but only recently have we considered their impact on marine nutrient cycles. Through the removal of marine biomass, fisheries represent a unique and historically novel pathway fo...
Disturbances in drylands: Interactions among herbivory, drought, and termite activity in savanna plant communities
Our study highlights the potency of top-down forcing in African savannas. It suggests impressive robustness to drought and underscores the value of multi-decadal experiments for studying interactions among multiple drivers of ecosystem dynamics.
A Synthesis of Factors Related to Trends in Abundance and Demography of Alaska Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, Salmonidae): Implications for Research, Management, and Policy
Chinook salmon in Alaska are declining in size, age, and abundance. A literature synthesis links this trend to ocean factors like marine predation, pink salmon competition, and shifting sea surface temperatures.
Goose herbivory effects on early-stage litter decomposition in coastal Alaskan wetlands
Herbivores create large differences in litter decomposition rates, but identifying how they do this can be difficult because they simultaneously influence both biotic and abiotic factors. To understand how geese affect decomposition, we tested the effects...
Elephant megacarcasses increase local nutrient pools in African savanna soils and plants
African elephants are the largest extant terrestrial mammals, with bodies containing enormous quantities of nutrients. Yet, we know little about how these nutrients move through the ecosystem after an elephant dies. Here, we investigated the initial effec...
Impact of a Responsible Recreation Trail Ambassador Program on Visitor Experiences and Behavioral Intentions
The Grand County Trail Ambassador Program improves visitor experiences and encourages Leave No Trace behaviors, demonstrating effective partnership-based education to reduce environmental and social impacts in protected areas.
What to Do Now That You’ve Trapped a Nuisance Wild Animal
Many homeowners experience negative interactions with wildlife once they have become a pest or a nuisance. USU Extension can help homeowners modify their homes and landscapes to avoid many negative interactions; however, sometimes, to resolve the conflict...
Introduction to Drones
Unmanned aircraft have advanced so much that they are completing tasks and integrating into all aspects of our lives. They deliver, survey, collect data, and complete assigned tasks with more efficiency and lower cost than many currently used techniques. ...
Genome-wide markers test the status of two putative species of North American bumble bees
Accurate species delimitation is vital for conservation. Using multiple genetic markers and methods, researchers support splitting Bombus occidentalis into two species. Findings improve conservation understanding and recommend best practices for phylogeno...
Predicting Road-Crossing Passability for River Connectivity Analysis
Simplified road-crossing passability methods, like uniform or random sampling, effectively estimate river connectivity despite uncertainties. Barriers significantly reduce fish passage, highlighting the need to identify and prioritize problematic crossing...
Cyclical, multi-trophic-level responses to a volatile, introduced forage fish: Learning from four decades of food web observation to inform management
The introduction of Rainbow Smelt in Horsetooth Reservoir, Colorado, increased Walleye growth but also led to poor Walleye recruitment and significant ecosystem shifts, including the decline of Daphnia and the disappearance of opossum shrimp from predator...
The Role of Staple Food Prices in Deforestation: Evidence from Cambodia
Research on agricultural prices and deforestation has mostly focused on cash crops and export-oriented commodities. We develop a theoretical framework to illustrate how a staple food price shock can lead to deforestation through various channels. We explo...
Comparing commonly used aquatic habitat modeling methods for native fish
Aquatic habitat suitability models are increasingly coupled with water management models to estimate environmental effects of water management. Many types of habitat models exist, but there are no standard methods to compare predictive performance of habi...
Desert bighorn sheep home range and disease transmission risk responses to temporally dynamic environmental variation
Pathogen transmission risk in bighorn sheep remains stable despite annual changes in home range size, though major environmental shifts could alter contact risk and warrant reassessment of disease models.
Refurbishing used GPS transmitters improves performance for subsequent deployments on greater sage-grouse
GPS transmitter performance on sage-grouse varies by brand and usage. MTI transmitters generally outperformed GeoTrak, though GeoTrak had better nest fix accuracy. Refurbishing transmitters helps maintain data quality critical for sage-grouse management....
Writing Assignments for the Prefigurative Classroom: Framing the Rhetoric of Workplace Writing
If you work with students, give writing prompts, and want to think about how to develop their technical writing skills, this piece could help you develop a framework for designing those writing assignments.
Using model-based distance sampling to estimate decadal population change in Northern Gannets (Morus bassanus) across periods spanned by different at-sea survey methods
Seabird population trends were estimated using combined historical and modern at-sea survey methods, validated by breeding data, enabling robust, long-term monitoring despite methodological differences.
Selectivity of invasive species suppression efforts influences control efficacy
Controlling highly fecund invasive species becomes much more feasible if managers can identify an approach that targets all adult age classes. Explicitly considering sustainable harvest metrics provides a framework for evaluating a harvest control program...
EVALUATING THE EFFICACY OF AVERSIVE CONDITIONING OF MOUNTAIN LIONS WITH HOUNDS
We explored the efficacy of using trained hounds to haze mountain lions. Our study provides information on a proactive technique that could have applications for mitigating human-wildlife conflict.
Function over form: The benefits of aspen as surrogate brood-rearing habitat for greater sage-grouse
We tested whether (1) sage-grouse selected for surrogate habitat and (2) selection behaviors related to surrogate habitat had demographic effects on the population.
A COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP: SIERRA NEVADA BIGHORN SHEEP AND SNOW
Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep are an endangered species who inhabit avalanche-prone areas of the central and southern parts of the range. The sheep have a complex relationship with snow. To better understand how the sheep interact with snow and avalanches, ...
Mountain Big Sagebrush Restoration in Former Dryland Pasture
Our study supports using older naturally grown sagebrush plants (wildlings) for restoration efforts. Wildlings had already faced various environmental stresses before transplantation and then had a survival advantage when transplanted. Our study also demo...
Climate Extremes in Consecutive Years Impacted the Number and Fate of Duck Nests on Great Salt Lake Marshes
The number of ground-nesting ducks in the marshes of Great Salt Lake (GSL), Utah has drastically decreased in the past few decades. One potential cause for this decline is the increase in climate extremes caused by global warming. We tested the hypothesis...
Growing Consensus: Diverse stakeholders collaborate on easy-to-use guide for restoring riparian forests
Evolutionary niches are great for species survival, but when humans get stuck arguing from viewpoint niches, it can mean bad news for ecosystem resilience. In a big first, an approach to agreement among divergent stakeholders in a step-by-step protocol fo...
Pollination Biology and Secondary Pollinators in Seven North American Aquilegia Species
We report floral visitors and traits, anthesis patterns, and tests for stigmatic receptivity and/or self-pollination. Our aim was to contribute critical empirical data on the pollination biology of seven North American species displaying different floral...
The primacy of density-mediated indirect effects in a community of wolves, elk, and aspen
To the extent that temporal variation in elk density was attributable to wolf predation, our results suggest that the wolf–elk–aspen trophic cascade was primarily density-mediated rather than trait-mediated. This aligns with the alternative hypothesis tha...
Topical naltrexone potentiates cutaneous wound healing in blackbelt cichlids (Vieja maculicauda)
A randomized, controlled, experimental trial was performed, with each individual serving as its own control to evaluate the effects of topical naltrexone on wound healing in freshwater fish.
Intrinsic and environmental drivers of pairwise cohesion in wild Canis social groups
Animals within social groups respond to costs and benefits of sociality by adjusting the proportion of time they spend in close proximity to other individuals in the group (cohesion). Variation in cohesion between individuals, in turn, shapes important gr...
A novel degenerate primer set for eDNA metabarcoding of amphibians, turtles and fish
Metabarcoding of environmental DNA (eDNA) has revolutionized the detection of aquatic species across large geographic scales. However, the effectiveness of eDNA metabarcoding across taxa is marker-dependent, often requiring multiple markers to detect dive...
Anthropogenic impacts at the interface of animal spatial and social behaviour
Human disturbance is altering wildlife distributions and densities through habitat loss, climate change, pollution, and direct human presence. Animal behavior plays a key role in linking these disturbances to population outcomes, with the spatial–social i...
The influence of social and spatial processes on the epidemiology of environmentally transmitted pathogens in wildlife: implications for management
Host social and spatial structures, along with pathogen environmental persistence, influence the spread of environmentally transmitted diseases. Using an agent-based model, researchers examined how host mobility, social behavior, and pathogen decay rates ...
Movement decisions driving metapopulation connectivity respond to social resources in a long-lived ungulate, bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis)
The availability of social resources, such as access to mates, can influence animal movement decisions, but these effects are rarely measured. This study examined how breeding season duration affects long-distance foray movements in male bighorn sheep acr...
Exploring how community context informs variations in local perceptions of forest disturbance and land management in Colorado over time
Community context plays a crucial role in shaping perceptions of forest risks and land management preferences. This study examines how nine Colorado communities responded to the mountain pine beetle outbreak over time using longitudinal interviews and sur...
MONTANA BEAVER DAM CENSUS & BEAVER RESTORATION ASSESSMENT TOOL (BRAT) VERIFICATION
The focus of this report is on 1) the results of a Montana statewide imagery-based census of beaver dams along the entire perennial stream network and 2) a comparison of the beaver dam census to the Beaver Restoration Assessment Tool (BRAT) estimates of b...
Unraveling the impact of dog-friendly spaces on urban–wildland pumas and other wildlife
As the most widespread large carnivore on the planet, domestic dogs can pose a major threat to wildlife, even within protected areas (PAs). Growing human presence in PAs, coupled with increasing pet dog ownership underscores the urgency to understand the ...
Increasing environmental variability inhibits evolutionary rescue in a long-lived vertebrate
Animals may be able to adapt to human-induced environmental change, thereby rescuing their populations from extinction. Yet it is unclear whether long-term adaptive change in genotypes, known as evolutionary rescue, is possible for free-living animals. Us...
Brood translocation increases post-release recruitment and promotes population restoration of Centrocercus urophasianus (Greater Sage-Grouse)
Many species of birds, including grouse, are declining across natural ranges and need conservation actions to ensure long-term population stability. Translocation, the intentional capture, transport, and release of animals to a novel area, is one tool tha...
Impacts of management practices on habitat selection during juvenile mountain lion dispersal
Results suggest that hunting (pursuit with hounds resulting in harvest) and non-lethal pursuit (pursuit with hounds but no harvest allowed) increase avoidance of anthropogenic landscapes during dispersal for juvenile mountain lions. By comparing populatio...
Movement patterns of a small-bodied minnow suggest nomadism in a fragmented, desert river
This study used PIT‑tag tracking and multi‑scale antennas to show that Rio Grande silvery minnows exhibit nomadic, downstream‑biased movements, which contradicts traditional paradigms. The study can inform restoration efforts.
Pocket Gophers
Pocket gophers can damage agriculture and human development infrastructure from consuming plants in agricultural fields to chewing through electrical cables. Understanding and managing pocket gopher habits is the key to effective control. This fact sheet ...
Forecasting animal distribution through individual habitat selection: insights for population inference and transferable predictions
Habitat selection models often struggle to predict animal space use beyond the original study area and time due to individual and environmental variability. This study developed a modeling workflow that accounts for variation in habitat selection from 238...
Mobile Biochar Production by Flame Carbonization: Reducing Wildfire Risk and Improving Forest Resilience
Forest managers are searching for better approaches to manage low-value material resulting from fuels management and timber harvest. The conventional practice of slash pile burning emits pollutants and greenhouse gases, and leaves behind burn scars that d...
Northern Yellowstone Elk: Resilience & Adaptation to Changes in Management Policies and the Ecosystem
This book explores the multifaceted importance northern Yellowstone elk play in the park’s history, maintaining its biodiversity, and captivating the minds and hearts of people who care about Yellowstone and wildlife. Throughout these chapters, we learn a...
Biochar Is Ready for Prime Time: Ground-truthed decision trees for land managers
Over 14 years, biochar evolved into a viable, climate-smart forest management tool. Eight site-based production methods now help reduce wildfire risk and restore soil, with EPA-approved low-emission practices supporting broader adoption across diverse for...
Seasonal activity patterns and home range sizes of wolves in the human-dominated landscape of northeast Türkiye
Gray wolves comprise one of the most widely distributed carnivore species on the planet, but they face myriad environmental and anthropogenic pressures. Here, we look at how seasonal home range size and diel activity patterns among resident and non-reside...
THE MANAGEMENT OF LYMPHOPROLIFERATIVE NEOPLASIA IN FOUR NORTHERN SEA OTTERS (ENHYDRA LUTRIS KENYONI)
These diseases are found in free-ranging otters and those in managed care, but management information is limited.
Quaking Aspen in a High-Use Recreation Area: Challenges of People, Ungulates, and Sodium on Landscape Resilience
Quaking aspen landscapes are valued for their biodiversity, water retention, fire mitigation, aesthetics, and recreation opportunities, however, some aspen populations are experiencing population declines. At a popular recreational area in Utah, USA, iden...
Transplanted sagebrush “wildlings” exhibit higher survival than greenhouse-grown tubelings yet both recruit new plants
Degradation of drylands has led to extensive efforts to restore big sagebrush in the western U.S., with interest in using greenhouse-grown seedlings ("tubelings") or locally collected transplants ("wildlings"). A study in southeastern Idaho compared the s...
Evaluating mountain lion diet before and after a removal of feral horses in a semiarid environment
Non‐native species can affect ecosystems by influencing native predator‐prey dynamics. Therefore, management interventions designed to remove non‐natives may inadvertently lead to increased predation on native species. Feral horses are widely distributed ...
Quantifying and evaluating strategies to decrease carbon dioxide emissions generated from tourism to Yellowstone National Park
The tourism industry needs strategies to reduce emissions and hasten the achievement of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emission reduction targets. A case study of Yellowstone National Park found that tourism generates approximately 1.03 megatons of CO2-equiv...
Population genetics of museum specimens indicate decreasing genetic resiliency: The case of two bumble bees of conservation concern
This study examines genetic resiliency in two sibling bumble bee species of conservation concern by analyzing museum specimens collected between 1960 and 2020 using 15 microsatellite markers. The findings reveal a decline in allelic richness decades befor...
An Invasive Predator Substantially Alters Energy Flux Without Changing Food Web Functional State or Stability
Understanding how invasive species affect the stability and function of ecosystems is critical for conservation. Here, we quantified the effect of an actively suppressed invasive species on the Yellowstone Lake ecosystem using a food web energetics approa...
Integrating moral norms and stewardship identity into the theory of planned behavior to understand altruistic conservation behavior among hunters in southwestern Utah (USA)
This study integrates moral norms and stewardship identity into the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to predict hunters' use of non-lead ammunition in southwestern Utah’s California condor recovery zone. Structural equation modeling showed that moral norm...
Trophic cascades as a basis for rewilding
Trophic cascades are often used as a justification for rewilding large carnivores, with the idea that they will have positive, trickle-down effects for plants and other species. This chapter aims to clarify trophic cascades first as an ecological phenomen...













































































































































