Genetic Diversity and Structure of on the Kaibab Plateau: Implications for Conservation.

Assessing patterns of genetic diversity within and among closely related congeners is important for evaluating the conservation status of rare plant taxa. We used nuclear microsatellite genotyping to examine the genetic relatedness among three taxa on the Kaibab Plateau in northern Arizona. Over 100 species of are recognized, and are widely distributed in Western North America.

The Role of Geography, Diet, and Host Phylogeny on the Gut Microbiome in the Hawaiian Honeycreeper Radiation.

The animal gut microbiome can have a strong influence on the health, fitness, and behavior of its hosts. The composition of the gut microbial community can be influenced by factors such as diet, environment, and evolutionary history (phylosymbiosis). However, the relative influence of these factors is unknown in most bird species.

Comparison of qPCR and metabarcoding for environmental DNA surveillance of a freshwater parasite.

Analysis of environmental DNA (eDNA) has been successfully used across freshwater ecological parasitology to inform management of ecologically and economically important species. However, most studies have used species-specific quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays to detect target taxa. While generally effective, this approach limits the amount of community and management-supporting data that can be obtained from eDNA samples.

Humans in the loop: Community science and machine learning synergies for overcoming herbarium digitization bottlenecks.

Premise: Among the slowest steps in the digitization of natural history collections is converting imaged labels into digital text. We present here a working solution to overcome this long-recognized efficiency bottleneck that leverages synergies between community science efforts and machine learning approaches.

Methods: We present two new semi-automated services.

Fission-fusion dynamics in the social networks of a North American pitviper.

Many animal species exist in fission-fusion societies, where the size and composition of conspecific groups change spatially and temporally. To help investigate such phenomena, social network analysis (SNA) has emerged as a powerful conceptual and analytical framework for assessing patterns of interconnectedness and quantifying group-level interactions. We leveraged behavioral observations via radiotelemetry and genotypic data from a long-term (>10 years) study on the pitviper (western diamondback rattlesnake) and used SNA to quantify the first robust demonstration of social network structures for any free-living snake.

Sampling methodology influences habitat suitability modeling for chiropteran species.

Technological advances increase opportunities for novel wildlife survey methods. With increased detection methods, many organizations and agencies are creating habitat suitability models (HSMs) to identify critical habitats and prioritize conservation measures. However, multiple occurrence data types are used independently to create these HSMs with little understanding of how biases inherent to those data might impact HSM efficacy.

Influence of natal habitat preference on habitat selection during extra-home range movements in a large ungulate.

Natal habitat preference induction (NHPI) occurs when animals exhibit a preference for new habitat that is similar to that which they experienced in their natal environment, potentially leading to post-dispersal success. While the study of NHPI is typically focused on post-settlement home ranges, we investigated how this behavior may manifest during extra-home range movements (EHRMs), both to identify exploratory prospecting behavior and assess how natal habitat cues may influence path selection before settlement. We analyzed GPS collar relocation data collected during 79 EHRMs made by 34 juvenile and subadult white-tailed deer () across an agricultural landscape with highly fragmented forests in Illinois, USA.

Asymmetrical intraguild interactions with coyotes, red foxes, and domestic dogs may contribute to competitive exclusion of declining gray foxes.

Species coexistence is governed by availability of resources and intraguild interactions including strategies to reduce ecological overlap. Gray foxes are dietary generalist mesopredators expected to benefit from anthropogenic disturbance, but populations have declined across the midwestern USA, including severe local extirpation rates coinciding with high coyote and domestic dog occurrence and low red fox occurrence. We used data from a large-scale camera trap survey in southern Illinois, USA to quantify intraguild spatial and temporal interactions among the canid guild including domestic dogs.