The ringtail (Bassariscus astutus) is a small, nocturnal, meso-carnivore that occupies mid-elevation forests in the southwest portion of Oregon. Ringtail are fully protected within Oregon, but a species of conservation concern as they may be vulnerable to habitat loss and fragmentation. Limited data exists regarding ringtail ecology in forested ecosystems,...
Marine heatwaves (“MHWs”) are discrete periods of anomalously warm ocean conditions that can lead to shifts in the distribution and abundance of marine organisms. Low-trophic level, pelagic forage species are frequently among those affected by MHWs, often resulting in considerable impacts upon their predators. In the North Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic...
In recent years, monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) populations have declined at an alarming rate resulting in an extensive conservation effort across the species’ migratory range. One hypothesis for declining populations is decreased reproductive success during spring migration. The eastern monarch population’s first annual generation occurs in the early spring when...
Little is known about the fall and winter ecology of hibernating bats in western North America. Filling knowledge gaps for these populations has become more urgent with the westward spread of the white-nose syndrome, a disease that infects bats during hibernation. Due to the thermal requirements of the fungal pathogen...
Following European-American colonization of North America and associated landscape changes, barred owls (Strix varia) underwent a dramatic expansion of their historical range. The barred owl expanded across the previously tree-less Great Plains that had limited their distribution, and into the forests along the west coast. In these western forests they...
Climate change, wildfire, timber harvest, and land conversion alter the availability of downed wood in forests of the western United States. Numerous taxa rely on downed wood for temperature and humidity refugia, and downed wood may play a key role in enabling the persistence of climate-sensitive, low-vagility species like terrestrial...
In Oregon, outdoor recreation activities have continued to grow in popularity, as has the overall Latin@ population of the state. With the continual population increase of this ethnic group, researchers have focused on understanding their outdoor recreation habits through an environmental justice lens. This includes accessibility, affordability, and other barriers...
The greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus: hereafter; sage-grouse) population in Modoc County California is geographically isolated and has been subsidized by translocation to prevent inbreeding depression since 2005. Despite significant efforts to increase the population through translocations and habitat improvement by cutting encroaching western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis), only a single lek...
Sea otters act as valuable indicators of ecosystem health and consume prey items that contain anthropogenic microparticles, including microplastics. Microplastic ingestion can exert a wide range of deleterious effects depending on the organism and plastic type. We investigated the ingestion of microparticles by wild sea otters (Enhydra lutris) in Alaska...
It is well documented that greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter sage-grouse) populations have been in decline throughout their range in the western United States. Currently, sage-grouse occupy approximately 56% of their historic distribution prior to European settlement. Numerous factors have been cited as potential causes for declining productivity and contraction...