Investigating the insectivorous diet of the Trowbridge’s shrew (Sorex trowbridgii) across forest types can illustrate how forest management affects biotic communities. I used DNA metabarcoding methods with ANML primers to identify stomach and intestines contents from shrews caught in pitfall traps in the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest (HJA) and Willamette...
The Pantanal is one of the largest wetlands in the world, covering 195,000 km2 across Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay. It has a unique annual flooding regime with the majority of land being completely inundated during the wet season, which provides important habitat for threatened species such as jaguars (Panthera onca)...
Following their extirpation due to the maritime fur trade, northern sea otter (Enhydra lutris kenyoni) reintroduction in the 1960s has facilitated their recolonization in southeast Alaska. Sea otters are now sympatric with wolves (Canis lupus), which are widespread in southeast Alaska, and a colonizing coyote population (Canis latrans). Recent studies...
Energetic resources transferred between distinct habitats or ecosystems, referred to as allochthonous resources, can greatly subsidize consumers in the recipient habitat, and thus influence food web structure and dynamics. Such subsidies may allow the growth of the consumer population to be decoupled from in situ productivity with effects on consumer...
Genetic sampling is used in many wildlife fields to gather data on populations or individuals. In noninvasive genetic sampling, animals do not need to be captured. DNA can be gathered from hair, scat, or other residue shed into the environment. However, this can result in degraded DNA, so it is...
Carnivores have disproportionate effects in ecological systems but understanding their exact influences on ecosystems is a matter of great complexity and debate. Predators directly impact prey by killing them, and indirectly by modifying their behavior in response to predation risk. Yet how species interact, both among members of a carnivore...
Land-use change, particularly in the form of the conversion of primary forest to forest-matrix systems, alters species communities and species interactions. Describing these often complex and nuanced species responses is one of the great challenges in ecology. Another complementary challenge is finding and using the most efficient means for collecting...
In Southeast Alaska, Eulachon (Thaleichthys pacificus) are a culturally and biologically important anadromous fish. Eulachon populations have significantly declined in the southern part of their range, and in 2010 eulachon in northern California, Oregon, and Washington were listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. In the same...
The Amazon basin is a natural wonder of biodiversity that serves as one of the largest single carbon storage mechanisms in the world. For these reasons, preserving the Amazon and other similar forests is a worthy goal. Protecting these spaces is not possible without understanding the threats facing animal populations...
Fishers (Pekania pennanti) are medium sized mustelids endemic to North America. Two fisher populations persist in Oregon: an indigenous population in southwestern Oregon, and a reintroduced population in the southern Cascade Mountains. Despite candidacy for listing under the Endangered Species Act, current information on fisher populations in Oregon is scarce....