Treesearch

Increased fire frequency and severity in subalpine forests causes uncertainty regarding how forest-dependent species may respond to fire-disturbed landscapes relative to burn heterogeneity and severity.We tested individual-level habitat-use response of Canada lynx to fire severity, heterogeneity, patch characteristics, and unburned island refugia.We instrumented 22 Canada lynx (27 lynx years, 2018–2020) in the Northern Rocky Mountains, U.S.A. to investigate selection behavior in recent (≤ 3 yrs) fire-impacted landscapes using resource selection (RSF) and integrated step selection models...

Maternally inherited Wolbachia alphaproteobacteria are the most common arthropod endosymbionts. Often, Wolbachia spread to high frequencies through cytoplasmic incompatibility, in which cif loci act through sperm to kill embryos lacking Wolbachia. Closely related Wolbachia with diverse cif loci often associate with anciently diverged hosts, but the timescale of associations remains uncertain. We produce new calibrations based on filarial nematodes with vertically inherited Wolbachia that codiverge with their hosts. Applying these calibrations to Wolbachia variants closely related to...

Shrub and grassland ecosystems are globally threatened, and loss and degradation continue to increase due to a variety of human activities. Many species of conservation concern live in these ecosystems and rely on small mammals, such as rabbits (Leporidae) and squirrels (Sciuridae) for prey. In North America, Wyoming contains one of the largest remaining intact shrubland ecosystems but is also the location of extensive energy development. We determined the response of small mammal abundance to surface disturbance (oil or gas well pads and roads), and to vegetation and topographic indices....

Fire is a pervasive biogeographic process that shapes biodiversity globally and is now experiencing unprecedented changes. Despite well documented impacts of fires on biodiversity, we do not know where biodiversity might be most vulnerable to changing fire regimes. We leverage recent advancements in fire forecasting and species distribution modeling to assess the exposure of bird species richness, community uniqueness, and functional richness to altered fire regimes in the western United States. We find that 55-58% of biodiversity hotspots are classified as “refugia”, where high biodiversit...

Host diversity can strongly influence disease prevalence, but whether it dilutes or amplifies disease remains debated. We applied community assembly theory to examine whether conditionality from abiotic and biotic filtering could explain variation in rodent diversity and Sin Nombre hantavirus (SNV) prevalence across 24 locations in the southwestern United States. Overall, community composition, not diversity per se, drove diversity‐disease relationships. Environmental factors determined community composition, which regulated primary host abundance and SNV infection via resource competition....

The effective use of environmental DNA (eDNA) tools is contingent on strict adherence to established and validated methods. Differences in eDNA methods and quality assurance protocols may contribute to variability in results. However, quality assurance measures such as proficiency testing can provide independent evaluation of laboratory performance against pre‐established test criteria. With this commentary, we discuss how broad implementation of recurring proficiency testing in eDNA laboratories can build decision‐maker confidence in eDNA results. It can also create a culture of continuous...

The effective implementation of new technologies for wildlife population monitoring is limited by knowledge of factors that impact their efficacy. Population monitoring of harlequin ducks Histrionicus histrionicus on their breeding streams in Montana and Idaho in the Northern Rocky Mountains, has historically relied on ground‐based foot surveys (GBS), which have produced variable count data, making it hard to decipher trends in stream occupancy and population size. We quantified the detection probability of GBS and compared it to two additional non‐invasive technologies, environmental DNA...

The authors describe the development and use of serious games for the purpose of bringing together diverse community stakeholders in the process of developing a wildland fire management plan. The primary goals of this serious game are to: 1) provide participants with an educational tool designed to support social learning in the complexities of developing a community wildland fire management plan in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI); and 2) Create open and meaningful lines of communication for risk-based decision-making using a real-world scenario. Serious game participants are each given...

Invasive predators are leading drivers of native species decline, and their impact is heaviest where they concentrate in the habitats native species most depend on. The barred owl (Strix varia) is a generalist predator invading old forests across western North America. Using GPS telemetry of 56 barred owls across the range of the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) in northwestern California, we found consistent selection for an old-forest axis integrating high canopy cover, tall stands, large trees, diverse tree sizes, and old age. Because these attributes define old forest,...

Intensifying wildfire activity in western North America has motivated focus on fuel treatments as a tool for moderating fire severity. Treatment effectiveness is influenced by complex interactions among biophysical settings, treatments and weather.This study introduces a standardized, scalable workflow to quantify wildfire-treatment outcomes across diverse landscapes.We evaluated federal fuel treatments across 50 wildfires in southern Oregon and Northern California (2012–2021). We analyzed outcomes across two distinct landscapes: the productive, western Klamath mountains (west) and the...