Anthropogenic influences on landscapes changed wildlife communities immensely over the last century. One notable example of human-derived change is the expansion of coyote ( Canis latrans ) populations following the extirpation of apex carnivores and the inception of industrial agriculture in North America. In Illinois, USA, the Department of Natural Resources estimates relative abundance of coyotes using a variety of survey t...

Purpose Sweat sodium testing is increasingly used to estimate electrolyte losses during exercise; however, the reliability of sweat sodium assessment and the influence of methodological factors remain unclear. We evaluated the day-to-day variability and agreement between common sweat induction, collection, and analytical approaches, including pilocarpine iontophoresis and exercise-induced sweating. Methods Twenty physically ac...

Migration through standing waterbodies can be challenging for Atlantic salmon smolts and has often been associated with delay, disorientation and elevated mortality rates. Despite the large number of watersheds featuring stillwaters, data on smolt migration through lakes are relatively limited, particularly in relation to large natural lakes. The current study investigated movements of Salmo salar smolts on seven tributaries a...

Aim Across much of the globe, landscape modification and the reduction of large carnivores have facilitated the expansion and growth of mesocarnivore populations. An understanding of the factors shaping the distribution and activity of mesocarnivores in highly modified systems lacking large carnivores can help ecologists predict the potential ecological impacts of such human‐induced population increases. We examined the site u...

The design of experiments to investigate the combined effects of multiple stressors requires exposing target organisms to multiple combinations of stressor doses. Concurrent manipulation of stressors is often infeasible with wildlife, but long‐lasting health effects allow individual health to be used as an integrator of prior stressor exposure. The population of bottlenose dolphins in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, experienced long...

Plant mycobiomes are essential to plant health, yet their assembly under biotic stressors such as pathogen infection remains poorly understood. Plant pathogens can influence microbial community composition through direct antagonism and suppression of host immune responses, potentially altering mycobiome composition in ways that could affect plant performance. We investigated how the wheat ( Triticum aestivum L .) foliar mycobi...

Microplastics have been identified in hundreds of species, with evidence of trophic transfer via contaminated prey. Sarasota Bay common bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops truncatus ) serve as sentinels of coastal pollution, including plastics and chemical plasticizers. Previous research confirmed microplastic ingestion in these dolphins (100.0%, n = 7) and extensive contamination in 11 common prey species (96.5%, n = 86). This stu...

Dryland ecosystems cover 41% of Earth's land surfaces, account for 44% of cultivated lands and 60% of food sources, and make large contributions to the global water and carbon cycles. However, these ecosystems are experiencing unprecedented extremes including heatwaves, floods, and droughts as well as hotter temperatures and often declining water resource availability. These ecosystems are some of the most challenging to monit...