Ecology
The department's teaching and research addresses critical ecological and natural resources issues for Montana, but also tackles fundamental and applied questions around the globe. Undergraduate programs within the department include Fish & Wildlife Management and Ecology, Conservation Biology and Ecology, Organismal Biology, and Biology Teaching. Graduate programs (M.S. and P.hD.) include Fish & Wildlife Management or Biology and Biological Sciences and an intercollege PhD in Ecology and Environmental Sciences.
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Montana Cooperative Fishery Research Unit
www.montana.edu/mtcfru
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Recent Submissions
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Understanding Local Adaptation to Prepare Populations for Climate Change
(Oxford University Press, 2022-11)Adaptation within species to local environments is widespread in nature. Better understanding this local adaptation is critical to conserving biodiversity. However, conservation practices can rely on species’ trait averages ... -
Estimating reproductive and juvenile survival rates when offspring ages are uncertain: A novel multievent mark‐resight model with beluga whale case study
(Wiley, 2023-02)Understanding the survival and reproductive rates of a population is critical to determining its long-term dynamics and viability. Mark-resight models are often used to estimate these demographic rates, but estimation of ... -
Diet composition and resource overlap of sympatric native and introduced salmonids across neighboring streams during a peak discharge event
(Public Library of Science, 2023-01)Species assemblages composed of non-native and native fishes are found in freshwater systems throughout the world, and interactions such as interspecific competition that may negatively affect native species are expected ... -
Attraction, Entrance, and Passage Efficiency of Arctic Grayling, Trout, and Suckers at Denil Fishways in the Big Hole River Basin, Montana
(Wiley, 2022-07)The Big Hole River basin in southwestern Montana supports the only indigenous, self-sustaining fluvial population of Arctic Grayling Thymallus arcticus in the conterminous United States, but the basin is fragmented by ... -
Estimating reproductive and juvenile survival rates when offspring ages are uncertain: A novel multievent mark-resight model with beluga whale case study
(Wiley, 2022-12)Understanding the survival and reproductive rates of a population is critical to determining its long-term dynamics and viability. Mark-resight models are often used to estimate these demographic rates, but estimation of ... -
Fish carcass deposition to suppress invasive lake trout through hypoxia causes limited, non-target effects on benthic invertebrates in Yellowstone Lake
(Wiley, 2022-10)Invasive species can have negative effects on native biodiversity and ecosystem function, and suppression is often required to minimize the effects. However, management actions to suppress invasive species may cause negative, ... -
Root exudate composition reflects drought severity gradient in blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis)
(Springer Nature, 2022-07)Plant survival during environmental stress greatly affects ecosystem carbon (C) cycling, and plant–microbe interactions are central to plant stress survival. The release of C-rich root exudates is a key mechanism plants ... -
Wildfire severity alters drivers of interaction beta-diversity in plant–bee networks
(Wiley, 2022-01)Spatial variation in species interactions (interaction β-diversity) and its ecological drivers are poorly understood, despite their relevance to community assembly, conservation and ecosystem functioning. We investigated ... -
Influence of biomimicry structures on ecosystem function in a Rocky Mountain incised stream
(John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2021-08)Rising levels of stream degradation have motivated a boom in restoration projects across the globe. However, postrestoration monitoring is still frequently lacking and does not always incorporate biotic responses to changes ... -
Proximity to wildflower strips did not boost crop pollination on small, diversified farms harboring diverse wild bees
(Elsevier, 2022-05)The yield of many agricultural crops depends on pollination services provided by wild and managed bees, many of which are experiencing declines due to factors such as reductions in floral resources. Thus, improving pollinator ... -
Asynchrony between solitary bee emergence and flower availability reduces flower visitation rate and may affect offspring size
(Elsevier, 2021-08)Climate change can disrupt plant-pollinator interactions when shifts in the timing of pollinator activity and flowering occur unequally (i.e., phenological asynchrony). Phenological asynchrony between spring-emerging ... -
Investigating diverse sources of variation in the amount of time Weddell seal ( Leptonychotes weddellii ) pups spend in the water during the lactation period
(Wiley, 2022-07)Field observations suggest that time spent in the water by Weddell seal pups during lactation varies among individuals, which could yield important developmental tradeoffs. We analyzed data from 713 pups born to 419 different ... -
Warming temperatures affect meadow‐wide nectar resources, with implications for plant–pollinator communities
(Wiley, 2022-07)Nectar production may be a point of sensitivity that can help link primary and secondary trophic responses to climate shifts, and is therefore important to our understanding of ecosystem responses. We evaluated the nectar ... -
Evaluating the summer landscapes of predation risk and forage quality for elk ( Cervus canadensis )
(Wiley, 2022-08)The recovery of carnivore populations in North American has consequences for trophic interactions and population dynamics of prey. In addition to direct effects on prey populations through killing, predators can influence ... -
Earlier spring snowmelt drives arrowleaf balsamroot phenology in montane meadow
(Wiley, 2022-08)Climate change is shifting phenology globally, altering when and how species respond to environmental cues such as temperature and the timing of snowmelt. These shifts may result in phenological mismatches among interacting ... -
Greater sage‐grouse habitat selection varies across the marginal habitat of its lagging range margin
(Wiley, 2022-07)Studying wildlife–habitat relationships at the edges of their range can provide valuable insights into the environmental factors limiting wildlife distributions and most likely to drive extirpations and range shifts in ... -
Responses of American black bears to spring resources
(Wiley, 2021-11)In temperate regions of the world, food resources are seasonally limited, which causes some wildlife species to seek out nutrient-rich resources to better meet their caloric needs. Animals that utilize high-quality resources ... -
Rub tree use and selection by American black bears and grizzly bears in northern Yellowstone National Park
(Ursus, 2022-06)Several of the world's bear species exhibit tree-rubbing behavior, which is thought to be a form of scent-marking communication. Many aspects of this behavior remain unexplored, including differences in rub tree selection ... -
A functional ecology framework for understanding and predicting animal responses to plant invasion
(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2022-05)Plant invasions can alter food resources and habitat conditions that structure animal communities. These effects are negative for many native animals, but neutral or even positive for others. Understanding why we see this ... -
Aplicación de sensores remotos para el análisis de cobertura vegetal y cuerpos de agua (Application of remote sensors for the analysis of vegetation cover and water bodies)
(SciELO Agencia Nacional de Investigacion y Desarrollo, 2020-12)This work analyzes remote sensors’ usefulness to analyze vegetation cover and water bodies in conservation and environmental studies. This research aims to determine satellite images’ applications in coverage studies and ...
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