If you are a graduate student or professional looking for advice in the sciences, you can find >1,000,000 references in less than a second on Google Scholar. Each has their own merits and addresses different aspects of science you may be interested in and may have the answers you seek. There are a couple of articles I would like to bring to your attention because they are as relevant today as they

Lead poisoning threatens many species of raptors, including golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos). Much of this lead likely comes from bullet fragments that remain in the carcasses of animals killed by hunters. The likelihood of lead exposure may peak during fall hunting seasons and early winter until carcasses from hunting become scarce. From 2011 to 2018 in western Montana, USA, we captured 91 golden

Human‐caused mortality in general, and unregulated hunting in particular, have been implicated in reductions in brown bear (Ursus arctos) populations throughout much of their range. In northwestern Alaska, USA, bear densities have not been assessed in 20 years while harvest regulations have been liberalized, raising concerns that broad undetected population declines might occur. We used a modified

Animal populations face increased threats to mobility and access to critical habitat from a variety of human disturbances including roads, residential development, agriculture, and energy development. Disturbance from human hunting is known to alter habitat use in ungulates, but recent work suggests that hunting may also trigger the onset of migration. Whether this holds true across ungulate species

Banding waterfowl, in combination with the citizen science provided by hunters that report marks from harvested birds, is a long‐standing, institutionalized practice for estimating probabilities of survival and exploitation (i.e., legal harvest from such populations). Range‐wide population abundance can also be estimated by combining the number of banded individuals with the number harvested from the

Monitoring techniques that are non‐invasive and use evidence of target species presence are particularly useful, especially for rare or highly dispersed species. We developed and tested a technique using DNA extracted from scats in conjunction with spatially explicit capture‐recapture (SECR) analyses to monitor the abundance of greater bilbies (Macrotis lagotis) within wild and reintroduced populations

The most widely reported threat to boreal and mountain populations of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou; caribou) involves habitat‐ or disturbance‐mediated apparent competition (DMAC). With DMAC, natural and anthropogenic disturbances that increase the abundance of deciduous‐browsing cervids (e.g., moose [Alces alces], deer [Odocoileus spp.]) are thought to promote predator (especially wolf

Acquisition of field data and analytical methods needed for conservation and management of wildlife populations represent significant challenges, particularly for species that inhabit landscapes that are difficult to access or species that persist in small, isolated populations. In such instances, integrating diverse and complementary data streams, such as genetic and non‐genetic data, can advance

Once extirpated from much of their North American range, temperate‐breeding Canada geese (Branta canadensis maxima) have reached high abundance. As a result, focus has shifted from restoration to managing harvest and addressing human‐goose conflict. Conflict persists or is increasing in urban areas throughout the Mississippi Flyway. Managers need more information regarding demographic rates to determine

Researchers suggest that several bog turtle (Glyptemys muhlenbergii) populations in North Carolina, USA, are in decline and have few remaining individuals and low annual survival probability. Most populations are dominated by older adults with few juveniles encountered; however, the proportion of juveniles encountered in 2 populations is higher. It is unknown why the juvenile:adult ratio varies among

The recovery of large carnivore species from over‐exploitation can have socioecological effects; thus, reliable estimates of potential abundance and distribution represent a valuable tool for developing management objectives and recovery criteria. For sea otters (Enhydra lutris), as with many apex predators, equilibrium abundance is not constant across space but rather varies as a function of local

The Perdido Key beach mouse (Peromyscus polionotus trissyllepsis), Choctawhatchee beach mouse (P. p. allophrys), and St. Andrew beach mouse (P. p. peninsularis) are 3 federally endangered subspecies that inhabit coastal dunes of Alabama and Florida, USA. Conservation opportunities for these subspecies are limited and costly. Consequently, well‐targeted efforts are required to achieve their downlisting

Understanding how landscape change influences the distribution and densities of species, and the consequences of these changes, is a central question in modern ecology. The distribution of white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) is expanding across North America, and in some areas, this pattern has led to an increase in predators and consequently higher predation rates on woodland caribou (Rangifer

Grazing management recommendations often sacrifice the intrinsic heterogeneity of grasslands by prescribing uniform grazing distributions through smaller pastures, increased stocking densities, and reduced grazing periods. The lack of patch‐burn grazing in semi‐arid landscapes of the western Great Plains in North America requires alternative grazing management strategies to create and maintain heterogeneity

Oil and gas activities on Alaska's North Slope overlap spatially with polar bear (Ursus maritimus) maternal denning habitat and temporally with the peri‐partum and emergence periods. Noise associated with these activities can be substantial and concerns regarding the effects on polar bears have been acknowledged. But the secluded and ephemeral nature of subnivean maternal dens renders the measurement

Past‐President Gary White's last leadership letter described the disturbing trend of the denial of science by politicians and some members of the public and addressed the role of The Wildlife Society (TWS) in the context of science denialism (White 2020). “More than ever, TWS must combat this trend. We must redouble our efforts to supply and advance science through our scientific journals, our communication

Global biodiversity is in unprecedented decline and on‐the‐ground solutions are imperative for conservation. Although there is a large volume of evidence related to climate change effects on wildlife, research on climate adaptation strategies is lagging. To assess the current state of knowledge in climate adaptation, we conducted a comprehensive literature review and evaluated 1,346 peer‐reviewed publications

Several studies have documented the effectiveness of bear spray in protecting users from aggressive bears. Bear spray failures, however, have also been reported along with speculation regarding the influences of temperature, wind, repeated canister use, and canister age on spray efficacy. We designed lab and field experiments to document the influence that temperature, wind, repeated discharges from

The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has the potential to influence the distribution and abundance of grasslands in many agricultural landscapes, and thereby provide habitat for grassland‐dependent wildlife. Greater prairie‐chickens (Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus) are a grassland‐dependent species with large area requirements and have been used as an indicator of grassland ecosystem function; they

Imprecise or biased density estimates can lead to inadequate conservation action, overexploitation of game species, or lost recreational opportunities. Common approaches to estimating density of avian populations often either ignore the probability that an individual is present within the sampling area but is not available to be sampled (e.g., not vocalizing), or do not consider covariates that could

Density dependence, immigration, and emigration can considerably influence wildlife population demographics. Population models used to evaluate common actions like predator management and harvest in the absence of these processes may lead to poor management decisions. We built a novel population simulation model for the northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; bobwhite) that included implicit spatial

Opportunistic records of animal occurrence may be problematic for inferring species distribution and habitat requirements because of unknown and uncontrolled sources of sampling variance. In this study, we used occurrence records for river otters (Lontra canadensis) derived from sign surveys, road kills, trapper bycatch, and opportunistic sightings (n = 185 records collected 2001–2012) to assess the

Recent advances in noninvasive genetic sampling and spatial capture‐recapture (SCR) techniques are particularly useful for monitoring cryptic wildlife species such as carnivores. In southern Arizona, USA, coyotes (Canis latrans) are thought to negatively affect endangered Sonoran pronghorn (Antilocapra americana sonoriensis), although no estimates of coyote abundance or monitoring programs exist. Sonoran

Global climate change can affect animal ecology in numerous ways, but researchers usually emphasize undesirable consequences. Temperature increases, for instance, can induce direct physiological costs and indirect effects via mismatches in resource needs and availability. Species living in mountainous regions, however, could experience beneficial effects because winters might become less severe. We

Conservation biologists need to effectively monitor species given resource limitations and the inherent challenges of assessing long‐term demographic processes. We assessed gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) abundance at a landscape scale and at the scale of 3 local populations within the Conecuh National Forest (CNF), Alabama, USA, between 1991 and 2017. We collected landscape‐level data from line

Anthrax, caused by the spore‐forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis, is a zoonosis affecting animals and humans globally. In the United States, anthrax outbreaks occur in wildlife and livestock, with frequent outbreaks in native and exotic wildlife species in Texas, livestock outbreaks in the Dakotas, and sporadic mixed outbreaks in Montana. Understanding where pathogen and host habitat selection overlap

Since 2010, several moose (Alces alces) populations have declined across North America. These declines are believed to be broadly related to climate and landscape change. At the western reaches of moose continental range, in the interior of British Columbia, Canada, wildlife managers have reported widespread declines of moose populations. Disturbances to forests from a mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonum

Adult female survival and calf recruitment influence population dynamics, but there is limited information on calving and neonatal mortality of boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou; caribou) in Ontario, Canada. We identified calf parturition sites and 5‐week neonatal mortality using a movement‐based approach across 3 northern Ontario study regions (Pickle Lake, Nakina, and Cochrane) that

Translocation is an important component of northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) recovery efforts, given the scale of their decline and inability to rapidly recolonize recently restored habitat. Repopulating sites in northern latitudes that are distant from reliable source populations may require long‐distance trap and transport from southern locales, potentially compounding existing obstacles for

This is the last volume for the 2020 issue of the Journal of Wildlife Management (JWM) and we thank all those that contributed to another successful year including The Wildlife Society (TWS) Council and administrators, Editors of other TWS publications, Associate Editors (AEs), referees, personnel at Wiley, and of course the authors. We work closely with the Wildlife Society Bulletin and thank D. A

The primary data underlying worldwide conservation efforts come from observational field studies (Butchart et al. 2010, Geijzendorffer et al. 2016, Proença et al. 2017). Large‐scale networks for biodiversity monitoring, especially based on citizen science, have been important sources of standardized time‐series datasets that feed biodiversity indicators (Bunce et al. 2008, Proença et al. 2017, Guralnick

Scale is widely recognized today as an important concept in ecology because the scale of investigation determines the patterns and processes that can be observed. Ecological investigations can produce different outcomes depending on the scale at which observations are made, and ecological disagreements have occurred simply because investigators addressed the same question using different scales. Here

Changing predator communities have been implicated in reduced survival of white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) fawns. Few studies, however, have used field‐based age‐specific estimates for survival and fecundity to assess the relative importance of low fawn survival on population growth and harvest potential. We studied white‐tailed deer population dynamics on Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge

The Florida mottled duck (Anas fulvigula fulvigula) inhabits a relatively small range of approximately 90,000 km2 within peninsular Florida, USA, and is threatened by habitat loss and genetic introgression with feral mallards (Anas platyrhynchos). Moreover, the Florida mottled duck population status has not been assessed for more than a decade. We used band‐recovery and recapture data from 2000–2013

North American waterfowl harvest regulations are largely guided by the status of breeding populations. Nonetheless, understanding the demographics of wintering waterfowl populations can elucidate the effects of hunting pressure on population dynamics. The ring‐necked duck (Aythya collaris) breeds and winters in all North American administrative flyways and is one of the most abundant and most harvested

Predation of nests and young is one of the limiting factors in the conservation of birds; understanding environmental covariates of predator distribution can assist with decisions regarding the best management strategies to reduce predation risk. The habitat of beach‐nesting birds is often reshaped by storms in ways that may affect nest predation, such as by flattening vegetated dunes where mammals

Double‐crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) and great egrets (Ardea alba) have an extensive history of human‐wildlife conflict with the aquaculture industry of western Mississippi, USA, due to their depredation of cultured catfish (Ictalurus spp.). Although aquaculture is abundant, western Mississippi also contains naturally occurring water bodies that offer alternative forage opportunities to

In recent years, there have been increasing efforts to understand effects of prescribed fire on population dynamics of wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo; turkeys) in pine (Pinus spp.) forests. Although distribution of turkeys is not limited to pine forests, these forests provide nesting and brood‐rearing habitat throughout the southeastern United States. Previous studies have investigated direct (e

Eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina) are widely distributed throughout the eastern United States. Although once common throughout much of its distribution, the species has experienced declines in local populations. Understanding resource selection is important for the conservation of this species; however, few data exist on resource selection for eastern box turtles in the southeastern

Feral invasive mammals challenge management strategies worldwide including the feral horse (Equus caballus) population in Tornquist Park, Argentina. In this study, I constructed population matrix models using demography data collected between 1995 and 2002. I validated the models with independent counts from 2008 to 2016. I individually identified feral horses and recorded them as I walked a fixed

Feral horse (Equus ferus caballus) populations on public rangelands in the western United States threaten forage production for livestock and wildlife habitat. Interference competition between feral horses and heterospecifics at watering sources can have negative effects on livestock and wildlife. Researchers have documented altered timing and behavior of wild ungulates at water sources when horses

The influence of weather on wildlife populations has been documented for many species; however, much of the current literature has focused on the effects of weather within a season and consists of short‐term studies. The use of long‐term datasets that cover a variety of environmental conditions will be essential for assessing possible carry‐over effects of weather experienced in one season on behavior

Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) occur throughout western North America. In Idaho, USA, following intensive hunting to reduce crop depredations in the late 1980s, pronghorn populations have not rebounded to desired levels. Because neonatal survival in ungulates is one factor limiting population growth, we evaluated cause‐specific mortality and the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on survival

Estimating abundance of wildlife populations can be challenging and costly, especially for species that are difficult to detect and that live at low densities, such as cougars (Puma concolor). Remote, motion‐sensitive cameras are a relatively efficient monitoring tool, but most abundance estimation techniques using remote cameras rely on some or all of the population being uniquely identifiable. Recently

A Ph.D. student entered my office at the University of Arizona and asked me to review a habitat model for a desert ungulate that was part of their dissertation. I gladly did so, and when the student returned for my comments, I gave my opinion and asked how they thought the habitat characteristics afield aligned with those in the model. The study area was only a few hours southwest of the university

Latrines serve as important communication networks among felids for transmitting information relative to social dominance, reproductive status, and defense of hunting areas. During January 2011–August 2012, we monitored 10 bobcat (Lynx rufus) latrines in the northern Lower Peninsula (NLP) of Michigan, USA, using motion‐sensitive cameras to estimate bobcat visitation and scat deposition rates among

For species at risk, it is important that demographic models be consistent with our most recent knowledge because alternate model versions can have differing predictions for wildlife and natural resource management. To establish and maintain this consistency, we can compare predicted model values to current or past observations and demographic knowledge. When novel predictor information becomes available

In many parts of North America, deer (Odocoileus spp.) have adapted to live in urban areas and are a source of negative human‐wildlife interactions. Management strategies such as culling, immunocontraceptives, sterilization, and translocation have been implemented to manage urban deer populations. In the East Kootenay region of southern British Columbia, urban mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) populations

Hibernation is a strategy many species employ to survive periods of thermal stress or resource shortage (e.g., harsh thermal conditions, food limitations) and habitat requirements of hibernating species may differ between summer (the active season) and winter (during hibernation). Accounting for seasonal differences in habitat affinities will help ensure that management actions are more beneficial

Barren ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus granti) are distributed in herds that seasonally use specific geographic regions within an annual range, with varying levels of fidelity during different periods (e.g., calving, insect relief, wintering). As a result, caribou management is generally tailored to individual herds that often range across administrative boundaries. Herd ranges can shift over time

Population manipulations such as translocation and head‐starting are increasingly used as recovery tools for chelonians. But evaluating success of individual projects can require decades of monitoring to detect population trends in these long‐lived species. Furthermore, there are often few benchmarks from stable, unmanipulated populations against which to compare demographic rates, particularly for

As industrial development increases in the range of barren‐ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus granti) across the warming Arctic, the need to understand the responses of caribou to development and to assess the effectiveness of mitigation measures increase accordingly. The Central Arctic Herd (CAH) of caribou ranges across northern Alaska, USA, and the herd's summer range includes the Prudhoe Bay and

Trapping data have a long and rich history of use in monitoring furbearer populations in North America but understanding the influences of variation in trapper harvest is important. Many factors besides abundance can cause variation in trapper harvest, including socioeconomics, weather, and motivation. The relationships between these extrinsic factors and trapper harvest may change temporally, which

Endangered dholes (Cuon alpinus) are restricted to small and declining populations in Southeast Asia, and little is known about how their ecology differs within the region. We used DNA‐confirmed scats and prey surveys to determine the seasonal diet and prey selection of dholes in 2 different landscapes that dominate Southeast Asia: closed evergreen forests in hilly terrain in northern Laos, and open

Information garnered from the capture and handling of free‐ranging animals helps advance understanding of wildlife ecology and can aid in decisions on wildlife management. Unfortunately, animals may experience increased levels of stress, injuries, and death resulting from captures (e.g., exertional myopathy, trauma). Partial sedation is a technique proposed to alleviate stress in animals during capture

Weather can shape movements of animals and alter their exposure to anthropogenic threats. Bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) are increasingly at risk from collision with turbines used in onshore wind energy generation. In the midwestern United States, development of this energy source typically occurs in upland areas that bald eagles use only intermittently. Our objective was to determine the factors

Every aspect of scientific writing has been examined, but the title is the least studied component of manuscripts (Goodman et al. 2001, Soler 2007) even though some describe the title as the most important element (Garg 2017). When scientists are scanning literature to decide what to read, the title is often the only thing they look at (Stapleton et al. 1995). Useful guidelines for titles are often

Biomass estimates of potential waterfowl foods are fundamental to estimating foraging carrying capacity of waterfowl habitat by conservation planners and managers of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan‐Gulf Coast Joint Venture (GCJV). Rice and moist‐soil seeds in Gulf Coast rice fields provide principal sources of energy for waterfowl during migration and winter. We investigated spatio‐temporal

Prescribed fire is an increasingly important management tool for eastern deciduous forests, but relativity little is known about the direct effects of fire on the eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina). We used very high frequency (VHF) transmitters to monitor mortality, movement, and spatial ecology of 118 box turtles in response to 17 prescribed fires across 4 seasons and 3 sites in east

Efforts to halt the decline of the northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus; bobwhite) across its distribution have had limited success. Understanding bobwhite habitat requirements across the annual cycle and at varying scales is essential to aid efforts to conserve bobwhites. We monitored radio‐tagged bobwhites from 2016 to 2018 on a 165‐km2 portion of Fort Bragg Military Installation in the Sandhills