The breeding mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) population in the Great Lakes region (Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin) declined by >40% between 2000–2022. We developed an integrated population model to analyze aerial survey and banding data to assess ecological and anthropogenic factors affecting Great Lake mallard population dynamics. Decline in female Great Lakes mallard abundance was associated with increasing non-hunting mortality and declining productivity.

Our study found no effect of collecting biological samples for disease surveillance on survival of blue-winged teal, including an additional test comparing sampling with oropharyngeal and cloacal swabs versus swabs and a syringe-drawn blood sample, but survival probabilities had wide credible intervals, which may indicate a lack of power to detect an effect. Our results indicate that it may be unnecessary to use a conservative approach of eliminating individuals that had a biological sample taken from demographic analyses, allowing for alignment between disease surveillance and waterfowl banding efforts.

Using remote cameras, we evaluated seasonal and daily use of culverts by wildlife along the Central Arizona Project (CAP) canal in Arizona, USA. A suite of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates used culverts to cross the CAP canal, and use varied seasonally and daily among different species.

Red foxes often are a predator of imperiled shorebirds in barrier island ecosystems, and predation is often managed along with other factors such as habitat limitation. Yet we know little about the home ranges, resource selection, and activity patterns of red foxes in barrier island systems. We found some aspects of red fox ecology, such as generally smaller home ranges, to be comparable to other red fox space use in other coastal areas. The observed long-range movements of several red foxes and high proportion of transient individuals in the population indicate a high capacity for recolonization should territories become vacant. Thus, lethal removal activities aimed at reducing red fox distribution and abundance in shorebird nesting areas on the island are unlikely to be effective in the long term, and we recommend non-lethal strategies such as vegetation removal and exclusion or harassment.

Irrigated agriculture has the potential to provide nutritional augmentation to wildlife by providing supplemental food resources. Agriculture benefitted nutritional condition and recruitment of resident mule deer, but being close to agriculture during winter increased the risk of mortality for both resident and migrant deer. The risk associated with agriculture may be linked to increased risk of CWD associated with spatial clustering of deer around food resources.