Showing posts sorted by date for query KRAUSE. Sort by relevance Show all posts

Saturday, July 18, 2026

Media tip sheet: Wildlife ecology at ESA’s 2026 Annual Meeting

Ecological Society of America

Featured presentations at the 111th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America in Salt Lake City, Utah

Wildlife populations are responding to rapid environmental change in ways that can reshape ecosystems and inform conservation efforts. At this year’s Ecological Society of America (ESA) Annual Meeting (July 26–31) in Salt Lake City, Utah, researchers will present new findings on the ecological relationships between animals, their habitats and the growing influence of human activities across terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems.

Highlighted presentations explore topics including predator recovery, species declines, rewilding, wildlife disease, animal behavior and human-wildlife interactions. Studies examine organisms ranging from elephants, pangolins and bottlenose dolphins to loons, seabirds, suckers and urban mammals, while also addressing issues such as road mortality, habitat development, anthropogenic noise and community-based conservation. The research highlights how wildlife ecology is informing conservation strategies and improving our understanding of how animals respond to environmental change.

ESA invites staff journalists, freelance journalists, student journalists and press officers to register for free as media attendees up to and throughout the week of the Annual Meeting. For eligibility information, please visit ESA’s press registration credential policy page.

Members of the media will have access to all scientific sessions at the conference and to a press room where they can enjoy refreshments, internet access, a printer and an interview area.

Monday, July 27

1:30 PM – 3:00 PM MT	Elephant carcasses restructure soil chemistry and resistance, woody plant physiology, seedling recruitment, and herbivory across a savanna landscape Presenters: Ryan Helcoski, Utah State University; Ndzalama Mkansi, Scientific Services; Courtney G. Reed, UC Santa Barbara; Dave I. Thompson, South African Environmental Observation Network; Joshua Schimel, UC Santa Barbara; Izak Smit, Nelson Mandela University; Tercia Strydom, Scientific Services; Aimee G. Tallia, Utah State University; Deron E. Burkepile, UC Santa Barbara; Nathan P. Lemoine, Marquette University; Michelle Budny, Marquette University; Edd Hammill, Utah State University; Johan T. du Toit, Utah State University Contributed Oral Presentation
1:30 PM – 3:00 PM MT	Persistent landscape-scale aspen decline following large carnivore restoration in northern Yellowstone National Park Presenters: Dan MacNulty, Utah State University; Nicholas Bergeron, Utah State University; James A. Lutz, Utah State University; Douglas Ramsey, Utah State University; Eric Larsen, University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point Contributed Oral Presentation
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM MT	Endangered suckers nearing extirpation in Upper Klamath Lake Presenters: Jacob Krause, U.S. Geological Survey; Brian Hayes, U.S. Geological Survey; Rachael Paul-Wilson, Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission; Maria Dzul, U.S. Geological Survey Contributed Oral Presentation
5:00 PM – 6:30 PM MT	Six decades of monitoring provide critical context for an avian influenza outbreak in marine mammals Presenters: Esin Ickin, UC Santa Cruz; Molly H. McEntee, UC Santa Cruz; Marm Kilpatrick, UC Santa Cruz; Patrick W. Robinson, UC Santa Cruz; Zabe Premo, UC Santa Cruz; Conner M. Hale, UC Santa Cruz; Madison J. Pfau, UC Santa Cruz; Elizabeth Ashley, UC Davis; Frankie Gerraty, UC Santa Cruz; Madeline Cheu, UC Santa Cruz; Natalie A. Storm, UC Santa Cruz; Sebastian Caamaño, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, California State University; Aditi M. Jacob, UC Santa Cruz; Ali White, UC Santa Cruz; Stella Cardenas, UC Santa Cruz; Honour Dufresne, UC Santa Cruz; Amaya Espardinez, UC Santa Cruz; Hailey Hacker, UC Santa Cruz; Beatrice Hawkins, UC Santa Cruz; Madison Kranker, UC Santa Cruz; Violet Lemley, UC Santa Cruz; Kevin O’Connor, UC Santa Cruz; Sean Quigley, UC Santa Cruz; Lucas Romano, UC Santa Cruz; Isabelle Santiago, UC Santa Cruz; Brandon States, UC Santa Cruz; Kate Wang, UC Santa Cruz; Daniel P. Costa, UC Santa Cruz; Christine Johnson, UC Davis; Roxanne S. Beltran, UC Santa Cruz Contributed Poster Presentation

Tuesday, July 28

10:00 AM – 11:30 AM MT	Advancing the ecological knowledge of a soft tick vector to inform the U.S. surveillance and response plan to African swine fever emergence Presenters: Sebastian Botero-Cañola, University of Florida; Carson Torhorst, University of Florida; Nicholas Canino, University of Florida; Kathleen C. O’Hara, USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service; Angela M. James, USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service; Samantha Wisely, University of Florida Contributed Oral Presentation
10:00 AM – 11:30 AM MT	Pronounced post-COVID-19 decline in sale and usage of medicinal pangolin products in China Presenters: Timothy C. Bonebrake, University of Hong Kong; Yifu Wang, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Contributed Oral Presentation
1:30 PM – 3:00 PM MT	Responses of African savanna trees to large herbivore extinction and rewilding Presenters: Tyler C. Coverdale, University of Notre Dame; Mahesh Sankaran, National Centre for Biological Sciences; Andrew Davies, Harvard University, Jayashree Ratnam, National Centre for Biological Sciences; Benjamin Wigley, University of Bayreuth; David J. Augustine, USDA-ARS Rangeland Resources and Systems Research Unit Contributed Oral Presentation
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM MT	Cat(ch) ‘meow’tside how ’bout that: The impacts of domestic cats and dogs on urban mammal spatiotemporal behavior Presenters: Austin M. Green, University of Utah; Chloe Horn, University of Utah; Kent Wu, Central Wasatch Commission; Rachael Berghahn, University of Utah Contributed Oral Presentation
5:00 PM – 6:30 PM MT	Marine-derived nitrogen deposition from salmon carcasses in coastal temperate rainforests shapes soil microbial community composition Presenter: Caroline Daws, Outer Coast Contributed Poster Presentation

Wednesday, July 29

8:00 AM – 9:30 AM MT	Estimating Annual Large Mammal Roadkill for California Presenters: Lorna Haworth, UC Davis; Alice Michel, UC Davis; Benjamin Hodgson, UC Davis; Fraser Shilling, UC Davis Contributed Oral Presentation
10:00 AM – 11:30 AM MT	Accelerometry and animal-borne video reveals the importance of aerial capture of flying fish and predator facilitation interactions to red-footed boobies. Presenters: Abigail Schiffmiller, University of Alaska, Fairbanks; Greg Breed, University of Alaska, Fairbanks; Hillary Young, UC Santa Barbara; Scott Shaffer, San Jose State University; Sara Maxwell, University of Washington Bothell Contributed Oral Presentation
10:00 AM – 11:30 AM MT	Functional Roles of the World’s Recovered Predators Presenters: Ishana Shukla, UC Davis; Julia D. Monk, New York University; Justine Smith, UC Davis Contributed Oral Presentation
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM MT	From the Ground Up: Community-Powered Wildlife Conservation in Utah and Abroad Presenters: Austin Green, University of Utah; Julie Young, Utah State University; Gaby Karakcheyeva, University of Utah; Ilina Mocuta, University of Utah; Emmanuel Santa Martinez, Salt Lake Community College; Frances Ngo, Sageland Collaborative; Kaylee Meyers, University of Utah Symposium
5:00 PM – 6:30 PM MT	Evaluating Camera Traps and Field Surveys for Monitoring Herpetofauna in the Civilian Control Zone, South Korea Presenters: Jiyeon Cheon, Transboundary Ecological Research Institute; Jihu Koo, DMZ Ecology Research Institute; Chloe Jun, DMZ Ecology Research Institute; Yune Hur, DMZ Ecology Research Institute; Jason Chung, DMZ Ecology Research Institute; Hailey Cho, DMZ Ecology Research Institute; Zoe Chang, DMZ Ecology Research Institute; Jae Hyun Kim, Transboundary Ecological Research Institute; Seung Ho Kim, DMZ Ecology Research Institute Contributed Poster Presentation
5:00 PM – 6:30 PM MT	Global Patterns of Decline in the World’s Avian Functional Guilds Presenters: Nikolas D. Orton, University of Utah; Cagan H. Sekercioglu, University of Utah Contributed Poster Presentation
5:00 PM – 6:30 PM MT	Some like it hot: Miami’s urban heat island aids the spread of its most prolific non-native lizards Presenters: Elizabeth A. Afkhami Searcy, University of Miami; Dishane Hewavithana, Florida International University; Kathryn A. Afkhami Searcy, Miami Dade School District; Michelle E. Afkhami, University of Miami; Christopher A. Searcy, University of Miami Contributed Poster Presentation

Thursday, July 30

10:00 AM – 11:30 AM MT	Common loons breed on lakes with shoreline development similar to where they were born Presenters: Emily F. Renkey, UC Los Angeles; Katie A. Adler, UC Los Angeles; Daniel T. Blumstein, UC Los Angeles; Walter Piper, Chapman University Contributed Oral Presentation
1:30 PM – 3:00 PM MT	Cascading effects of anthropogenic noise and heat on avian foraging and parenting behavior in California vineyards Presenters: Karen V. Gallardo Cruz, UC Davis; Gail L. Patricelli, UC Davis; Tara Robey, UC Davis; Erin Wilson-Rankin, UC Riverside; Houston Wilson, UC Riverside; Matthew Johnson, Cal Poly Humboldt; Daniel S. Karp, UC Davis Contributed Oral Presentation
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM MT	A quarter century on the edge: Spatiotemporal dynamics, risk patterns, and impacts of human-wildlife conflict in Chitwan National Park, Nepal Presenters: Abhinaya Pathak, UC San Diego Contributed Oral Presentation
5:00 PM – 6:30 PM MT	Shipside Feeding in Bottlenose Dolphins: Quantifying the Behavioral Mechanisms of a Novel Foraging Strategy Presenters: Christina Deaver, Utah Valley University; Marie Taylor, Utah Valley University; Meghan Weinpress-Galipeau, South Carolina Aquarium; Madeline Fry, Utah Valley University; Hannah Bouchillon, South Carolina Aquarium; Patricia A. Fair, Medical University of South Carolina; Jessica A. Cusick, Utah Valley University Latebreaking Poster Presentation
5:00 PM – 6:30 PM MT	Beaver Fever: Giardia duodenalis in North American Beavers (Castor canadensis) Located in Utah Presenters: Elena B. Green, Utah State University; Sara B. Weinstein, Utah State University Latebreaking Poster Presentation

###

Learn more about the upcoming ESA Annual Meeting, July 26–31, on the meeting website.

ESA invites press and institutional public information officers to attend for free. To register, please contact ESA Public Affairs Manager Mayda Nathan directly at mayda@esa.org.

The Ecological Society of America, founded in 1915, is the world’s largest community of professional ecologists and a trusted source of ecological knowledge, committed to advancing the understanding of life on Earth. The 8,000 member Society publishes six journals and a membership bulletin and broadly shares ecological information through policy, media outreach, and education initiatives. The Society’s Annual Meeting attracts 4,000 attendees and features the most recent advances in ecological science. Visit the ESA website at https://www.esa.org.

Follow ESA on social media:
X/Twitter – @esa_org
Bluesky – @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social
Instagram – @ecologicalsociety
Facebook – @esa.org

Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Miniscule fossil discovery reveals fresh clues into the evolution of the earliest-known relative of all primates

Purgatorius had previously only been found in the upper regions of North America, this discovery, 500 miles south, suggests they diversified soon after the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous

Taylor & Francis Group

image:
Purgatorius upper molar from Corral Bluffs Denver Basin CO
view more
Credit: Dr Stephen Chester

New, miniscule fossils of the earliest-known relative of all primates, including humans, Purgatorius, have been unearthed in a more southern region of North America than ever before – and the breakthrough is providing paleontologists fresh clues about evolution.

The origin and early biogeographic history of primates is a fascinating, albeit controversial topic. The oldest archaic primate, Purgatorius, is a small, shrew-sized mammal that first appears in North America immediately after the extinction of the dinosaurs around 65.9 million years ago.

While fossil bearing rock of the right age exists throughout North America, to-date this mammal had previously only been found in present day Montana and southwestern Canada.
The next set of archaic primates include a diversity of relatives in southwestern USA, but these date to some two million years later – which has left somewhat of a puzzle… until now.

As findings, published today in the peer-reviewed Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, report the southernmost discovery of Purgatorius fossils ever unearthed – uncovered in Colorado’s Denver Basin, at the Corral Bluffs study area.

“The discovery helps fill the gap in understanding the geography and evolution of our earliest primate relatives,” explains lead author Dr. Stephen Chester, associate professor at Brooklyn College and The Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY), who led the study alongside colleagues from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS).

“The presence of these fossils in Colorado suggests that archaic primates originated in the north and then spread southward, diversifying soon after the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous Period,” adds Dr. Chester.

“Ankle bones of Purgatorius exhibit features that indicate it lived in trees, so we initially thought its absence south of Montana could be related to the sweeping devastation of forests from the asteroid impact 66 million years ago.

“However, our paleobotanical colleagues suggested the recovery of plants in North America was fast leading us to believe that Purgatorius should also be in more southern regions and perhaps we simply hadn’t looked hard enough.”

To enable this deeper dive, Dr. Chester and colleagues from DMNS, deployed a careful, but extensive screen-washing technique. It was used, thanks, in part, to the support of a nearly $3 million collaborative grant from the National Science Foundation, which has funded a wider project – led by Dr Tyler Lyson at DMNS – to understand how life on Earth recovered following the mass extinction, best known for the demise of the dinosaurs.

The extensive screen-washing of sediments and picking was carried out by students and volunteers. It resulted in countless fossils of fish, crocodilians, turtles, and… eventually, a few tiny Purgatorius teeth that would fit on the tip of a baby’s finger.

What is particularly “exciting” about these teeth, explains Dr. Jordan Crowell, a postdoctoral fellow at the DMNS who also played a key role in the study, is that they could in fact belong to an earlier species of Purgatorius.

“The specimens have a unique combination of features compared to known species of Purgatorius, but we are awaiting the recovery of additional material to assess whether these fossils represent a new species,” he adds.

These tiny teeth also demonstrate that the previously presumed absence of early primate relatives in more southern states of the Western Interior of North America was at least partly due to a sampling bias. Paleontologists have been finding fossils from this region and time interval using traditional surface collecting techniques for nearly 150 years, which mostly results in the collection of large fossils that are apparent to the naked eye.

“Thanks to our long-term partnership with the City of Colorado Springs who own the land where the fossils were collected, as well as countless hours of work by our volunteers and interns picking through the dirt for the precious vertebrate fossils, we are building some incredible datasets that provide insights on how life including our earliest primitive primate ancestors, rebounded after the single worst day for life on Earth,” adds co-author Dr Lyson.

“Our results demonstrate that small fossils can easily be missed,” concludes Dr. Chester. “With more intensive searching, especially using screen-washing techniques, we will undoubtedly discover many more important specimens.”

The paper also includes co-author Dr. David Krause, Senior Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the DMNS.

Journal

Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

DOI

10.1080/02724634.2026.2614024

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Animal tissue samples

Article Title

Southernmost occurrence of Purgatorius sheds light on the biogeographic history and diversification of the earliest primate relatives

Article Publication Date

3-Mar-2026

Purgatorius original by Andrey Atuchin

Brooklyn College Undergraduate Research Assistants

Credit

Stephen Cheste

DMNS interns and volunteers

Credit

Dr Tyler Lyson

“Peculiar” ancient ancestor of the crocodile started life on four legs in adolescence before it began walking on two

Newly discovered Late Triassic reptile was among creatures that had physical features mimicking the late-evolving dinosaurs it lived beside

Taylor & Francis Group

Sonselasuchus cedrus in its environment (now known as Petrified Forest National Park) — image:
Artist's reconstruction of Sonselasuchus cedrus in its environment in what is now Petrified Forest National Park, 215 million years ago.
view more
Credit: Artwork by Gabriel Ugueto

A “peculiar” ancient relative of the crocodile which experts believe began life on four legs before, in adulthood, it learnt how to walk on just two has been revealed in a new study.

Named Sonselasuchus cedrus, this archaic reptile was part of the shuvosaurid group, most of which had an appearance mimicking that of the ornithomimid dinosaurs that it shared the landscape with during Late Triassic time (approximately 225-201 million years ago).

In peer-reviewed findings, published today in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, experts from University of Washington Department of Biology and Burke Museum reveal that unusual proportions of some of the fossils led them to believe that this poodle-sized creature had to learn how to walk on two feet.

“By analyzing the proportions of the limb skeletons of different animals, they determined its bipedal stance (standing on two feet) may have been the result of a differential growth pattern,” explains lead author Elliott Armour Smith.

“We think that Sonselasuchus had more proportional forelimbs and hindlimbs as young, and their hindlimb grew longer and more robust through adulthood.

“Essentially, we think these creatures started out their lives on four legs… they then started walking on two legs as they grew up.

“This is particularly peculiar.”

Armour Smith, a graduate student, carried out the study alongside Burke Museum colleague Professor Christian Sidor.

Professor Sidor was among the dig team that unearthed the 950 Sonselasuchus fossils, in 2014, from Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park – an extraordinary fossil site which in 10 years of excavation and preparation has revealed more than 3,000 fossil bones.

Sonselasuchus’ fossils also reveal many clues about its appearance and 25-inch tall size. It had a toothless beak, a large eye socket, hollow bones, the experts believe.

“Although similar to the ornithomimid dinosaurs these features would have evolved separately,” explains Armour Smith, “and this similarity was probably due to the fact that croc-line and bird-line archosaurs evolved in the same ecosystems and converged upon similar ecological roles.

“Also, despite the fact that features like bipedalism, a toothless beak, hollow bones and a large orbit are characteristic of ornithomimid theropod dinosaurs, shuvosaurids like Sonselasuchus show that these features evolved on the croc-line as well.”

Sonselasuchus would have lived in the forest, and its name cedrus represents the cedar tree, an evergreen conifer similar to those of Late Triassic forests.

The Sonselasuchus part of the name (pronounced “sawn-SAY-la-SOOK-us”) is in recognition of the geologic unit (the Sonsela Member of the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation) from which the animal originates.

This bedrock has presented many finds to-date.

For Professor Sidor, this project is a culmination of over a decade of fieldwork in collaboration with the National Park Service.

“Since starting fieldwork at Petrified Forest in 2014, we have collected over 3,000 fossils from the Sonselasuchus bonebed, and it doesn’t seem to show any signs of petering out,” Professor Sidor states.

“In addition to Sonselasuchus, the bonebed has yielded fossils of fish, amphibians, as well as dinosaurs and other reptiles. Over 30 University of Washington students and volunteers have been involved over the years. It’s exciting to see that the site continues to produce new and interesting fossils.”