Author: Travis Longcore

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New paper: taking toxoplasmosis seriously

We cover the natural history of Toxoplasma gondii (it is a parasite that only reproduces in the gut of members of the cat family), then lay out the impacts on humans, domestic animals, and wild animals. The take-home message here is that the effects of toxoplasmosis are worse than you imagine and certainly worse than you would think if you listened to people who have a vested interest in downplaying its impacts. Continue reading New paper: taking toxoplasmosis seriously

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Not your usual correction

Colleagues Scott Loss, Tom Will, Pete Marra and I published an article a month or so in Biological Invasions, titled “Responding to misinformation and criticisms regarding United States cat predation estimates.” The purpose of the article was to address the spurious criticisms that have been leveled against estimates of predation by free-roaming cats published by … Continue reading Not your usual correction

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New paper: underpass use by wildlife

Longcore, T., L. Almaleh, B. Chetty, K. Francis, R. Freidin, C.-S. Huang, B Pickett, D. Schreck, B. Scruggs, E. Shulman, A. Swauger, A. Tashnek, M. Wright, and E. E. Boydston. 2018. Wildlife corridor use and environmental impact assessment: a southern California case study. Cities and the Environment11(1):art4. Abstract Environmental planners often rely on transportation structures … Continue reading New paper: underpass use by wildlife

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New paper: picking spectrum to reduce adverse effects of lights on wildlife

Back during the Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting conference in 2002, the prescient Steven Pauley made a strong argument that blue light should be avoided in outdoor lighting for human health reasons and posed the question whether it would reduce impacts on wildlife too.  My position at the time was, based on the research … Continue reading New paper: picking spectrum to reduce adverse effects of lights on wildlife

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Unintended outcome? Required solar panels on new houses limits future urban forest

At today’s meeting of the California Energy Commission, an update to the California Building Energy Efficiency Standards was passed that would require solar panels on the roof of all new residential construction.  In the abstract, I am a strong supporter of distributed solar generation, especially as a means to reduce impacts to wildlands from extensive … Continue reading Unintended outcome? Required solar panels on new houses limits future urban forest

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(Award-winning) light pollution research at USC undergraduate symposium

We participated in force in the 20th University of Southern California Undergraduate Symposium for Scholarly and Creative Work. Our contributions included: Classification System for National Park Sites Based on Nightscape Lighting Profiles (Harrison Knapp and Benjamin Banet) Spatiotemporal Analysis of Lighted Boats at Night (Eliza Gutierrez-Dewar) A Photographic Light Pollution Assessment Across Western Public Lands … Continue reading (Award-winning) light pollution research at USC undergraduate symposium