Wildlife populations are exposed to diverse parasite communities, where co-infection is the rule rather than the exception. Understanding the mechanistic effects of co-infection on disease dynamics requires moving beyond the traditional focus on single pathogen - single host systems. We use infection of Sin Nombre hantavirus (SNV) in wild deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) as a model system to identify potential mechanistic effects of co-infection on disease dynamics of SNV in its reservoir host. We trapped and removed wild deer mice (n = 1,065) from six sites across western Montana from 2023-2025 and tested individual SNV serostatus (n = 78 seropositive of 1,054 tested to date) and adult helminth infection via gastrointestinal dissection (n = 181 infected of 318 dissected to date). We used joint species occupancy (infection probability) models with symmetric interactions to estimate parameters of non-independent infection (presence/absence) of co-infecting parasites. This approach allows us to describe infection probability of each parasite species conditional on infection with other parasites and is preferable to linear models which assume an effect of one species on another but not vice versa. We compared models to determine whether Trichuris stansburyi, Calodium hepaticum (tissue-invasive helminths), and SNV interact in individual mice and to estimate effects of host characteristics, sex and body length, on independent infection and on interactions. The top model incorporated (1) non-independent interactions between parasite species, (2) a strong positive effect of body length on each infection (likely because older individuals have more time to become infected) and (3) a positive effect of sex (being male) on interactions. Predicted SNV infection probability was significantly higher in mice (especially males) that were co-infected with C. hepaticum. These results confirm that co-infections in this system are not independent and are impacted by host characteristics, emphasizing the importance of integrating co-infection into investigations disease dynamics.

Uncertainties about population dynamics may hamper the ability of state agencies and commissions to make informed wildlife management decisions. In hunting district 121, Montana, bull elk harvest has declined since 2012. Minimum counts suggest populations have been stable; however, it’s unknown if these counts reflect actual abundance and there are no vital rate data available for the region. Due to these uncertainties, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks developed an adaptive management project to address data gaps and uncertainties. From 2022-2025, we GPS collared 124 adult females, 18 adult males, and 185 neonate or 6-month-old calves. Across all years, the average adult pregnancy rate was 84% (n = 122). Based on initial elk survival estimates through 2024, adult female survival was 0.891 (95% CI = 0.832 – 0.954) and adult male survival was 0.571 (95% CI = 0.301 – 1.0) with leading causes of mortality for all adults including harvest (n = 5/15) and mountain lions (n = 3/15). Calf survival was 0.537 (95% CI = 0.377 - 0.764) with leading causes of mortality including mountain lions (n = 10/27) and black bears (n = 6/27). We combined these population estimates with information about carnivores, habitat, and harvest into an IPM and initial results indicate the population is stable but has high bull harvest. Ultimately, this IPM will provide the analytical tool needed to inform management decisions and select management prescriptions to achieve elk population size objectives in an adaptive management framework.

     While much of Howard Phillips Lovecraft’s oeuvre has been analyzed by queer theorists for homosexual metaphors within Lovecraft’s monsters, less argued is the subject of his hybrids mirroring transgender embodiment. I posit the rise of transgender identities in the Western mainstream and access to breakthrough gender-affirming care in the United States during Lovecraft’s life lend to a reading of his hybrids as embodying gender queerness. The proposed research is a literature review which draws upon interdisciplinary texts ranging from scholars in the social sciences—such as sociology and anthropology—to the hard sciences such as ecology and health sciences.

In this paper, I examine several of Lovecraft’s stories, including “The Hound,” “The Call of Cthulhu,” “The Shadow over Innsmouth,” and the novella At the Mountains of Madness. These texts showcase Lovecraft’s hybrid monsters, such as the titular Cthulhu, who takes the form of “an octopus, a dragon, and a human caricature” as a representation of transgender embodiment due to the monster’s queered hybridity. Additionally, I contribute that the “cosmic horror” felt by Lovecraft’s narrators stems from internal and externalized transphobic norms. By analyzing the historical context of H.P. Lovecraft’s stories and his life, his written works reveal a hybrid amalgamation of appendages, slimy abjection, and queer transference by cisnormative imaginations. Utilizing theorists such as Julia Kristeva, J. Halberstram, and Judith Butler, I argue Lovecraft’s monsters embody the horrors of the Old Weird fiction genre by showing the public the possibility of a new, weird way of reproducing that threatened to choke out the patriarchal standard of reproduction.

Cross-linguistically, the intonation of questions differs from the intonation of their declarative counterparts. For example, the intonation of an English question is normally raised at the end of the sentence, while the intonation of a statement is not. Also, in some languages the range of pitch is greater in questions than in statements. However, to my knowledge there are no intonation studies on Blackfoot that focus on questions, only on other elements of intonation, such as pitch movement, stress predictability, and rhythm. Using Praat, a program designed for acoustic speech analysis, I examined the intonation patterns of 19 statement-question pairs produced by a native speaker of Blackfoot. My research reports that sentence-final pitch raising does not occur in Blackfoot yes-no questions. I also examined the pitch range differences within each pair, and the results showed no significant differences between yes-no questions and their respective statements in Blackfoot. These findings suggest that speakers of Blackfoot do not use intonation to differentiate between questions and statements. This study has the following significances. (i) It contributes to the typological study of intonation in questions cross-linguistically. (ii) It also contributes to the descriptive study of pitch movement in Blackfoot by describing Blackfoot yes-no questions in terms of intonation. (iii) This study assists Blackfoot pedagogy with information on authentic pronunciation of yes-no question sentences: It informs language teachers and learners about how Blackfoot yes-no questions are pronounced in terms of intonation, specifically focusing on the absence of final pitch raising.