Yung Hae Kim

Natural resource agencies routinely collect handwritten and audio field data that must be transcribed before analysis, creating a persistent bottleneck in data management. Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) may help automate portions of this work, yet their utility in routine fisheries applications remains largely untested. We evaluated commercially available AI-assisted workflows against standard manual transcription. The evaluation considered total processing time and initial transcription accuracy. Across the AI pilot datasets, initial accuracy averaged 97% for handwritten records and 95% for audio recordings. After quality control, the AI-assisted workflows reduced total processing time by approximately 37% for handwritten transcription and 49% for audio transcription. The larger operational datasets produced reductions of approximately 30% and 57%, respectively. Initial accuracy for the larger handwritten dataset declined to 82.3%, but all identified errors were corrected during quality control. These findings show that commercially available AI can improve a time-intensive aspect of natural resource data management without specialized programming or custom software. Incorporating AI-assisted transcription into existing workflows can reduce administrative workload and move field observations into management and research applications sooner.

Long‐term monitoring indicates bluegill catch rates are relatively stable in some reaches of the Upper Mississippi River and highly variable in others, whereas in the Illinois River, catch rates have decreased. A lack of age structure information precludes understanding population processes responsible for patterns in catch rates. To build a better understanding of why catch rates have changed over time, we integrated short‐term age structure information with long‐term monitoring data to quantify and assess spatial patterns in bluegill population dynamics across six study reaches of these two rivers. Specifically, we estimated and compared age and size structure, growth, maturity, mortality, and recruitment. We used quantile regressions to apply age estimates to long‐term data for investigating trends in age‐based catch rates reflective of recruitment (age‐1 catch rates), mortality (using age‐1 and age‐2+ catch rates), and spawning stock (age‐2+). Our findings indicate trends in bluegill age‐2+ catch rates increased and then stabilized across upstream study reaches, but dynamic rates, size structure, and age at maturity varied among reaches. Bluegill populations in downstream study reaches had low maximum size, early maturation, low mean age, low proportional stock density, declining recruitment, and declining age‐2+ catch rates. An insufficient number of bluegills were collected from the study reach furthest downstream to adequately quantify dynamic rates. Our results support life history theory in that bluegill respond to unstable environmental conditions through life history adaptations. These findings show how integrating periodic age structure information with long‐term monitoring can enhance population assessments.

White Crappie (Pomoxis annularis) and Black Crappie (P. nigromaculatus) were studied in three southeast Kansas reservoirs to assess exploitation and determine if current regulations were conducive for sustainable populations. Trap nets were used to sample crappie in Elk City Reservoir, Big Hill Reservoir, and Parsons City Lake. Crappie measuring 210mm and greater received Floy FD-94 tags that served as entries for rewards to encourage tag reporting. Harvest and angler demographic information were collected when tags were reported. Postcard surveys and motion-sensed cameras were used in conjunction to estimate angler effort and reporting rate on Parsons City Lake. Annual exploitation rates (i.e., percent of fish harvested) determined by tag returns and corrected for nonreporting and tag loss were 28.3, 21.8, and 3.9 on Elk City Reservoir, Big Hill Reservoir, and Parsons City Lake, respectively. Overfishing was not occurring, so current statewide regulations were likely appropriate, and no changes may be necessary.

Objective Goldeye Hiodon alosoides relative weight (Wr) and proportional size distribution (PSD) have not been able to be evaluated in populations across their range. The objective of this project was to develop and assess standard weight (Ws) equations with three different techniques along with developing standard length categories for Goldeye. Methods Length and weight data for 64,435 Goldeye Hiodon alosoides from 96 populations across Canada and the United States were collected to develop a Ws equation. We developed standard weight equations for Goldeye with the regression-line-percentile (RLP), empirical-percentile linear (EmP-L), and empirical-percentile quadratic (EmP-Q) techniques. Result We propose the RLP equation as log10W = 2.979 × log10L − 4.979, the EmP-L equation as log10W = 3.048 × log10L − 5.151, and the EmP-Q equation as log10W = 1.254 × log10L + 0.365 × (log10L)2 − 2.950, where W is weight (g) and L is total length (TL, mm). We also developed PSD length categories of 13, 20, 26, 33, and 40 cm TL representing stock, quality, preferred, memorable, and trophy categories, respectively. Conclusion These Ws equations and standard length categories will aid fisheries biologists in assessing Goldeye populations holistically across their range when developing management strategies.

Organoids are miniaturized and simplified versions of an organ produced in vitro from stem or progenitor cells. They are used as a model system consisting of multiple cell types forming an architecture relevant to the organ and carrying out the function of the organ. They are a useful tool to study development, homeostasis, regeneration, and disease. The imaging of organoids has become a pivotal method to visualize and understand their self-organization, symmetry breaking, growth, differentiation, and function. In this review, we discuss imaging methods, how to analyze these images, and challenges in organoid research.

Summary: Basic helix-loop-helix genes, particularly proneural genes, are well-described triggers of cell differentiation, yet limited information exists on their dynamics, notably in human development. Here, we focus on Neurogenin 3 ( NEUROG3 ), which is crucial for pancreatic endocrine lineage initiation. Using a double reporter to monitor endogenous NEUROG3 transcription and protein expression in single cells in 2D and 3D models of human pancreas development, we show peaks of expression for the RNA and protein at 22 and 11 hours respectively, approximately two-fold slower than in mice, and remarkable heterogeneity in peak expression levels all triggering differentiation. We also reveal that some human endocrine progenitors proliferate once, mainly at the onset of differentiation, rather than forming a subpopulation with sustained proliferation. Using reporter index-sorted single-cell RNA-seq data, we statistically map transcriptome to dynamic behaviors of cells in live imaging and uncover transcriptional states associated with variations in motility as NEUROG3 levels change, a method applicable to other contexts.

Macroinvertebrates are important prey to various fishes at all life stages and in particular, Scaphirhynchus sturgeon species. Specifically, shovelnose sturgeon and pallid sturgeon survival and growth may be influenced by macroinvertebrate availability. We examined macroinvertebrate catch rates longitudinally (i.e., upstream to downstream), laterally (i.e., across the width of the river), and vertically (i.e., in the water column) to assess spatiotemporal drift patterns. A total of 3,414 samples were collected from April 15 to June 14 in 2018. Overall, 362,000 m³ of Missouri and Mississippi River water was filtered during sampling, and 72,216 macroinvertebrates were captured. Trichoptera comprised 75% of the total macroinvertebrate drift sampled, while Diptera (9%), Ephemeroptera (13%), and Plecoptera (2%), comprised a much smaller portion. The average number per day of drifting invertebrates (i.e., Diptera, Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera) ranged from 6.8 million/d to 36.4 million/d. We found that catch rates of drifting macroinvertebrates differed among site, dates, and position in the water column. Furthermore, of the five a priori models that we developed, the interaction of spatial variables coupled with the temporal variable best describes variability in macroinvertebrate catch rates throughout our study. Efforts to increase macroinvertebrate habitat may provide additional prey resources for Scaphirhynchus sturgeon. Previous studies have demonstrated greater macroinvertebrate diversity and density in unchannelized rivers. The section of river from the Missouri River confluence downstream to the Mosenthein Island complex is unchannelized and may be a good candidate for habitat restoration. Increasing macroinvertebrate abundance and diversity may positively influence Scaphirhynchus sturgeon.

Human organogenesis remains relatively unexplored for ethical and practical reasons. Here, we report the establishment of a single-cell transcriptome atlas of the human fetal pancreas between 7 and 10 post-conceptional weeks of development. To interrogate cell–cell interactions, we describe InterCom, an R-Package we developed for identifying receptor–ligand pairs and their downstream effects. We further report the establishment of a human pancreas culture system starting from fetal tissue or human pluripotent stem cells, enabling the long-term maintenance of pancreas progenitors in a minimal, defined medium in three-dimensions. Benchmarking the cells produced in 2-dimensions and those expanded in 3-dimensions to fetal tissue identifies that progenitors expanded in 3-dimensions are transcriptionally closer to the fetal pancreas. We further demonstrate the potential of this system as a screening platform and identify the importance of the EGF and FGF pathways controlling human pancreas progenitor expansion.