Publications

Ixodes scapularis is the primary vector of Lyme disease spirochetes in eastern and central North America, and local densities of this tick can affect human disease risk. We sampled larvae and nymphs from sites in Massachusetts and Wisconsin, USA, using flag/drag devices and by collecting ticks from hosts, and measured environmental variables to evaluate the environmental factors that...

This article provides an application of the silt-suspension theory to a Bayesian-inference inversion for the geo-acoustic parameters in marine mud. The theory, with consequences that have been developed recently, postulates a suspension of water and clay mineral card-houses that supports moderately dilute concentrations of silt particles. The approach is an example of a physically based...

The rare earth elements (REEs) are a group of 17 elements sharing similar chemical properties. They include yttrium (Y, atomic number 39), scandium (Sc, atomic number 21), and the 15 elements of the lanthanide series, atomic numbers 57 (lanthanum, La) to 71 (lutetium, Lu). Because promethium (Pm, atomic number 61) does not occur in the Earth’s crust and scandium typically has different...

We evaluated the prevalence of influenza A virus (IAV) in different species of bivalves inhabiting natural water bodies in waterfowl habitat along the Delmarva Peninsula and Chesapeake Bay in eastern Maryland. Bivalve tissue from clam and mussel specimens (Macoma balthica, Macoma phenax, Mulinia sp., Rangia cuneata, Mya arenaria, Guekensia demissa, and an undetermined mussel species)...

The ability to move between habitats has important implications for fitness in many species. In-stream barriers such as culverts can impede movements of riverine fishes and thus reduce connectivity between habitats. The ability of fish to overcome barriers is related to the features of the environment and the barrier itself, but also to physiological, morphological and behavioural traits...

Three wells in New Hampshire were sampled bimonthly over three years to evaluate the temporal variability of arsenic concentrations and groundwater age. All samples had measurable concentrations of arsenic throughout the entire sampling period and concentrations in individual wells varied, on average, by more than 7 µg/L. High arsenic concentrations (>10 µg/L) were measured in bedrock...

Categorical classification of groundwater age is often used for the assessment and understanding of groundwater resources. This report presents a tritium-based age classification system for the conterminous United States based on tritium (3H) thresholds that vary in space and time: modern (recharged in 1953 or later), if the measured value is larger than an upper threshold; premodern...

Species distributions are determined by the interaction of multiple biotic and abiotic factors, which produces complex spatial and temporal patterns of occurrence. As habitats and climate change due to anthropogenic activities, there is a need to develop species distribution models that can quantify these complex range dynamics. In this paper, we develop a dynamic occupancy model that...

Breeding territory selection in Prothonotary Warblers (Protonotaria citrea (Boddaert, 1783)) is thought to hinge on standing water, with a strong preference for low-lying areas prone to seasonal flooding. However, we have observed this species nesting in much drier areas than previously reported. We recently initiated a study of the Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790))...

Although most species of sea ducks are poorly studied, much is known about the population dynamics of the American race of Somateria mollissma dresseri (Common Eider). Although Common Eiders typically have high adult survival and low recruitment rates, their populations in Maine have declined since the early 1990s. Wildlife managers hypothesized this decline was due to reduced adult...

Avian migratory stopover and staging sites represent important energetic bottlenecks and may influence population dynamics as much as breeding or wintering periods. Roseate terns (Sterna dougallii) are an ideal species to examine staging demography because >70% of the entire endangered northwest Atlantic population stages at accessible locations around Cape Cod, MA before southward...

ArcGIS was used to spatially assess and rank potential porphyry copper deposits using Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data together with geochemical and geologic datasets in order to estimate undiscovered deposits in the southern Basin and Range Province in the southwestern United States. The assessment was done using a traditional expert opinion...