We surveyed the bee fauna at Napatree Point, a coastal barrier beach in southwestern Rhode Island, using bee-bowl and netting samples, and compared results to bee-bowl samples at 2 inland sites. We collected a total of 53 species and morphospecies at Napatree Point, including 5 likely Rhode Island state records and several coastal dune and sand-nesting species that were not found inland. The comparative bee-bowl samples (colored bowls with soapy water placed at the sites to collect visiting bees) captured 35 species at Napatree Point and 66 at the inland sites (which included 6 likely state records, 2 shared with Napatree). The Napatree fauna shared numerous species with the inland sites, but overall species composition differed substantially. Both Napatree and inland sites showed greatest bee activity and species richness in spring. During spring, the most common bees at Napatree were twig- and cavity-nesting species such as Ceratina dupla and Osmia simillima, and the wood-nesting Lasioglossum oblongum, while the most abundant bees inland were the soil-nesting Andrena nasonii and Augochlorella aurata. Netting samples differed from bee-bowl samples in that they captured larger species and species foraging at flowers distant from the bee-bowl transects, but they missed several diminutive species that were captured by bee bowls. Use of 2 sampling methods, therefore, provided a broader view of the bee fauna than would have been possible with a single collection method.

Many field-collected fungal specimens are maintained in herbaria worldwide. These specimens contain an untapped wealth of taxonomic and ecological fungal biodiversity information. However, DNA can be difficult to obtain from preserved specimens. We present a DNA barcoding protocol specifically for preserved fungal specimens (ascomycetes and basidiomycetes). The E.C. Smith Herbarium at Acadia University houses 20,000 fungal specimens representative of northeastern North America. We achieved a DNA barcoding success rate of 18% from pre-1980 specimens (n = 39) using a kit-based DNA extraction protocol and sequencing of the full internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of ribosomal DNA. This result surpassed success rates of previous protocols. We also explored the use of mini-barcodes from the ITS1 region only. Mini-barcodes (n = 13) demonstrated a 92% success rate in post-1980 specimens compared to full barcodes (46% success rate, n = 13) while retaining all the identification power of full barcodes in the examined specimens. Our approach will enable herbarium collections to be used more efficiently to populate DNA sequence databases such as GenBank. This approach will expand the number of reference DNA barcode sequences from vouchered fungal specimens within publicly available databases.

Lack of experience in young adult birds may exacerbate the costs of parental care. Thus, birds may modify their behavior over time to balance the costs and benefits of parental care. We observed a population of Spizella pusilla (Field Sparrow) with individuals of known age and identity over multiple years to examine how age of parents affected feeding rates and overall nesting success. Parents fed larger and older broods at higher rates. Feeding rates of paired individuals were also correlated with one another. However, males provisioned offspring at a consistently faster rate than females. Ordinal date and year were the only factors that influenced nest success, with nests failing more frequently early in the summer. These findings may indicate that environmental factors—and less so intrinsic factors—may dictate overall nest success. Although we were unable to detect an effect of parent age on feeding rates, our ability to detect such trends is likely limited by considerable behavioral variation in the population and relatively few birds that were monitored across consecutive years.

Accounts of species' range shifts in response to climate change are rapidly accumulating. These range shifts are often attributed to species tracking their thermal niches as temperatures in their native ranges increase. Our objective was to estimate the degree to which shifts in water temperature driven by climate change may increase the exposure of West Virginia's native freshwater fishes to mountaintop-removal surface coal mining. We projected midcentury shifts in habitat suitability for 9 non-game West Virginian fishes via maximum entropy species distribution modeling, using a combination of physical habitat, historical climate conditions, and future climate data. Modeling projections for a high-emissions scenario (Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5) predict that habitat suitability will increase in high-elevation streams near mountaintop mining sites for 8 of 9 species, with increases in habitat suitability varying from 46% to 418%. We conclude that many West Virginian fishes will be at risk of increased exposure to mountaintop mining if climate change continues at a rapid pace.

Rhionaeschna mutata (Hagen) (Spatterdock Darner) is a rare North American dragonfly, most widely distributed in the eastern US. In 2009, a reproductive population was found in 2 ponds in eastern Minnesota, establishing a substantial northwestern range expansion. We assessed the geographic distribution of the Spatterdock Darner in the region to inform conservation planning for this species. Using previously defined habitat criteria, we identified potential reproductive ponds in the ecoregion with GIS. In 2015 and 2016, we used multiple methods to survey 25 ponds for Spatterdock Darner nymphs, adults, and exuviae. We found no Spatterdock Darners in the region, despite intensive survey efforts targeted at ponds that met the habitat criteria. The Spatterdock Darner may be present in this water-rich region, but was undetected by our efforts, or a local extirpation may have occurred, possibly linked to recent fish colonization in one of the original reproductive ponds.

Repeated surveys of the butterflies of Monhegan Island, ME, from 1998 to 2018 confirmed the presence of at least 40 species. This total represents more than 42% of the state's recorded species—a high proportion given the island's small size and isolation. The rate of discovery indicates that, based on observations accumulated over time, about 50 species could be observed on Monhegan, including large migratory taxa as well as a variety of habitat-limited sedentary residents. The absence of several mainland species can be attributed to limited habitat and lack of some plant species. Records show changes in the butterfly fauna over recent decades; further changes may be expected because of climate warming, habitat modification, and stochastic events.

Lyme disease is an emerging infectious disease of public health concern in the northeastern US. The disease's vector, Ixodes scapularis (Blacklegged Tick), has increased its range in the past 20 y. There have been few studies of the Blacklegged Tick's habitat associations in its newly endemic northern range. From 2016–2018, we sampled for nymphal Blacklegged Ticks in the Champlain Valley and Green Mountains of Addison County, VT, and tested them for Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme disease agent. We found 10 times more ticks in the Champlain Valley than in the Green Mountains. Nymphal infection prevalence was 0.21 and did not vary by year or region. The difference in tick density reported has public health consequences, as Vermont has one of the highest rates of Lyme disease in the US.

Historical records have the potential to temporally and spatially expand ecological studies to places and periods that garnered the attention of earlier naturalists. Few historical or contemporary scientific studies have examined the local-to-regional ecological effects of climate change in northern Maine. Recently uncovered journals of L.S. Quackenbush, a hunting guide in mid-20^th century Aroostook County, ME, provide an opportunity to incorporate new historical ecological data into climate change research.The leaf-out and flowering phenology observations in the Quackenbush journals are closely tied to spring temperatures and match the direction, though not the magnitude, of changes found in southern New England. Comparisons of Quackenbush's bird records to contemporary observations are less straightforward, but help fill an important gap in regional migratory bird phenology studies. Quackenbush's routine observations, recorded daily in a rural outpost in northern Maine, provide an important contribution to climate change research in a data-poor region and highlight a type of record that may be available in other rural areas.

Poecile atricapillus (Black-capped Chickadee) mobbing calls elicit mobbing events in which birds drive away a predator. Human birders simulate these calls by “pishing” (vocalizing mobbing calls) to coerce birds into view. We investigated whether pishing is as salient as natural mobbing calls, and whether birds respond differently in suburban forest fragments than in intact forests. Using experimental playbacks, we broadcast mobbing calls and pishing calls in suburban forest patches and intact forests and measured Chickadee response. We found that Chickadees had significantly stronger responses to mobbing calls than to alarm calls used as a positive control, but pishing call response was not significantly different than mobbing or control alarm call responses. We also saw no difference in number of Chickadees responding between suburban fragments and intact forests, but we did see a difference in areas with denser vegetation. These findings show that pishing may be less urgent than Chickadee mobbing calls but may still contribute to stress and energetic demands on birds.

Floristic quality assessments (FQA) are widely used to assess ecological condition, based on plant species' coefficients of conservatism, or C values, but these values are typically assigned at the state level, limiting their regional consistency. We developed ecoregional C values (eC) using standard expert-based team review, partly informed by preexisting state C values for the 5 EPA ecoregions that cover New England and part of New York. We evaluated a total of 3686 taxa, with separate eC values for each ecoregion in which they occurred. We compared the performance of the C and eC values using the response of FQA metrics (mean C, cover-weighted mean C) to a disturbance gradient, based on readily available datasets in Maine and Vermont. The eC values typically performed moderately better than state values and provide a region-wide tool for assessment methods. All eC values are available on the Universal FQA website.

Although nest usurpation is common in some species and orders of birds, usurpation has rarely been reported for Sterninae. We observed a Sterna hirundo (Common Tern) egg in an active Sternula antillarum (Least Tern) nest with a complete clutch in a mixed-species Sterninae colony in Chesapeake Bay, MD, in May 2018. Based on observations from a game camera following usurpation, Common Terns incubated the mixed-species clutch, with no further parental care provided by the usurped Least Tern. The clutch never hatched, as the Common Terns abandoned the nest prior to the hatching. While we suspect that Common Terns usurped the Least Tern nest, alternative scenarios may explain how the Common Tern egg was documented in a Least Tern nest.

Canis latrans (Coyote) has undergone a range expansion in the United States over the last century. As a highly opportunistic species, its home range and habitat use changes with ecological context. Coyotes were first reported in West Virginia in 1950 but were not commonly observed until the 1990s, and there is scant information on Coyotes in the region. We used telemetry data from 8 radiocollared Coyotes in West Virginia to estimate home-range size and third-order habitat selection. Home-range areas (95% utilization distributions; UDs) varied from 5.22 to 27.79 km² (mean = 12.48 ± 2.61 km²), with highly concentrated use of smaller core areas (mean 50% UD = 1.85 ± 0.34 km²), indicated by low flatness ratios (50% isopleths/95% isopleths varied from 0.11 to 0.20). Third-order habitat selection revealed most use was proportional to availability, although there was evidence of avoidance of disturbed /developed and riparian land cover at the 95% UD scale, and selection for softwood stands at both spatial scales when available. Our results provide preliminary space-use information for West Virginia Coyotes and suggest that although Coyotes are habitat generalists, space use in the region is not uniform, but instead concentrated in disjointed areas that are used intensively.

Variation in habitat and microhabitat can affect salamander populations. We systematically surveyed terrestrially active salamanders in an old forest tract and a young forest tract at the Powdermill Nature Reserve in southwestern Pennsylvania during 2009–2011. We examined the effect forest age had on the 2 salamander assemblage structures. While species compositions were similar, assemblage structures were uneven in both the old and young forest sites. Differential use of survey coverboards across species was detected at both sites. This difference in use may be best explained by ground-moisture levels as a function of coverboard distance to water. Counterintuitive findings of low numbers of Desmognathus ochrophaeus (Mountain Dusky Salamander) and Plethodon cinereus (Red-backed Salamander) compared to past studies at these 2 sites appears most likely related to differences in trapping methodology. Patterns of differential use of coverboards and inter-site differences in seasonal activity patterns point to P. glutinosus (Northern Slimy Salamander) as the least restricted species in terms of microhabitat conditions and most seasonally variable in activity.

Virginia has seen dramatic increases in reported cases of Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever, but basic knowledge on the community ecology of these tick-borne diseases is poor. We examined the tick burdens of 5 small-mammal species in northwest Virginia from October 2011 to December 2012. We live-trapped individuals, quantified the tick burdens, assessed the burden structure, and tested a subset of the ticks for tick-borne pathogens. We found the tick burdens to be composed predominantly of Ixodes scapularis (Black-Legged Tick), and Ixodes sp. ticks, with Amblyomma americanum (Lone Star Tick) and Dermacentor variabilis (American Dog Tick) also present at lower densities. We detected Borrelia burgdorferi (prevalence 15%), Rickettsia spp. (4%), Anaplasma phagocytophilum (4%), and Hepatozoon spp. (1%). Black-Legged Ticks, a species which has shown range expansion in recent decades, tested positive for B. burgdorferi (17%) and for multiple pathogens in individual ticks. For better predictions of tick-borne disease risk across the Mid-Atlantic region, we recommend tracking changes in tick communities by continuous monitoring of tick burdens, densities of questing ticks, and prevalence of tick-borne pathogens.

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 survival; therefore, they decreased daily bag limits in Maine in 1999 and 2009 to increase local populations. The goals of this project were to assess (a) whether survival rates of adult females captured while nesting varied between historical estimates (1943–1993) and recent estimates (2000–2012), (b) whether survival rates increased from 2000–2009 after the initial harvest restrictions were implemented in 1999, and (c) determine if estimates of survival rates of adult males and females captured while molting differed from estimates of adult females captured while nesting. We used mark–recapture models to estimate survival rates of Common Eiders we banded in Maine (nesting females [n = 2340] from 2000 to 2012; molting males [ n = 4366] and molting females [n = 4952] from 2000 to 2009). We found no difference in survival of nesting females based on historical (mean ± SE = 0.9003 ± 0.0841) and recent estimates (0.90 ± 0.015). Although we observed annual fluctuations in survival, survival rates did not increase following the implementation of harvest restrictions. Mean annual survival rates were similarly high for molting females (0.894 ± 0.0205) and nesting females, but lower for molting males (0.855 ± 0.0128). Lower survival rates of adult males may reflect the preference by US hunters to selectively harvest adult males. Overall mean recovery rates of banded birds were low (females: 0.037 ± 0.00043, males: 0.0226 ± 0.0006). We hypothesize that current harvest rates may be influencing decreased survival of adult males to some extent.

Marstonia lustrica is a poorly understood aquatic snail, relatively rare throughout its range, and listed in the State of Massachusetts as endangered. It is the northern-most cold temperate species of its genus, with other members of the genus occurring along the southern edge of its range and in the southeastern United States. The current range of M. lustrica appears to follow the maximum extent of the Laurentide Glacier (20–25 kya), extending from Minnesota to western Massachusetts. Historically the northern Marstonia species have been identified as M. lustrica with a few historical populations of M. scalariformis and M. letsoni on the southern edge of its range. I completed a full range survey of M. lustrica in 2007 and 2008 and sampled over 60 waterbodies with populations identified in 20 lakes or rivers from Minnesota east to Massachusetts, and Ohio north to Ontario, Canada. Fifty-seven specimens from the 20 populations were sequenced for 2 mtDNA markers (COI and NDI). 14 concatenated haplotypes were documented across the range.

Tsuga canadensis (Eastern Hemlock) is a key forest foundation species that is currently declining across the eastern US due to attack by exotic insect species, primarily Adelges tsugae (Hemlock Woolly Adelgid). In the northeastern US, declining Eastern Hemlock stands are typically replaced by fast-growing deciduous Betula lenta (Black Birch) trees, altering ecosystem processes and ecological communities. In this study, we used an approach that substituted space for time to explore how the forest floor's soil organic horizon, macrofungal communities, and bacterial abundance might be altered following Eastern Hemlock replacement by Black Birch. We compared intact, mature Eastern Hemlock forest plots at 2 sites in western Massachusetts to adjacent areas of vigorous regeneration of young Black Birch triggered by logging activity at the sites ∼25–30 years ago. Forest-floor soil organic horizons were significantly thicker under Eastern Hemlock forests and exhibited a higher carbon:nitrogen (C:N) ratio, suggesting slower decomposition and greater accumulation of organic material under Eastern Hemlock compared to deciduous Black Birch canopies. Macrofungal communities emerging from the forest floor did not differ strongly in morphospecies richness between Eastern Hemlock and Black Birch plots. However, a greater number of rare fungi taxa, defined in this study as those represented by a single observation, were detected in Eastern Hemlock plots, and the composition of Black Birch plots was more homogenized and less variable. The abundance of bacterial colony forming units (CFUs) in the soil organic horizon appeared to follow a seasonal pattern of variation between mature Eastern Hemlock versus young Black Birch plots; CFUs were most abundant in Black Birch soils in the fall, potentially tracking input of new deciduous leaf litter, whereas Eastern Hemlock plots had higher CFU counts in the summer. The results of this study suggest that forest-floor characteristics will be substantially altered by the impending loss of Eastern Hemlock, associated macrofungal communities may become simplified and homogenized, and the timing of peak bacterial abundance in the forest floor might be shifted to the fall.

Avian predation of dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata) is fairly well-documented, but most observations are restricted to non-passerine birds eating adult odonates. As nymphal odonates are aquatic, most passerine birds would not encounter them while foraging but instead are more likely to catch teneral adults on their maiden flights. Photographs taken by naturalists over the past several years suggest that passerine predation on odonate nymphs, while apparently rare, occurs across a wider range of species than previously documented.

Canis lupus (Gray Wolf) have been suspected as natural predators of Cygnus buccinator (Trumpeter Swan), but detailed descriptions of such predation events are lacking from the peer-reviewed literature. Herein, we document a Trumpeter Swan that was killed by a Gray Wolf fitted with a GPS collar in northern Minnesota, thus confirming that wolves are natural predators of Trumpeter Swans.

Pekania pennanti (Fisher) is a generalist mesocarnivore that has been documented to prey on a diversity of mammals, but there have been no previous documented incidents of a Fisher hunting and killing a semi-aquatic mammal. Here, we report a first-hand observation and DNA evidence of a Fisher hunting and killing an Ondatra zibethicus (Muskrat) from inside a beaver lodge along a lakeshore.

In cool climates, crayfish that are not primary burrowing species are typically thought to retreat into deeper waters in winter and may seek refuge in small aquatic burrows or interstitial spaces associated with aquatic substrates. Herein, I report a novel observation of a juvenile Cambarus bartonii bartonii (Common Crayfish) during winter within eastern Pennsylvania occupying a terrestrial microhabitat consisting of moist, terrestrial leaf litter associated with a small depression in an upland forest. I found the crayfish in association with a small aggregation of Plethodon cinereus (Eastern Red-backed Salamander). Requirements of a hibernaculum by the salamanders with sufficient moisture and buffered from freezing may have also provided sufficient conditions for the crayfish to utilize the depression as a winter refugium.

In the summer of 2016, we observed a pair of Charadrius melodus (Piping Plover) successfully hatch 2 nests at Fire Island National Seashore and fledge chicks from both broods. Double brooding is rare among Piping Plovers, and fledging chicks from both broods is rarer still. In 2017, we observed male and female siblings, 1 individual hatched from each of the double brood nests, incubating the same clutch of eggs on Westhampton Island. Although double brooding has been noted before in this species, this is the first observation of subsequent inbreeding from such an observation on the Atlantic Coast. This observation is unlikely to be evidence of widespread inbreeding within Piping Plover populations due to little evidence of allelic diversity problems in past genetic studies.