research

Kelyn Carlson - Susceptibility of frogs to bacteria in relation to levels of the stress hormone corticosterone.

Monica Yalamanchili - Detection of Ranavirus and Chytrid Fungi in frogs of Western Michigan.

Jeff Stephens - Habitat use and movements by nesting female wood turtles, Glyptemys insculpta.

These students have received support from FURSCA at Albion College.


Research crew Summer 2007: Jeff, Dean, and Megan. Background is the Atlantic Ocean (NOT where the turtles live).	Megan holds a wood turtle to mark her a few weeks before she travels to a nesting beach (the temporary letter on her will allow her to be identified from a distance when she arrives to nest. She (the turtle, not Megan!) also has a radio and a temperature recorder attached to her shell.	Megan perched on the nesting observation platform. She spent 15+ hours a day watching for turtles to arrive and dig nests at the beach. Where is Jeff? He spent each day tracking adult turtles via radio telemetry (see photos from 2006 for an explanation of this procedure).

Female wood turtle searches for a suitable spot to dig her nest.	Megan measures one of the eggs from a wood turtle nest. After studying each nest, it was protected with a wire screen to keep predators out.	Adult wood turtle is marked for future identification.

Nesting beach a few days after a major flood. At one point, the beach was more than 3-5 feet underwater! Numerous boxes protecting wood turtle nests are visible.	An extreme case where the flood deposited 20cm of sand and gravel on top of one of the nest protectors (wire mesh is just visible).	Nesting beach after the floodwater has receded. Note the difference from the photo on the left side.

Kristen Krum - Habitat use and home range size of wood turtles, Glyptemys insculpta in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Megan Lupek - Stress levels of frogs in response to pathogens and environmental conditions.

Lake Sweet - Movement patterns of wood turtles, Glyptemys insculpta in Nova Scotia, Canada.


Study site in Nova Scotia.	Wood turtle students in May 2006: Lake Sweet (Albion College), Kristen Krum (Albion College) and Reid Tingley (Acadia University).	Lake poses with a juvenile turtle.

Reid stops to locate a turtle using radio-telemetry.	Turtle encounter!	Turtle with radio transmitter attached.

Juvenile wood turtle (likely less than a year old).	Kristen and Lake on the banks of the river. Kristen is holding her first turtle (which happened to have a letter 'K' written on the carapace!)	Megan collects a sample at Michigan's Pierce Cedar Creek Institute.

Diana Lancaster - Mate selection and selective removal of embryos by females of the amphipod Corophium volutator

Megan Lupek - Stress levels of frogs in response to pathogens and environmental conditions.

Dan Painter - Behavior of intersexes in the intertidal amphipod Corophium volutator.


Diana and Dan pose with a model of their favorite amphipod	Dan monitors an amphipod breeding experiment. Yes - that is a child's wading pool! (a chiller and circulating pump are used to keep the temperature constant).	Diana examines an amphipod.

Michael Kopec - Causes and consequences of female-biased sex-ratios in the amphipod Corophium volutator.

Diana Lancaster - Transmission of microparasites in the intertidal amphipod Corophium volutator.

Valorie White - Investigating invasive plant species at Albion College's Whitehouse Nature Center using Geographical Information Systems technology.


Diana and Mike collect amphipods at the Blomidon mudflat, Nova Scotia, Canada.	Mike sits atop a mountain that overlooks the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia. Mudflat study-sites are visible in the background!	Val works at a GIS workstation while attending a workshop at Middlebury, VT.


Diana tries to keep warm during a dawn trip to the Blomidon mudflat.	Mike and Diana plot strategy in the aquatic lab at Acadia University.	Nicole Casey and Sean Logan take one last trip to the mudflats. Both re-visited Nova Scotia to present final results from their research projects at a scientific conference. Sean is currently in medical school and Nikki is working for a large Biotech firm. We'll miss you!!

Members of the McCurdy/Forbes amphipod research team pose for a photo at Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia. The group presented papers at a conference and visited field sites in Nova Scotia to collect amphipods and conduct experiments.

Sean Logan - Foraging rate of flatfish feeding on the amphipod Corophium volutator / Causes and consequences of biased sex ratios and altered development in the amphipod Corophium volutator


Sean and Mike contemplate a tasty meal of spaghetti and AMPHIPODS!!	Sean and Mike take a break to play in the mud in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.	Sean enjoys (?) a meal at a historic tavern in Colonial Williamsburg while attending the Annual Meeting of the Crustacean Society to present on his research on amphipods.

Derek Burkholder and Taki Johnson - Macroinvertebrate survey of Rice Creek, Calhoun County, Michigan.

Sean Logan - Impacts of fish predation on demography of a key intertidal amphipod, Corophium volutator.

Summer 2002 research group (left to right): Sean Logan, Dean McCurdy, Derek Burkholder, Taki Johnson, and Nicole Casey.


Taki sorts through a sample of macroinvertebrates in the lab. She plans on attending graduate school later this year.	Derek enters data on macroinvertebrates into the computer. He has gone on to work with National Geographic and pursue graduate studies in marine biology.	Derek and Taki collect a benthic macroinvertebrate sample from Rice Creek.


Nicole digs clams at Strawberry Creek mudflat, Maine.	Sean and Nicole prepare to assess foraging activity by benthic-feeding fish at Starrs Point, Nova Scotia, Canada.	Sean looks at little tired!! He should given that we visited mudflats on almost EVERY tide (day and night) for more than two straight weeks!

Kristin Degel - Impacts of elevated temperatures and exposure to tributyltin oxide on shedding of trematode parasites by a marine snail.

Kristin Degel dissecting mud snails in the lab at Albion College. She currently works at a major zoo.

Todd Forsgren - Microparasites and sex-ratio biases in populations of intertidal amphipods

Brighid Moran - Parasitism of the predatory worm Nereis virens: can parasites influence community structure?

Michael Pesa-Fallon - Impacts of trematode parasites on growth, survivorship, and burying behavior of the soft-shell clam Mya arenaria

Jeff Rubens - Impacts of trematode parasites on growth, survivorship, and anti-predator defenses of the blue mussel Mytilus edulis


2001 summer interns (left to right): Mike, Brighid, Todd, and Jeff. Note: photo was taken after a 24-hour experiment! Everyone survived, but we got a bit muddy!	Mike feeds his clams housed in the running-seawater marine lab at the Bowdoin Coastal Studies Center, Orr's Island, Maine.	One of our field sites in Harpswell, Maine.

Return to Research page

Return to Main page