THE LOUIS CALDER CENTER NEWSLETTER | Volume 2, No. 1

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Calder Matters

Calder is Center of Zika Work Researchers at the Calder Center’s Vector Ecology Laboratory have been studying the Asian Tiger Mosquito, a possible vector for

the Zika virus, for several years. Page 2

Graduate Student Spotlight Justin Pool is a PhD candidate. His dissertation work has focused on how blacklegged ticks utilize their energy reserves over their lifecycle and whether infection

benefits the blacklegged tick. Page 7

The Louis Calder Center Newsletter

Biological Field Station of Fordham University

Summer 2016 STUDENT RESEARCH

In This Issue

This summer is marked by a number of “firsts” at Calder in addition to the usual increase in activity characteristic of any field station. Most exciting was a new two-week intensive course titled “Freshwater Algae Identification” under the tutelage of Dr. John Wehr, which ran in late June. John had been interested in offering a course like this at Calder for many years and with the Lodge renovation just completed (see article on P. 6), the new teaching space was available for instructional use. By all accounts, the course was a great success and we hope it is the first of many we will be able to offer in the years to come.

Likewise, a new Landscape Management Plan has been drafted with the aid of the LandHealth Institute, a consulting group that has helped focus the efforts of the New York Botanical Garden in dealing with invasive plant species. Forests throughout the nation are facing problems with invasives that require a concerted and sustained effort to keep them in check while allowing native plants the time and space to adapt and respond to the changing landscape. We are in the very first stages of reviewing and prioritizing the plan for Calder and it promises to be an exciting venture as we look to integrate conservation efforts with opportunities to study the processes that are fundamentally affecting the forest. But “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and the

change we hope to see at the station will take time. We’ll have more to say on that in our next newsletter.

And for the 19th consecutive year, the fields, woods, and lake were active with student scientists asking new ecological questions that can only be addressed at sites like Calder. The Calder Summer Undergraduate Research (CSUR) program began this year on May 31

st and

ended with a student symposium on August 3

rd when each participant

presented her findings to an audience of undergraduate researchers, faculty mentors, grad students, family members, and the public. As a mentor in the program since its inception, I know how proud the Calder faculty is of the students each summer and I see how effective this hands-on approach to science education is to inspiring the next generation of scientists. On page 3 you can see a list of the projects this year and the students who conducted each project.

Finally, I’d like to remind you all to be careful while outdoors at this time of year. The warm weather demands that you stay hydrated and, once back inside, check yourself for the presence of ticks. Keep a pair of sharp-tipped tweezers handy and if you see an attached tick, get it off as soon as possible. You’ll be glad

you did. Enjoy the rest of the summer! Dr. Thomas Daniels

Director

THE LOUIS CALDER CENTER NEWSLETTER | Volume 2, No. 1

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Calder is Center of Zika

Work in New York State You’ve heard about the spread of Zika virus throughout some parts of the world, and the recent outbreaks in Puerto Rico and South America. You’ve also heard about the fears that there will be local transmission of Zika virus in New York State, as a result of travel-associated cases being bitten by local mosquitoes, primarily the newly introduced Asian Tiger Mosquito (ATM). Researchers at Fordham’s Vector Ecology Laboratory, located at the Louis Calder Center, have been studying this mosquito for several years, including its breeding habits, habitat preferences, and distribution in New York.

This summer, Vector Ecology Lab staff continued to study the ecology of the ATM in the region with a special interest in Zika. The NY State Department of Health Regional Medical Entomology Lab, also located at the Calder Center, will be the focus of New York State’s effort to track the distribution of the ATM throughout the metropolitan area and monitor local mosquitoes for Zika virus. Fordham faculty and students, in addition to their own research, will assist in these efforts.

In fact, a previous grad student in the Biology Department at Fordham, Deena Lopez, received her Master’s degree for research on the spread of the ATM and environmental conditions that might limit its range expansion. As with all vector-borne diseases, pathogen transmission is part of a complex system involving the vector, the pathogen, and the host – humans, in this case - that may become infected. The ecology of these diseases needs to be understood if meaningful attempts at vector control and risk reduction are to be conducted. The work this summer will provide further insight into current risk by identifying where the ATM can be found and, hopefully, allow us to better predict where it may be a problem in the future.

Diana Tsukalas collecting mosquitoes

Asian Tiger Mosquito

Madeleine Chura

Madeleine Chura, CSUR ’15, identifying mosquitoes

THE LOUIS CALDER CENTER NEWSLETTER |VOLUME 2, NO. 1 3

Our 50th Anniversary is Approaching…

CSUR 2016 Program

…and we could use your help.

The Louis Calder Center was founded in 1967 after the generous donation of the Calder estate by Louis Calder’s family. Since then, the Center has been at the heart of ecological research for Fordham faculty and students, setting a standard for studies in forest community ecology, conservation, limnology, and vector ecology in the most heavily urbanized part of the country.

To celebrate that legacy, we are looking for photographs that captured the scientists and their work through the years, newspaper and magazine articles that discussed the station and its history, and any written or oral reminiscences of their time at Calder that its past students and faculty care to offer.

We are already collating lists of all publications that were

produced from work at the station and while we have a fair amount of material already, we’re sure there is much more to be found. With this body of information, we would like to put as much of the information as possible on exhibit in 2017, our golden jubilee year, while making it available online for everyone interested in Calder’s history.

For those of you that worked, visited, and/or lived at Calder, we ask that you find any and all photos, papers, etc. that you would like to share and contact us. We would like to borrow the material, digitally archive it, and return it to you (if desired) or accept it as a donation, at your discretion.

We would also like to form a Jubilee Committee to assemble and coordinate this material over the next six months so that a proper retrospective of the Louis Calder Center’s history can be offered next year.

If you are interested, please contact Alissa Perrone, Petra DelValle, or Tom Daniels to discuss ways you can help.

Thanks and we hope to hear from you soon!

On Wednesday, August 3, 2016, undergraduate students, who have spent the last 10 weeks at the Calder Center working under the mentorship of faculty, came together to present their research at the 19th Annual CSUR Symposium held in the Walsh Library on Fordham University’s Rose Hill Campus. These students were supported by Calder funds, and two separate NSF supplemental REU grants awarded to both Dr. Steve Franks and Dr. Jason Munshi-South. The following is a list of students and their research topics.

LAURA LANGLEY (Providence College). Urban rats and their pests: a spatial analysis of parasite loads and the genetic structure of their rat hosts.

KERRY BARRETT (Providence College). Natural and anthropogenic landscape impacts on white-footed mouse movement in Southern New England.

ADAIR BOUDREAUX (Fordham University). A resurrection study examines the effects of artificial selection for rapid cycling in Brassica rapa fast plants.

SAMANTHA LEVANO (Fordham University). Ecology and genetics of sunfish species in Calder Lake.

OLIVIA MICCI-SMITH (Fordham University). Diversity and selection of wild and inbred brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) using mitochondrial genome analysis.

DESTINY MIMS (Seattle University). Spatial autocorrelation analysis of Rattus norvegicus sex-biased dispersal patterns using nuclear SNPs.

ADRIANA MONTES (Fordham University). Resource allocation and allometry of Solanum lycopersicum on an urban rooftop.

VICTORIA SIEVERSON (Fordham University). The efficacy of catnip oil as a repellent against blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis).

SARAH STEIRER (Fordham University). Effects of specific environmental factors on the presence or absence of Heribaudiella in Western Connecticut streams.

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by Jason Munshi-South, Ph.D

The Urban Evolution Lab at the Calder Center has grown rapidly in the last year! You may have seen many new faces around Calder that are working on projects related to the evolution of wildlife in urban areas (particularly New York City). In addition to the people and projects below, we are happy to welcome several CSUR-REU students this summer (Laura Angley from Providence College, Olivia Micci-Smith from Fordham University, and Destiny Mims from Seattle University) as well as Dr. Jonathan Richardson, a visiting professor from Providence College. In addition to all of the new people, we were happy to add a liquid-handling robot to the shared genetics lab in Calder Hall with funding from the National Science Foundation and Louis Calder Center.

Most of you know me (Jason Munshi-South), but may not know all of the people doing the real work in the lab!

Dr. Emily Puckett, NSF postdoctoral researcher

I am working with Jason and many collaborators around the world using population genomic analyses to understand how brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) expanded around the world from their natal range in China and Mongolia. From historical records we know that brown rats were in Europe by the 1500s, and introduced to North America in the 1750s; however, this is a limited understanding of their global transport. Thus, we are reconstructing their routes of range expansion from genomic signatures. To date we have identified four expansion routes out of their natal range: an early southward expansion into Southeast Asia, two independent eastward expansions to North America one of which was facilitated by Russian colonization of the Aleutian Archipelago, and a westward expansion into Europe. European imperial powers then continued the spread of rats to eastern North America, South America, and New Zealand. We are now building demographic models which incorporate information on global population divergence and admixture to understand the timing of the range expansions, how population size has changed over time, and will be used to understand genes under selection. Also, check out my evolution and conservation blog, WildlifeSNPits (https://wildlifesnpits.wordpress.com/).

Jane Park, Laboratory Technician

I arrived in the lab in September 2015 after graduating from UC San Diego and working at the Drosophila stock center. My main roles at Calder have been managing the genetics labs in Calder

Hall, supporting the two major rat genomic projects led by Emily and Matt, and supervising visitors and undergraduates in the lab. Over the past few months, we have had several graduate students from other universities visit for various collaborations. In February, we hosted Kaylee Byers from the University of British Columbia. More recently, we’ve hosted Anna Peterson and Bruno Ghersi Chavez from Tulane University, as well as Alan Garcia-Elfring from McGill University. The graduate students came to Calder to learn how to prep and analyze data from ddRAD libraries. In addition, significant headway has been made on the liquid handling robot that was delivered at the end of 2015. It has been of great use in our lab, particularly when pushing a high volume of samples through a protocol. We hope to have it widely available for more frequent use in the near future.

Elizabeth Carlen, Ph.D. Student

I am finishing my first year in the Fordham Biology PhD program. I have a background in mammalogy and specimen preparation and will be starting a teaching collection at the Calder Center. Before joining the Fordham program, I completed a Masters degree at the California Academy of Sciences and San Francisco State University on molecular phylogenetics of sengis (AKA elephant shrews). This summer, I was a leader for the Project TRUE research teams at the Bronx Zoo. For my PhD research, I am planning to use genomic approaches to investigate how feral rock pigeons populations have evolved and adapted in New York City. The rock pigeon (Columba livia) is one of the most common and well-known birds—both revered and reviled by urbanites. Native rock pigeons live on steep ledges and cliffs in west Asia, the Middle East, northern Africa and the Mediterranean, while feral populations can be found in cities around the world.

Research Update URBAN EVOLUTION LAB

THE LOUIS CALDER CENTER NEWSLETTER |VOLUME 2, NO. 1 5

Matthew Combs, Ph.D. Student

I started conducting field work for the lab in Summer 2014 before enrolling in the biology graduate program. I am using population genomics and landscape modeling to better understand the city attributes that have a significant impact on rat migration. Brown rats have lived in New York City for over 250 years and have proven extremely successful at inhabiting and moving through its highly urbanized landscape. Our lab

hopes to better understand how rats reinvade habitat and to use our results to create more target strategies for pest control experts. Thus far, we have applied spatial

genetic approaches to 400 rats to identify the major axes of genetic variation and patterns of genetic relatedness in Manhattan. Soon we will incorporate GIS data on land use, socioeconomics, and a variety of other cityscape variables to apply landscape genetic methods. In the future we hope to compare our NYC-based study with other urban rat genetics projects worldwide to create a more comprehensive understanding of rat migration and habitat use in cities. This summer I worked with a visiting professor, Jonathan Richardson, to build landscape genetic models for rats in NYC and other cities, particularly Vancouver and New Orleans.

Carol Henger, Ph.D. Student

I joined the Fordham Ph.D. program in Fall 2014 after working for several years at the Bronx Zoo. My dissertation research focuses on molecular ecology of urban coyotes. This summer, I was the leader for the Project TRUE team at the Central Park Zoo, and afterwards I began my tenure as a Clare Booth Luce fellow. Due to their behavioral flexibility, coyotes are expanding their range into densely populated cities, where natural habitat is

fragmented by human development. Our lab is interested in learning how the coyotes are using the urban environment of New York City, the most populated city in America. In order to examine population structure, we analyze the DNA extracted from scat samples collected from New York City parks from 2010-2015. We use genetic markers to examine the relatedness of individuals within and between the parks, as well as to determine the genetic diversity within the New York City coyote population. Additionally, we plan to examine how landscape factors affect coyote movement patterns throughout the city.

Nicole Fusco, Ph.D. Student

I started conducting field work for my dissertation research in Summer 2014 before joining the graduate program. I previously spent several years as an environmental educator in Connecticut, most recently at the Stamford Nature Center. In summer 2016 I will be on maternity leave, and then return in the Fall to resume my dissertation research on the landscape genomics of urban stream salamanders. Considering the massive urbanization within New York City, and the expanding suburbs outside of the city, our lab investigates how urbanization affects the population genomic structure of both Northern Two-lined salamanders (Eurycea bislineata) and Northern Dusky Salamanders (Desmognathus fuscus) in this area. We use next generation sequencing to genotype individual salamanders and compare sections of their genomes to look for SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms). From this data we can analyze genetic and population structure and determine whether urbanization is a barrier to gene flow, isolating populations across the landscape. We are also interested in exploring which variables, on both the land and in the stream-scape, that may be isolating populations. By determining these factors we can inform conservation and management efforts to help conserve these native stream salamanders populations within and around New York City. We also plan to utilize environmental DNA (eDNA) as a non-invasive sampling technique to help us locate and detect rare native stream salamander species occurring at low densities in streams in this area, which can also be used to inform conservation efforts.

Research Update (continued)

THE LOUIS CALDER CENTER NEWSLETTER | Volume 2, No. 1

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Renovation is Complete The Lodge, located at the southern end of Calder Lake, is a log cabin originally built as a hunting retreat by Louis Calder. In an article from the Patent Trader newspaper (now defunct) dated September 23, 1967, the author described the station and made special note of the building: “Students and teachers who come for biological research down the road will … stop at the lakeside lodge, built at a cost of $14,000 back in the early 1930s by Maine carpenters imported by Mr. Calder, an ardent sportsman and enthusiastic host.”

So, while the station is approaching its 50th

anniversary (see page 2), the Lodge is just over 80 years old and, frankly, had been showing its age. The need to renovate was obvious, as was the decision about how it could be used to its greatest potential; for all of Calder’s outdoor resources, it was difficult to find an indoor space that could accommodate more than a handful of students at one time, and virtually nowhere to teach a lab course.

Funding for the project was provided by the university, from both the Facilities Management Department and the Office of the Provost. Facilities Management had the responsibility of planning and overseeing the construction. In addition to removing the old, that meant upgrading infrastructure

(plumbing and electric) to accommodate the new – new lighting, new media equipment, new air conditioning,

and a new lab. Under the supervision of John Spaccarelli, Calder’s Facilities Director, the renovation began in 2015 and was completed this May, just in time for the course. But before students could actually use the Lodge, the scientific equipment and supplies needed to outfit the lab, including an autoclave and lab benches, as well as a projector, tables, and seating, were purchased by the Provost’s Office to support the academic program at Calder. By mid-June, the Lodge was close enough to completion (the special order tables were not here but temporary replacements were found) to allow us to move ahead with its inaugural course (see right).

“Freshwater Algae Identification” Course While a topic like “Freshwater Algae Identification” might not sound like the most appealing course topic, even at a field station, our first-ever intensive two-week workshop on that very subject proved to be an attractive study option for eight serious students this summer. Dr. John Wehr, Professor of Biology and the instructor who put it together, had wanted to offer it for years but the special needs it required, including housing for the students and a space that would allow lecture and lab instruction, did not exist at Calder before the Lodge renovation. As John described it, “This course will embark on a study of the largest, most diverse, and arguably the most important group of plants on earth: the algae. Algae form the base of aquatic food webs, and are both the cause of water quality issues and a tool in ecological assessments used to protect inland waters”. The course emphasized the ecology and diversity of algae in freshwater habitats and demonstrated methods for using algae to assess water quality. By all accounts, it was a great success and the students, many local but some from as far away as Canada and Australia, all felt the course was intense but well worth it. The weather largely cooperated and despite a few hiccups (such as a field vehicle showing its age), it went as well as a first time offering can go. We are now looking forward to future events in the Lodge, particularly workshops that we can offer next summer, and will provide more information as it becomes available (see the Calder Center web site at www.fordham.edu/calder for updates).

Summertime at the Lodge

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Graduate Student Spotlight JUSTIN POOL, PHD CANDIDATE

Justin first started working at the Louis Calder Center in the summer of 2007 when he was a Calder Summer Undergraduate Research student studying blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis). Back then he studied the use of entomopathogenic fungal species, fungi which can act as a parasite of insects and arachnids; a potential way to control the blacklegged tick population. During that summer he was diagnosed with Lyme disease, which convinced him to switch gears and begin his Master’s Degree at Ohio University studying acid mine drainage remediation, and testing various indices of bio integrity, neither of which involved monitoring ticks. However, he still thought of ticks and eventually decided to return to Fordham University to study the blacklegged tick population in more detail.

Justin’s dissertation work has focused on how blacklegged ticks utilize their energy reserves over their lifecycle and whether infection benefits the blacklegged tick. Since the blacklegged tick only feeds one time at each life stage; larval, nymphal, and adult, it is possible to study energy reserves as a marker of aging. If a tick consumes all of its energy reserves before successfully finding a host for a blood meal, the tick will die. Energy reserves are used to fuel locomotion and physiological activity such as that involved in climbing vegetation to host-seek and moving down to moist conditions in the substrate to rehydrate. The amount of energy reserves that a tick has available for locomotion and physiological activity determines its lifespan.

Following a three-year study, Justin has determined that winter and snow cover plays a major role in how much energy ticks utilize in winter. Nymphal blacklegged ticks had significantly less energy reserves following warmer than average winters, while they had significantly greater energy reserves following colder and snowier than average winters. A warming climate could disrupt the current dynamics that allow for the maintenance of Lyme disease.

Justin is currently preparing a manuscript for publication describing a method that allows for the quantification of energy reserves in nymphal and adult blacklegged ticks, while preserving DNA to test for pathogens. He will be defending his dissertation this fall.

Justin preparing a DNA sample

THE LOUIS CALDER CENTER NEWSLETTER | Volume 2, No. 1

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We want to welcome back Dr. Alan

Clark to the Calder Center as he

moves his lab and office from Larkin

Hall, the Biology building on the

main campus, to the third floor of

Calder Hall. The largest building at

the station was home to the Louis

Calder family prior to becoming part

of Fordham and it now houses the

labs of Dr. Jim Lewis and Dr. Jason

Munshi-South. With Dr. Clark, the

prospect of more ornithological

research at Calder is immediately

increased and we all look forward to

students taking advantage of the

opportunities that having Alan on

site will provide beginning this fall.

We bid farewell to Kam Truhn and

his family as they return to their

Michigan roots after a decade of

assisting faculty and students at

Calder. Kam was originally hired to

work in the lab of Dr. John Wehr but

his facility with all manner of analytic

equipment in the McCarthy Lab led

inevitably to his being asked to help

any student needing to use the GC,

nutrient analyzer, and CHN as part of

their own research. Trained as an

invertebrate taxonomist, Kam was

also an invaluable field assistant and

had even taken to vector ecology in

the last year at Calder, assisting in

the rearing and identification of

mosquitoes. His expertise in setting

up our weather stations, monitoring

the lake sonde that records water

quality data, and particularly his

interest in photography, will be hard

skills to replace. We wish him the

best in his new position.

Although technically not a ‘coming’

or a ‘going’, we wish to congratulate

both Dr. Jason Munshi-South and

Dr. Evon Hekkala for having been

granted tenure. While Jason’s lab is

based at Calder, Evon and her

students frequently work at the

station. Both mentor students each

summer in the CSUR (Calder

Summer Undergraduate Research)

program and knowing that they will

be taking part for years to come is

very gratifying to all of us at Calder.

Spring and summer are times for the flowers to start blooming around the Calder Center adding much color to the landscape. We always look forward to this time of year. (Photo Credits: Mountain Laurel, Forsythia, Daffodils – Alissa Perrone; Sunflower, Milkweed & Butterflies – Thomas Daniels; Azalea – John Wehr)

Comings and Goings

Blooms Abound

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Anyone interested in submitting an article or

information for the newsletter should

contact Alissa Perrone aperrone@fordham.edu.

Permanent link to this comic: http://xkcd.com/1429/

2016 Calder Center Graduate Student Research Grant Recipients

The LCC offers mini-grants each year to graduate students in support of their scientific investigations in any field of ecology. These grants are specifically for those projects that base their research at the Calder Center or utilize the facilities (laboratory and/or field) at the station. In 2016 the LCC was able to award approximately $6000 towards graduate student research.

Chelsea Butcher (PhD Candidate) - Examining pollen dispersal dynamics of the wind-dispersed water hemp (Amaranthus tuberculatus) and the insect-dispersed tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) within an urban roof habitat in New York City.

Elizabeth Carlen (PhD Candidate) - A Study of the Population Genomics of the Feral Rock Pigeons (Columba livia) in New York City.

Matthew Combs (PhD Candidate) - Mitogenome analysis to understand sex-based dispersal in global rat phylogeography.

Nicole Fusco (PhD Candidate) - Using Environmental DNA (eDNA) to detect stream salamanders and monitor populations for conservation.

Stephen Gottschalk (PhD Candidate) - Towards an understanding of the phylogeography in North American freshwater algae.

Carol Henger (PhD Candidate) – Next-Generation Diet Analysis of an urban predator.

31 Whipporwill Road Armonk, NY 10504

Phone (914) 273-3078 E-mail: caldercenter@fordham.edu

Web: www.fordham.edu/calder Twitter: @LouisCalderCtr

LCC Staff Thomas J. Daniels, Ph.D. – Academic Director

Alissa Perrone – Assistant Director John Spaccarelli – Facilities Director

Petra DelValle – Business Administrator Michael Lambros – Caretaker

Calder Happenings

February – Zika Conference. Calder hosted New York’s state and county health officials for a meeting on mosquito surveillance and the Zika virus. Sponsored by the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH), the meeting provided a review of what is known about Zika virus, and allowed for participants to discuss the types of surveillance tools available to monitor mosquito populations in the lower Hudson Valley this spring and summer.

June – CSUR/REU Program. Our 10-week independent research program for nine undergraduates began on June 1st and continued until August 3rd when students presented their research at the annual CSUR Symposium.

– Algal Taxonomy Workshop. An intensive 2-week field course (for credit or non-credit) was offered at Calder in the newly renovated Lodge. Nine participates were accepted into the inaugural class and provided housing in the Calder Cabin.

– Project TRUE (Teens Researching Urban Ecology). During the month of June, the Project True team used the LCC as a training center for high school students to learn field research techniques, and to begin establishing their understanding of landscape heterogeneity and urban-rural concepts.