| Widespread dispersal of Borrelia burgdorferi-infected ticks collected from songbirds across Canada. | Abstract Millions of Lyme disease vector ticks are dispersed annually by songbirds across Canada, but often overlooked as the source of infection. For clarity on vector distribution, we sampled 481 ticks (12 species and 3 undetermined ticks) from 211 songbirds (42 species/subspecies) nationwide. Using PCR, 52 (29.5%) of 176 Ixodes ticks tested were positive for the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. Immature blacklegged ticks, Ixodes scapularis, collected from infested songbird ... | 2011 | 21864130 |
| fire, humans, and climate: modeling distribution dynamics of boreal forest waterbirds. | understanding the effects of landscape change and environmental variability on ecological processes is important for evaluating resource management policies, such as the emulation of natural forest disturbances. we analyzed time series of detection/nondetection data using hierarchical models in a bayesian multi-model inference framework to decompose the dynamics of species distributions into responses to environmental variability, spatial variation in habitat conditions, and population dynamics ... | 2014 | 24640539 |
| long-term decline in a red-winged blackbird population: ecological causes and sexual selection consequences. | habitat loss and large-scale climate phenomena are widely implicated as causing decline in animal populations. i examined how both factors contributed to a precipitous decline in an ontario red-winged blackbird (agelaius phoeniceus) population using 16 years of data collected between 1974 and 1995. the decline was manifested as an almost 50% reduction in mean harem size, which reduced the opportunity for sexual selection threefold. regional hay production, which should affect recruitment into th ... | 2005 | 16191645 |
| effects of climate variation on timing of nesting, reproductive success, and offspring sex ratios of red-winged blackbirds. | predicting ecological consequences of climate change will be improved by understanding how species are affected by contemporary climate variation, particularly if analyses involve more than single ecological variables and focus on large-scale climate phenomena. i used 18 years of data from red-winged blackbirds (agelaius phoeniceus) studied over a 25-year period in eastern ontario to explore chronological and climate-related patterns of reproduction. although blackbirds started nesting earlier i ... | 2005 | 15891814 |