Research at the Field Station

Research is conducted at the Field Station by investigators and their students from UMass Boston as well as many other research institutions in the Northeastern United States including Harvard, the U.S. Geological Survey, WHOI, Northeastern, and the College of the Atlantic (See below).

A major asset of the NFS for scientific research is the Island's distinctive conditions and natural resources. For example, one major area of research based from the Field Station is the study of three emerging diseases of significance to U.S. public health. Nantucket is a national hot spot for Lyme disease, Babesiosis, and Ehrlichiosis. Researchers from the Harvard School of Tropical Public Health have been examining the relationship of these three diseases with tick, mouse and deer populations on the Island since 1978. In addition, Dr. Sam Telford's group from the Harvard School of Public Health has conducted tests of Lyme disease vaccine at the Field Station.

Another example of research based on Nantucket's uncommon resources is the gray seal population biology study by the College of the Atlantic on-going since 1964. UMB and other investigators use the Field Station for ornithology research, remote sensing of water quality parameters, population ecology, and sampling of coastal sediments. Many of Nantucket's coastal sediments serve as relatively pristine environments, when compared to other coastal sediments.

Student research has been a part of the Field Station for the past 30 years. A very successful student research-oriented course in Maritime Ecology Research is offered each summer. Students work on independent research projects, some with the help of local scientists from numerous local community and governmental groups. View a list of student research projects from our Biology summer courses.

The following are additional examples of research projects conducted in part at the NFS in the last five years:

• Ticks, mice, deer, Lyme disease, Babesiosis, Erlichiosis, and other possible tick vectored diseases, Andrew Speilman, Sam Telford III, and assistants, Harvard School of Public Health.

• Grey seals at Muskeget. Stephanie Wood, Solange Brault, and colleagues, University of Massachusetts - Boston.**

• Reintroduction of an endangered species, the American Burying Beetle, to Nantucket, Ming Lee Prospers and assistants, University of Rhode Island and Roger Williams Zoo.

• Effects of mowing and burning Nantucket's heaths, Ernest Steinhaur, Karen Combs-Beattie, and assistants, Massachusetts Audubon Society and Nantucket Conservation Foundation.

• Nesting piping plovers on Nantucket, Scott Melvin, Massachusetts Natural Heritage Program.

• Endangered nesting roseate terns on Muskeget, Richard Veit, The College of Staten Island.

• Annual Audubon bird count, Edith Andrews, Nantucket Maria Mitchell Science center.**

• Birds, mowing and burning in Nantucket's heaths, Curtice Griffin and graduate students, University of Massachusetts - Amherst.**

• Plant community pattern survey. Personal of Harvard Forest, Petersham, MA.**

• Water sampling. Personal of ECOS. University of Massachusetts, Boston.

• Archaeological survey of the Sciasconset erosion defense system. Archaeology Department, University of Massachusetts - Amherst.

• Nantucket erosion and coastal geomorphology, Field Station staff in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey, the Corps of Engineers, and the Maryland Center for Coastal Research

• Nantucket Pond Opening Study, WHOI and the Land Council

• Nantucket Heathlands Ecology Study, Field Station staff in cooperation with the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (Britain), and the Nantucket Conservation Foundation and Massachusetts Audubon Society (since 1974)

• Nantucket Heath lands Fire Management Program, in cooperation with the Nantucket Heathlands Partnership encompassing all the conservation and natural history organizations on Nantucket

• Hermit Crab Population Biology, UMB**

• Environmental Pathology of Long Legged Wading Birds, Manomet Bird Observatory

• Archaeology of the African Baptist Church, Boston University

• Archeology of the Proposed Polpis Bike Path Site, Public Archaeological Research Center

• Archaeology of the Miacomet Indian Burying Ground, U. Mass/Amherst

• Endangered Nantucket Plant and Animal Species, Mass. Natural Heritage Program**

• Silver Leaf Fungus on Nantucket, a Possible Biological Control for Scrub Oak Resprouts in Heathlands, Center for Agro/Biological Research, Wageningen University, The Netherlands

• Mitochondrial DNA Studies in Coastal Shrews, Northeastern University

• Salt and Freshwater Wetlands Survey, Mass. Department of Environmental Protection

• Coastal Eelgrass Survey, MA Dept. Environmental Protection

**Denotes long term ecological research data

Interaction With Governmental Agencies

The NFS provides housing for investigators conducting surveys of rare and endangered species and specific population surveys. For example, the Field Station was used by state agencies to examine the colonial nesting of waterfowl. Other interactions with government agencies include sampling of erosion and shoreline changes. Finally, the Field Station hosts environmental regulatory meetings for the Island.

A list of agencies interacting with the NFS include:

• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
• Massachusetts Fish and Wildlife Service
• Massachusetts State Ornithologist
• The Corps of Engineers (Duck, NC and Vicksburg, MS)
• The U.S. Geological Survey

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