Education

Ph.D. Vertebrate ecology (1974), Kent State University
M.A. Vertebrate ecology (1968), Kent State University
B.A. Zoology (1964), Miami University

Courses

Organismal Biology, Botany, Population and Community Ecology, Vertebrate Zoology, Comparative Anatomy, Parasitology

Research

I study the ways organisms interact with each other. My students and I have investigated animal behavior in salamanders, community structure of lichens, ecology of tick-transmitted diseases, allelochemicals of plants, and the decline of amphibian populations. I have been studying the community structure and dynamics of lowland heaths on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, and, in particular, the endangered and invasive species found there.

I am also involved in conservation efforts through my work with Hudsonia, Ltd., a Bard-based environmental research organization, the Winnakee Land Trust, which promotes land conservation issues, and the Maria Mitchell Association, dedicated to scientific research and education on Nantucket island, MA.

I have eclectic interests in almost anything biological, and am endlessly curious about all "creepie-crawlies". I am motivated by an interest in biodiversity and challenges to it, and a fascination with adaptation and acclimatization. But mostly, I do what I do because it's fun.

Selected Publications

Orr, Lowell P. and William T. Maple. 1978. Competition avoidance mechanisms in salamander larvae of the genus Desmognathus. Copeia. 1978(4): 679-685.

• Segarnick, D. J., L. J. Traficante, W. T. Maple and J. B. Ferguson. 1979. Effects of chronic lithium administration on concanavalin A binding to plasma membranes from the corpus striatum of rat brain. Experientia 35: 655-656.
• Schauber, Eric M., Shira J. Gertz, William T. Maple and Richard S. Ostfeld. 1998. Coinfection of Blacklegged Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) in Dutchess County, New York, with the Agents of Lyme Disease and Human Granulocytic Ehrlichiosis. J. Med. Entomol. 35(5): 901-903.