Physical and Cognitive Performance of the Least Shrew (Cryptotis parva) on a Calcium-Restricted Diet.

Geological substrates and air pollution affect the availability of calcium to mammals in many habitats, including the Adirondack Mountain Region (Adirondacks) of the United States. Mammalian insectivores, such as shrews, may be particularly restricted in environments with low calcium. We examined the consequences of calcium restriction on the least shrew (Cryptotis parva) in the laboratory.

Ticks and fleas of shrews in Appalachian Georgia and North Carolina.

Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) and fleas (Insecta: Siphonaptera) were recovered from 8 smoky shrews, Sorex fumeus Miller, and 9 northern short-tailed shrews, Blarina brevicauda (Say), trapped at elevations of 720-1,310 m in Macon and Jackson counties in western North Carolina and Union County in northern Georgia from April 1994 to August 1995. The ticks Ixodes angustus Neumann and Ixodes woodi Bishopp, and the flea Corrodopsylla curvata (Rothschild), were recovered from smoky shrews. The same 2 tick species, in addition to the fleas, Ctenophthalmus pseudagyrtes Baker and Doratopsylla blarinae Fox, were recovered from northern short-tailed shrews.

Solidification studies using a confocal optical signal processor.

The development of a confocal optical processing system and its application to a solidifying metal model are reported. This system has been used to acquire image format data from which quantitative temperature and concentration profiles have been measured. Strong agreement is shown to exist between experimental results obtained in this manner and numerical simulations.