Dr. Robert K. Rose

Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences

Ph.D. Biology, 1974
University of Kansas

M.S. Biology, 1964
University of Virginia

B.S. Natural Science, 1957
University of Wisconsin

Bio 431/531, Mammalogy
Bio 421/521, Ornithology
Bio 422/522, Field Studies in Ornithology
Bio 625, Writing for Publication

Research Interests:

My research interests remain primarily with the ecology of populations and communities of small mammals in southeastern Virginia. My students and I have been monitoring small mammals on two study grids in southern Chesapeake since 2002, where we mark, assess, and release small mammals during regular monthly trapping. The older grid is now being overtaken by pine trees, and in effect we are monitoring, with quarterly trapping, the disappearance of herbivorous mammals as their food supply dwindles. Two recent MS graduates are working on manuscripts derived from their thesis work on this grid, and another is undertaking an analysis of the rodent community, formerly dominated by hispid cotton rats. The newer grid (since October 2005) is dominated by meadow voles, and several thesis projects could emerge from this site. One current MS student is examining body growth, body size, and lifespans in the meadow voles of the two grids.Meadow voles in eastern Virginia are the largest in North America, for reasons we are trying to understand with this analysis.

New research areas are emerging since 2005, when I undertook to learn the extent of pine tree mortality caused by rodents eating bark in late winter/early spring. An assistant and I spent 23 days examining all trees on our 1-hectare grid; 11 percent of 15,800 trees had been killed by girdling by cotton rats. Interestingly, there is no published record of cotton rats eating pine bark. While doing mortality and damage assessments of pines, we also recorded information on praying mantids, which we knew to be common on the grid. Several unusual features were exhibited by this population of Chinese mantids on our grid, including non-random compass orientation and placement of egg cases in trees. This work on praying mantids is continuing and will result in one or more publications in the near future.Further, I am undertaking experimental field studies in a larger oldfield, also owned by The Nature Conservancy, that will examine factors contributing to the expansion of a colonizing mantid population. These studies of pines and of mantids present other potential field-oriented research projects for MS students.

Selected Publications:

Rose, R. K.2007.Population ecology of the golden mouse. In The Golden Mouse: Ecology, Behavior,and Conservation (eds., G. W. Barrett and G. Feldhamer), Springer-Verlag.

Dolan, J. D., and R. K. Rose. 2007. Depauperate small mammal communities in pine plantations in eastern Virginia.Virginia Journal of Science 58:163-180.

Rose, R. K., and G. E. Kratimenos.2006. Population dynamics of meadow voles and feral house mice on a dredge disposal site.American Midland Naturalist 156:376-385.

Rose, R. K., and S. W. McGurk.2006. Year-round diet of the marsh rice rat, Oryzomys palustris, in Virginia tidal marshes.Virginia Journal of Science 57:115-121.

Rose, R. K.2006.Distribution and status of the southern bog lemming, Synaptomys cooperi, in southeastern Virginia.Virginia Journal of Science 57:153-165.

Byrum, L. J., K. A. Carson, and R. K. Rose.2006. The olfactory system in two species of short-tailed shrews, genus Blarina, and comparisons with other Insectivora. Pp. 379-389.Colloquium volume for the Biology of the Soricidae II.

Pease, M. L., R. K. Rose, and M. J. Butler.2005. Effects of human disturbance on the behavior of wintering ducks. Wildlife Society Bulletin 33:103-112.

Bloch, C. P., and R. K. Rose. 2005. Population dynamics of Oryzomys palustris and Microtus pennsylvanicus in Virginia tidal marshes. Northeastern Naturalist 12:295-306.

Rose, R. K.2005. The small mammals of Isle of Wight County, Virginia, as revealed by pitfall trapping. Virginia Journal of Science 56:83-92.

Bergstrom, B. J., and R. K. Rose.2004. Comparative life histories of Georgia and Virginia cotton rats. Journal of Mammalogy 85:1077-1086.

Rabiu, S., and R. K. Rose.2004. Crop damage and yield loss caused by two species of rodents in irrigated fields in northern Nigeria.International Journal of Pest Management 50:323-326.