Richard S. Ostfeld
Institute of Ecosystem Studies

Collaborators: Felicia Keesing (IES and Bard College) and Kathleen LoGiudice (IES and Union College).

In Press

• Ostfeld, R.S. and J.N. Mills. In press. Social behavior, demography, and rodent-borne pathogens. Chapter in J. O. Wolff and P.W. Sherman, eds. Rodent Societies. University of Chicago Press (accepted November 2003).
• Ostfeld, R.S., F. Keesing, and K. LoGiudice. In press. Community ecology meets epidemiology: the case of Lyme disease. Chapter in S. Collinge and C. Ray, eds. Disease ecology: community structure and pathogen dynamics. Oxford University Press (accepted June 2004).
• Waller, L.A., B.J. Goodwin, M.L. Wilson, R.S. Ostfeld, N.B. Hayes, and S. Marshall. In press. Exploring spatiotemporal patterns in county-level incidence and reporting of Lyme Disease in the northeastern United States, 1990-2000. Environmental and Ecological Statistics (accepted January 2005).

Popular articles and commentaries

• Ostfeld, R.S. 2002. Little loggers make a big difference. Natural History 111: 64-71.

Peer Reviewed Publications

• Keesing, F., R. D. Holt, and R. S. Ostfeld. 2006. Effects of species diversity on disease risk. Ecology Letters 9: 485–498.
• Burns, C. E., B. J. Goodwin, and R. S. Ostfeld. 2005. A prescription for longer life? Bot fly parasitism of the white-footed mouse. Ecology 86:753-761.
• Kremen, C., and R. S. Ostfeld, 2005. A call to ecologists: measuring, analyzing, and managing ecosystem services. Front Ecol Environ 3(10):540–548.
• Ostfeld, R. S., G. Glass, and F. Keesing. 2005. Spatial epidemiology: An emerging (or re-emerging) discipline. Trends Ecol. Evol. 20:328-336.
• Schauber, E. M., R. S. Ostfeld, and A. S. Evans, Jr.. 2005. What is the best predictor of annual Lyme disease incidence: Weather, mice, or acorns? Ecol. Appl. 15:575-586.
• Ostfeld, R.S. and R.D. Holt. 2004. Are predators good for your health? Evaluating evidence for top-down regulation of zoonotic disease reservoirs. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2:13-20.
• Ostfeld, R.S. and K. LoGiudice. 2003. Community disassembly, biodiversity loss, and the erosion of an ecosystem service. Ecology 84:1421-1427.
• Wasserberg, G., Z. Abramsky, B. Kotler, R.S. Ostfeld, I. Yaron, and A. Warburg. 2003. Anthropogenic disturbances enhance occurrence of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Israel deserts: patterns and mechanisms. Ecological Applications 13:868-881.
• LoGiudice, K., R.S. Ostfeld, K.A. Schmidt, and F. Keesing. 2003. The ecology of infectious disease: effects of host diversity and community composition on Lyme disease risk. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 100:567-571.
• Shaw, M.T., F. Keesing, R. McGrail, and R.S. Ostfeld. 2003. Factors influencing the distribution of larval blacklegged ticks on rodent hosts. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 68:447-452.
• Allan, B.F., F. Keesing, and R.S. Ostfeld. 2003. Effects of forest fragmentation on Lyme disease risk. Conservation Biology 17:267-272.
• Harvell, C.D., Mitchell, C.E., Ward, J.R., Altizer, S., Dobson, A., Ostfeld, R.S., and Samuel, M.D. 2002. Climate warming and disease risks for terrestrial and marine biota. Science 296:2158-2162.
• Ostfeld, R.S., F. Keesing, E.M. Schauber, and K.A. Schmidt. 2002. The ecological context of infectious disease: diversity, habitat fragmentation, and Lyme disease risk in North America. Pages 207-219 In: A. Aguirre, R.S. Ostfeld, C.A. House, G. Tabor, and M. Pearl, eds. Conservation medicine: ecological health in practice. Oxford University Press; New York.
• Ostfeld, R.S., M. Pearl, and G. Meffe. 2002. Conservation medicine: the birth of another crisis discipline. Pages 17-26 In: A. Aguirre, R.S. Ostfeld, C.A. House, G. Tabor, and M. Pearl, eds. Conservation medicine: ecological health in practice. Oxford University Press; New York.
• Schauber, E.M. and R.S. Ostfeld. 2002. Modeling the effects of reservoir competence decay and demographic turnover in Lyme-disease ecology. Ecological Applications 12:1142-1162.
• Tabor, G.M., R.S. Ostfeld, M. Poss, A.P. Dobson, and A.A. Aguirre. 2001. Conservation biology and the health sciences: research priorities of conservation medicine. Pages 155-174 in M.E. Soule and G.H. Orians, eds., Conservation biology: research priorities for the next decade. Island Press, Washington, DC.
• Schmidt, K.A. and R.S. Ostfeld. 2001. Biodiversity and the dilution effect in disease ecology. Ecology 82:609-619.
• Giardina, A.R., K.A. Schmidt, E.M. Schauber, and R.S. Ostfeld. 2000. Modeling the role of rodents and songbirds in the ecology of Lyme disease. Canadian Journal of Zoology 78:2184-2197.
• Ostfeld, R.S. and F. Keesing. 2000. The role of biodiversity in the ecology of vector-borne zoonotic diseases. Canadian Journal of Zoology 78:2061-2078.
• Ostfeld, R.S. and F. Keesing. 2000. Biodiversity and disease risk: the case of Lyme disease. Conservation Biology 14:722-728.
• Schmidt, K.A, R.S. Ostfeld, and E.M. Schauber. 1999. Infestation of Peromyscus leucopus and Tamias striatus by the blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae), in relation to the abundance of hosts and parasites. Journal of Medical Entomology 36:749-757.
• Van Buskirk, J. and R.S. Ostfeld. 1998. Habitat heterogeneity, dispersal, and local risk of exposure to Lyme disease. Ecological Applications 8:365-378.
• Ostfeld, R.S. 1997. The ecology of Lyme-disease risk. American Scientist 85:338-346.
• Ostfeld, R. S., K. R. Hazler, and O. M. Cepeda. 1996. Spatial and temporal dynamics of ticks (Ixodes scapularis) in a rural landscape. Journal of Medical Entomology 33:90-95.
• Ostfeld, R. S., M. C. Miller, and K. R. Hazler. 1996. Causes and consequences of tick (Ixodes scapularis) burdens on white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus). Journal of Mammalogy 77:266-273.
• Hazler, K.R. and R.S. Ostfeld. 1995. Larval density and feeding success of Ixodes scapularis on two species of Peromyscus. Journal of Parasitology 81:870-875.
• Van Buskirk, J. and R. S. Ostfeld. 1995. Controlling Lyme disease by modifying density and species composition of tick hosts. Ecological Applications 5:1133-1140.
• Gage, K.L., R.S. Ostfeld and J.G. Olson. 1995. Nonviral vector-borne zoonoses associated with mammals in the United States. Journal of Mammalogy 76:695-715.