Age and tectonic setting of the Quinebaug- Marlboro belt and implications for the history of Ganderian crustal fragments in southeastern New England, USA

Crustal fragments underlain by high-grade rocks represent a challenge to plate reconstructions, and integrated mapping, geochronology, and geochemistry enable the unravelling of the temporal and spatial history of exotic crustal blocks. The Quinebaug-Marlboro belt (QMB) is an enigmatic fragment on the trailing edge of the peri-Gondwanan Ganderian margin of southeastern New England. SHRIMP U-Pb geochronology and geochemistry indicate the presence of Ediacaran to Cambrian metamorphosed volcanic and intrusive rocks dated for the first time between ca. 540–500 Ma. The entire belt may preserve a cryptic, internal stratigraphy that is truncated by subsequent faulting. Detrital zircons from metapelite in the overlying Nashoba and Tatnic Hill Formations indicate deposition between ca. 485–435 Ma, with provenance from the underlying QMB or Ganderian crust. The Preston Gabbro (418 ± 3 Ma) provides a minimum age for the QMB. Mafic rocks are tholeiitic with trace elements that resemble arc and E-MORB sources, and samples with negative Nb-Ta anomalies are similar to arc-like rocks, but others show no negative Nb-Ta anomaly and are similar to rocks from E-MORB to OIB or backarc settings. Geochemistry points to a mixture of sources that include both mantle and continental crust. Metamorphic zircon, monazite, and titanite ages range from 400 to 305 Ma and intrusion of granitoids and migmatization occurred between 410 and 325 Ma. Age and chemistry support correlations with the Ellsworth terrane in Maine and the Penobscot arc and backarc system in Maritime Canada. The arc-rifting zone where the Mariana arc and the Mariana backarc basin converge is a possible modern analog.

Heterogenous Patterns in Leaf Phenology Across a Climate Gradient in Maritime Canada Observed through Phenocams

<p>Leaf phenology, the timing of leaf life cycle events, is a vital indicator of terrestrial biosphere function. The influence of global change upon leafing phenology in mid to high latitude regions is uncertain due to a complex interaction of drivers and lack of temporally and spatially resolved baseline data.  Leaf phenology has been observed manually for millennia, and through satellite platforms for decades. A novel technique of monitoring leaf phenology known as near remote sensing employing time-lapse photography at the canopy level (or phenocams) allows for objective observations with high temporal and spatial resolution. We deployed 13 solar-powered time-lapse camera stations across a climate gradient in Nova Scotia, Canada to observe leaf phenology of locally abundant species including more than 300 individuals over the 2019 and 2020 growing seasons. To examine the influence of thermal, photoperiodic, and genetic drivers, our remote phenology monitoring stations were situated in comparative edaphic and topographic contexts and complemented with relative humidity and ambient temperature sensors. We observed variability in the timing of leaf budburst, peak of season greenness, redness, senescence, and abscission between and within species, despite similar degrees of environmental forcing. Moving forward, we will apply our insights to develop species specific process based models of leaf phenology, and test the wider application of our techniques to observational records from other regions. This work demonstrates the complexity of environmental influence upon leaf phenology, as well as the utility of phenocams in monitoring leafing phenology in remote regions of Maritime Canada.</p>

Conservation Lessons from the Study of North American Boreal Birds at Their Southern Periphery

Many North American boreal forest birds reach the southern periphery of their distribution in the montane spruce–fir forests of northeastern United States and the barren coastal forests of Maritime Canada. Because the southern periphery may be the first to be impacted by warming climates, these populations provide a unique opportunity to examine several factors that will influence the conservation of this threatened group under climate change. We discuss recent research on boreal birds in Northeastern US and in Maritime Canada related to genetic diversity, population trends in abundance, distributional shifts in response to climate change, community composition, and threats from shifting nest predators. We discuss how results from these studies may inform the conservation of boreal birds in a warming world as well as open questions that need addressing.

In Search of Henry Alexander Saturnin Hartley, Black Classicist, Clergyman, and Physician

The multifaceted career of Henry Alexander Saturnin Hartley (1861–1934) has been almost entirely overlooked by scholars. It however offers us a window into the way the study of classics traveled up and down the Atlantic seaboard and through the Americas. His peripatetic life which took him from Trinidad, to Paris, to maritime Canada, to South America and also to parts of the U.S. figures into the larger history of black classicism when knowledge of classical languages was a “currency” of its own. His 134-page book Classical Translations (Nova Scotia, 1889) was a singular achievement. It is the first book of translations taken from the literature of ancient Greece and Rome that was written and published by a person of African descent in the western hemisphere.

Erythrism in Spring Peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) in Maritime Canada

We document three cases of erythrism in Spring Peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Although the source of erythrism in Maritime P. crucifer remains uncertain, the occurrences reported here demonstrate this colour morph to be a widespread, although apparently rare, form in the Canadian Maritimes region.