Bob Nelson

Education

B.A. Geology, San Francisco State University, 1972

M.S. (Geology), 1979

Ph.D. Multidisciplinary Quaternary Paleoecology, University of Washington (Seattle), 1982 

Areas of Expertise

• Ground beetles of Maine

• Glacial geology of Alaska and northern New England

• Palynology (study of spores and pollen) of Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs

• Origin of Arctic tundra
• Beetles of Quaternary Period (“Ice Age”) and of modern North America
• Quaternary Paleoecology
• Environments and climates of the late Cenozoic Era (“Ice Age”)

Personal Information

Editor of The Maine Entomologist, quarterly newsletter of the Maine Entomological Society.

Current Research

Modern ground beetle fauna of Maine

Vegetation response to catastrophic volcanic events, Aniakchak, Alaska

Late- and Post-glacial environments of Devlin Park, Front Range, Colorado

Origins of the Norridgewock Sand Plain, central Maine

Macrofossil evidence for environmental change at the Turner Farm Archeological Site, North Haven Island, Maine

 Biochemistry of defensive secretions in the hygrophilous ground beetle genus Chlaenius (in collaboration with Dr. Dasan Thamattoor, Dept. of Chemistry)

Publications

Selover, R. W.*, R. A. Gastaldo and R. E. Nelson, 2005: An Estuarine Assemblage from the Middle Devonian Trout Valley Formation of Northern Maine; Palaios, v. 20, p. 192-197.

Bagley, Patrick H.*, and Robert E. Nelson, 2007: Latest Pleistocene marine molluscs of Central Maine: Evidence for Paleosalinity and Paleobathymetry in the Waning Phases of the Presumpscot Formation and Subsequent Marine Emergence. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, no. 1, p. 73.

Cantor, Bradford M.*, C. Kittinger Clark*, Hannah H. Coleman*, Mary M. Distinti*, Taylor M. Kilian*, Newton W. Krumdieck*, Elizabeth F. Littlefield*, Sophia S. Newbury*, Samuel B. Reid*, and Robert E. Nelson, 2007: Late Holocene vs. Modern Environments of Central Maine: Comparison of Pollen, Plant Macrofossil, and Coleopteran Assemblages With the Historical Record. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, no. 1, p. 74.

Kline, Jamie E.*, and Robert E. Nelson, 2007: Marine ostracodes from the latest Pleistocene of Central Maine: Evidence for Paleosalinity and Paleobathymetry in the Waning Phases of Marine Emergence. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, no. 1, p. 73.

Krumdieck, Newton W.*, and Robert E. Nelson, 2007: The Origins of the Norridgewock Sand Plain, Somerset County, Central Maine. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, no. 1, p. 89.

Littlefield, Elizabeth F.*, and Robert E. Nelson. 2007: Foraminifera from the Presumpscot Formation: Evidence For Paleosalinity And Paleobathymetry in the Waning Phases of Marine Emergence of Central Maine. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, no. 1, p. 73.

Nelson, Robert E., Jennifer P. Moody*, Aaron I. Olcerst*, Leslie H. Wardwell* and Frank A. Fekete, 2007: Characterization of the Pervasiveness of Mercury and Antibiotic Resistance Due to Co-Selection Using Population Studies from Holocene Sphagnum Cores in Maine. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, no. 6, p. 65.

VanderHoek, R., and R. E. Nelson, 2007: Ecological Roadblocks on a Constrained Landscape: The Cultural Effects of Catastrophic Holocene Volcanism on the Alaska Peninsula, Southwest Alaska, p. 135-152 in Living Under the Shadow: The Archeological, cultural and Environmental Impact of Volcanic Eruptions (J. Grattan, ed.); London: UCL Press.

Nelson, Robert E., Sara H. Lubkin and Peter Nester, 2007: Paleoenvironments of the Hyde Park, New York, Mastodon Site, Based on Subfossil Coleopteran Remains; p. 165-170 in Mastodon Paleobiology, Taphonomy, and Paleoenvironment in the Late Pleistocene of New York State: Studies on the Hyde Park, Chemung, and Java Sites. W. Allmon, P. Nester, and J. Chiment, eds., Palaeontographica Americana, no. 61.

Kilian, Taylor M.*, and Robert E. Nelson, 2008: A Late Pleistocene Coleopteran Fauna from Presumpscot Formation Sediments in Portland, Maine. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 40, no. 2, p. 60.

Wardwell, Leslie H.*, Brooke A. Jude, Jennifer Moody*, Aaron Olcerst*, Ruth A. Gyure, Robert E. Nelson, and Frank A. Fekete, 2009: Co-selection of Mercury and Antibiotic Resistance in Sphagnum Core Samples Dating Back 2000 Years. Geomicrobiology Journal, v. 26, p. 351-360.

Blackwell, Bonnie A. B., J. J. J. Gong, Anne R. Skinner, Andree Blais-Stevens, Robert E. Nelson, and Joel I.B. Blickstein, 2010: ESR Dating Pleistocene Barnacles from BC and Maine: A New Method for Tracking Sealevel Change. Health Physics v. 98, no. 2, p. 417-426.

Nelson, Robert E., C. Kittinger Clark*, Elizabeth F. Littlefield* and Newton W. Krumdieck*, 2010: Palynology of Three Bog Cores Shows Complex European Impact on the Forests of Central Maine. Northeastern Naturalist, v. 17, p. 63-76.

Thompson, Woodrow B., Carol B. Griggs, Norton G. Miller, Robert E. Nelson, Thomas K. Weddle, and Taylor M. Kilian*, 2011: Associated Terrestrial and Marine Fossils in the Late-Glacial Presumpscot Formation, Southern Maine, U.S.A., and the Marine Reservoir Effect on Radiocarbon Ages. Quaternary Research, v. 75, p. 552-565.

Ashworth, Allan C., and Robert E. Nelson, 2014. The paleoenvironment at the end of the Olympia interglacial based on fossil beetles from Discovery Park, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. Quaternary International, v. 341, p. 243-254.

Dearborn, Richard G., Robert E. Nelson, Charlene Donahue, Ross T. Bell, and Reginald P. Webster, 2014: The Ground-Beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) Fauna of Maine. Coleopterists Bulletin, vol. 68, no. 3, p. 441-599. [Recognized as Outstanding Paper of the Year for 2014 by the journal.]

Nelson, Robert E., 2015. Pollen Studies in the Karluk River Region, Alaska; p. 32-35 

Steffian, Amy F., Marnie A. Leist, Sven D. Haakanson, Jr., and Patrick Saltonstall, editors. Kal’unek From Karluk: Kodiak Alutiiq History and the Archaeology of Karluk One. University of Alaska Press, Fairbanks.

Nelson, Robert E., Newton W. Krumdieck*, Daniel F. Belknap, and Ramsey T. Meigs*, n.d.: Isostatically Induced Fluvial Origin of the Norridgewock Sand Plain, Central Maine, USA. Submitted to The Holocene [under revision per reviewer’s comments].

(* designates a Colby student co-author)