I am currently studying the effects of habitat fragmentation on small mammal populations on hammock islands in the Florida Everglades, genetic variation in the silver rice rat (Oryzomys argentatus) in the Florida Keys, and the population dynamics of the endangered Key Largo woodrat, Neotoma floridana smalli.

Mike's daughter Heather get ready to seine some fish. Mike's son Nathan works in the lab. Dr. Gaines is the Director of a program funded by The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which is dedicated to promoting education of minority students in the biomedical sciences.

Education:

Field:

Recent Representative Publications:

• Robinson, G. R., R. D. Holt, M. S. Gaines, S. P. Hamburg, M. L. Johnson, H. S. Fitch and E. A. Marinko. 1992. Diverse and contrasting effects of habitat fragmentation. Science 257: 524-526.
• Gaines, M. S. and J. E. Diffendorfer. 1992. Physiological plasticity of electromorphs of blood proteins in free-ranging Microtus ochrogaster: a second look. Ecology 73: 1915-1917.
• Gaines, M. S., G. R. Robinson, J. E. Diffendorfer, R. D. Holt, and M. L. Johnson. 1992. Effects of habitat fragmentation on small mammal populations. Pp. 875-885. In: D. R. McCullough and R. A. Barett (eds.). Wildlife 2001: Populations.
• Holt, R. D. and M. S. Gaines. 1993. The influence of regional processes in local communities. Pp. 260-276. In: S. A. Levin, T. M. Powell and J. H. Steele, (eds.)., Patch Dynamics. Springer-Verlag.
• Serra, W. E. and M. S. Gaines. 1994. The effect of relatedness on spacing behavior and fitness of female prairie voles. Ecology 75: 1560-1566.
• Gaines, M. S., J. Diffendorfer, J. E., Foster, Wray, F. P. and R. D. Holt. 1994. The effects of habitat fragmentation on populations of three species of small mammals in eastern Kansas. Pol. Ecol. Stud. 20:163-175.
• Holt, R.D., D.M. Debinski, J.E. Diffendorfer, M.S. Gaines, E.A. Martinko, G.R. Robinson and G.C. Ward. 1994. Perspectives from an experimental study of habitat fragmentation in an agroecosystem. Pp. 147-175 in D.M. Glen, M.P. Greaves, and H.M. Anderson (eds.), Ecology and Integrated Farming Systems, Wiley and Sons, New York.
• Diffendorfer, J. E., N.A. Slade, M.S. Gaines, R.D. Holt. 1995. Population dynamics of small mammals in fragmented and continuous old-field habitat. Pp. 175-199. In: W.Z. Lidicker Jr. (ed.) Landscape Approach in Mammalian Ecology and Conservation. Univ. of Minnesota Press.
• Diffendorfer, J.E., M.S. Gaines, and R.D. Holt. 1995. Habitat fragmentation and movements of three small mammals (Sigmodon, Microtus, and Peromyscus). Ecology 76:827-839.
• Holt, R.D., G.R. Robinson, and M.S. Gaines. 1995. Vegetation dynamics in an experimentally fragmented landscape. Ecology 76:1610-1624.
• Diffendorfer, J.E., N.A. Slade, M.S. Gaines, and R.D. Holt. 1995. Population dynamics of small mammals in fragmented and continuous habitats. Pp. 175-199 in W.Z. Lidicker, Jr. (ed.), Landscape Approaches in Mammalian Ecology and Conservation, University of Minnesota Press.
• Diffendorfer, J.E., R.D. Holt, N.A. Slade, and M.S. Gaines. 1996. Small mammal community patterns in old fields: distinguishing site-specific from regional processes. Pp. 421-466 in M.L. Cody and J.A. Smallwood (eds.). Long-Term Studies of Vertebrate Communities, Academic Press.
• Gaines, M.S., J.E. Diffendorfer, R.H. Tamarin, and T.S. Whittam. 1997. The effects of habit fragmentation on the genetic structure of small mammal populations. Journal of Heredity:88: 294-304.
• Gaines, M.S., Diffendorfer, J.E., and L. Lind. 1998. Effect of high water on small mammal populations inhabiting hammock islands in Everglades National Park. Pp.59-66 in Proceedings in Ecological Assessment of 1994-1995 High Water Conditions in the Southern Everglades.
• Diffendorfer, J.E., M.S. Gaines, and R.D. Holt. 1999. Populations within landscapes: what do small mammals tell us? Pp. 63-88 in G. Barrett and J. Peles, (eds.). Landscape Ecology of Small Mammals; an experimental approach, University of Chicago Press.
• Schweiger, E.W., Diffendorfer, J.E., Holt, R.D., Pierotti, R., and M. S. Gaines. 2000. The interation of habitat fragmentation, plant and small mammal succession in an old field. Eological. Monogr. 70:383-400.
• Wang, Y., Hughes, C.R., Gines-Candelaria, E.A., and M.S. Gaines. 2000. Polymorphic microsatellite loci of Oryzomys palustris, the marsh rice rate, in South Florida detected by silver staining. Molecular Ecology 9:1931-1932.
• Sasso, C.R. and M.S. Gaines. 2002. Population ecology of three species of small mammals on Key Largo, Florida. Florida Scient. 65:115-125.
• Keith, B. and M.S. Gaines. 2002. Using Geographic Information Systems to evaluate available habitat for two rodent species on North Key Largo, Florida. Florida Scient. 65: 126-133