My primary research concerns the behavior and ecology of ticks and their role in the Lyme-disease cycle of infection in natural populations. My work involves field studies, laboratory experiments, and development of mathematical theory. It has attracted funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Park Service, and the WPUNJ Center for Research and Assigned Release Time programs and has involved the participation of more than two dozen WPUNJ students since 1993.

In addition to my research on ticks and tick-borne disease, I have become involved in other areas of research, primarily through supervision of independent students. I have supervised three independent students working on the population biology of a globally-endangered wildflower on the High Mountain Reserve property adjacent to WPUNJ, in cooperation with The Nature Conservancy and the New Jersey Natural Heritage program. I have had four independent students working on the behavior and ecology of ants.

Vail, S. G. and G. Smith. 2002. Vertical movement and posture of blacklegged tick (Acari: Ixodidae) nymphs as a function of temperature and relative humidity in laboratory experiments. Journal of Medical Entomology 39: 842-846.

Vail, S.G.; Wileyto, E. P.; Hopkins, R.; and G. Smith. 2000. Density effects in larval and nymphal stages of the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) life cycle: experiments and mathematical models. pp. 241-246 In Kazimirov < , M.; Labuda, M., and P. A. Nuttall (eds.) Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference "Ticks and Tick-borne Pathogens: Into the 21st Century." Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia.

Menon, J.; Gardner, E.; and S. Vail. 2000. Developmental implications of differential effects of calcium in tail and body skin of anuran tadpoles. Journal of Morphology 244:31-43.

Vail, S. and G. Smith. 1998. Air temperature and relative humidity effects on behavioral activity of blacklegged tick (Acari: Ixodidae) nymphs in New Jersey. Journal of Medical Entomology 35:1025-1028.

Vail, S. and G. Smith. 1997. Density-dependent seasonal dynamics of Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) nymphs. Journal of Medical Entomology 34: 301-306.

Vail, S. 1994. Overcompensation, plant-herbivore mutualism, and mutualistic coevolution: a reply to Matthews. American Naturalist 144: 534-536.

Vail, S. 1993. Overcompensation as a life-history phenomenon. Evolutionary Ecology 7:122-123.

Vail, S. 1993. Scale-dependent responses to resource spatial pattern in simple models of consumer movement. American Naturalist 141: 199-216.

 Vail, S. 1992. Selection for overcompensatory plant responses to herbivory: a mechanism for the evolution of plant-herbivore mutualism. American Naturalist 139: 1-8.

 Lynch, J.; E. Balinsky, and S. Vail. 1980. Foraging patterns in three sympatric forest ant species, Prenolepis imparis, Paratrechina melanderi, and Aphaenogaster rudis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Ecological Entomology 5:353-371.