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New York Bioscape Projects Focus on Ecology and Health

Project Associates come from New York Metro regional universities and colleges, environmental organizations, and government agencies managing natural resources.   

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A Wildlife Trust Initiative
 

Project Description: Now in its second year, this project takes place within the New York Bioscape in the Peconic Bay of eastern Long Island. It has been established previously that this site, and other similar coastal areas of Northeastern U.S., are crucial summer habitats for juvenile sea turtles. The majority of migrant sea turtle juveniles arriving each summer in New York waters are loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) and Kemp’s ridley turtles (Lepidochelys kempii), but occasionally green turtles (Chelonia mydas) and leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) are spotted.

Throughout the season (June–early November), the loggerheads and Kemp’s ridley turtles feed mostly on crabs and mollusks. All sea turtles need conservation protection. Kemp’s ridley and leatherback turtles are considered endangered species, and loggerhead and green sea turtles are considered threatened species.

Peconic Bay turtles examined by Dr. Morreale in the 1980’s appeared to be in excellent health. In the face of rapid human development of the region, however, it is necessary to assess the health, status, and trends of the sea turtle populations that depend upon New York Bioscape waters. The research team will be assisted by some of Long Island’s most active pound net fishermen, because the turtles accidentally are caught and released unharmed by these fishermen. These accidental captures will facilitate collection of important biomedical samples. The study will assess the current health of Peconic Bay sea turtles, estimate population numbers of sea turtles that visit our waters each summer, and evaluate the progress being made in meeting recovery plan objectives for these endangered and threatened sea turtles. The results will both benefit sea turtle recovery management and provide a sentinel species view of contaminants, pathogens, and other stressors present in the Peconic Bay Estuary. This project is supported in part by the National Marine Fisheries Service through a grant to Cornell University.

Common Tern Eggs as Bioindicators of Environmental Contaminants

Project Leader:  Joanna Burger Affiliation: Rutgers University                                       Project Associate: Michael Gochfeld, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey

Project Description: Natural levels of contaminants in the New York Bioscape are augmented by human sources from urban, industrial and agricultural emissions and runoff, as well as by atmospheric transport, particularly from industrial areas to the west of the region. Citizens and policy-makers are concerned about the levels of contaminants in our environment, and how these levels are changing over time.

Once in the environment, contaminants enter the food chain. With each step of the food chain (i.e. herbivore to predator to higher-level predator) tissue concentrations increase, resulting in what scientists call “bioamplification.” Top-level carnivores and omnivores (mixed plant and meat eaters), such as humans, are most at risk because of this bioamplification and because they are long-lived and have many years for contaminants to accumulate.  Since we cannot easily monitor contaminants in all organisms, it is critical to study species that can be used to indicate the health of our environment. Top-level carnivores are often used as such bioindicator species, because they are exposed to higher levels of contaminants than species that feed lower on the food chain (e.g. herbivores).

Joanna Burger, an ecologist, and Dr. Michael Gochfeld, a public health physician, are leading this study. Understanding contaminant levels in the environment can be aided by using bioindicators. The study seeks to test the idea that common tern eggs can serve as spatial and temporal bioindicators of heavy metals in the coastal areas of the New York Bioscape. At the same time, the results will aid in the management of these avian populations (common terns are "threatened" in New Jersey and "species of special concern" in New York). This project will investigate the feasibility of the eggs of common terns (listed as a “species of special concern” in New Jersey and “threatened” in New York) serving as a bioindicator of heavy metals in the New York Bioscape. Eggs are ideal because levels of contaminants in them reflect local exposure (these migrant birds return from their wintering grounds and feed locally before they lay the eggs), levels in eggs reflect potential harm to the developing embryos, and they can be used to monitor spatial and temporal changes in the Bioscape. Initial work will examine location differences in colonies located around Barnegat Bay (New Jersey), to determine whether historical levels of contaminants in sediments or current exposure are influencing metal levels in the eggs. This will be followed by an examination of temporal trends: are the metals in eggs decreasing or increasing, based on specimens archived from the early 1970s to the present. This will establish a baseline for understanding whether energy deregulation is resulting in dangerous increases in mercury and other contaminants in the New York Bioscape, contaminants that are ultimately entering human populations via recreational fishing, as well as subsistence fishing.

Some public officials suspect that airborne mercury is on the rise in the New York Bioscape because of energy deregulation policy changes that resulted in increased energy production in the Midwest. The impact that increasing mercury levels might be having on wildlife and humans is largely unstudied. We believe that common terns can serve the Bioscape as both a coastal flagship species and as a bioindicator for monitoring mercury and other contaminants. As part of the project, we will analyze Dr. Burger's 30-year archive of tern eggs collected in the Bioscape and make the results known to policy makers and public health experts.

 New Jersey Wilderness Bobcats

Project Leader: Larry Niles
Affiliation: New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife Nongame and Endangered Species Unit

Project Associates: Michael Valent, New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife Nongame and Endangered Species Unit; Michelle Ashkin, Columbia University; Scott Newman, Wildlife Trust Project Description: Among the urban sprawl that reaches from New Jersey’s northeastern counties southwest to the central portion of the state lie vestiges of wilderness that once dominated our landscape. The bobcat, Lynx rufus, an endangered species in New Jersey, is dependent upon this wilderness along with many other species of animals including timber rattlesnakes, barred owls, and a suite of passerine birds. Because bobcats are dependent on large contiguous tracts of undisturbed land for their health and survival these animals are good indicators of ecosystem health, are highly sensitive to human activity, and will be the first to be lost if fragmentation and human encroachment continue.

In this study, led by Dr. Larry Niles and Mike Valent, the team will combine basic ecological study, GIS mapping, radio tracking, modeling technology, existing records of bobcats both to better understand bobcat biology and as a first step toward helping produce a wilderness map of New Jersey. Areas will then be ranked as “core habitats”, “corridors” or “buffer zones” and incorporated into the NJ Landscape Project maps that are used for conservation, land management, land acquisition, regulatory protection and planning. This project will contribute to the goals of the New York Bioscape Initiative. Assessing the suitability of remaining bobcat habitat in New Jersey will provide valuable data to understanding the relationship between these animals, the ecosystems they inhabit and their response to human altered landscapes. Ultimately, by using the bobcat as an indicator of ecosystem health we will protect valuable watersheds, maintain ecosystem integrity, and provide a secure future for many other unique species of flora and fauna that can only thrive in healthy habitats.

Coyotes of the Hudson River Highlands: Science, Ethics, and Policy

Project Leader: Susan Elbin Affiliation: Wildlife Trust Project Associates: Fred Koontz, Garrison, NY; William Schuster and John Brady, Black Rock Forest Consortium; Scott Newman, Wildlife Trust; William Lynn, Center for Humans and Nature

Project Description: It is becoming increasingly clear to conservation scientists that top-level carnivores play an essential role in maintaining functional ecosystems. Management policies based on reducing carnivore numbers have caused severe harm to ecosystem components and functions. For example, misguided control of carnivores has been shown to have negative impacts on songbird populations and habitat vegetation. Past policies, driven by paradigms that view carnivores as agricultural pests and threats to public safety and sport hunting, continue in most parts of the world (including the U.S.) to play a stronger role in shaping wildlife policy than new scientific information demonstrating the biodiversity value of carnivores.

This project will investigate the behavioral ecology and health status of the eastern coyote in the Hudson River Highlands, New York. A special emphasis will be placed on understanding the spatial relationships between the coyotes’ biology and local human land use practices, so that a solid scientific foundation can be established for discussing human-coyote conflict. By following individual coyotes by radio-tracking methods, we will let these study specimens serve as “landscape detectives” - highlighting where humans-coyote conflict is most likely and what the consequences of these interactions are from an ecosystem health perspective. The research team’s ultimate aim is to apply the scientific results of the research to the development of a set of policy recommendations for managing coyotes in the Hudson Highlands. Such application will also require us to simultaneously develop an ethical framework, consistent with local community values, for setting policies that regulate the interactions between nature, people and society.

Ecological Impacts of Introduced Mute Swans in the Hudson River

Project Leader:  Susan Elbin Affiliation: Wildlife Trust Project Associates: Fred Koontz, Garrison, NY; the Hudson River Estuary Program, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation staff

Project Description: Mute swans (Cygnus olor) were introduced into the eastern United States from England in the late 1800’s for their ornamental value, and their numbers have been steadily increasing ever since. U.S. mute swan populations are concentrated along the Atlantic Coast, but some also are found in the Great Lakes and Pacific Northwest.  A combination of factors, including the species' high reproductive rate, a lack of natural predators, and an abundance of suitable habitat, has contributed to their success. Feral mute swans in the eastern U.S. have increased from 5,800 birds in 1986 to probably over 15,000 swans today. Suspected negative impacts include destruction of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV), behavioral displacement of native waterbirds, and spread of pathogens that could threaten human and wildlife health. SAV enriches the fresh water of the Hudson River and serves to increase oxygen levels in the River. Presence of SAV also protects water quality and prevents erosion as it provides food and shelter for fish, shellfish, invertebrates, and waterfowl. SAV is correlated with numbers and biodiversity of macroinvertebrates and fish, serving as an important source of organic carbon for the Hudson River’s aquatic food chain.
  
The first phase of this project is determining swan occurrence along the Hudson, in time (seasonally) and in space (relative to SAV beds). This is being accomplished by bi-monthly aerial surveys to mark numbers and locations of swans along the river from Tappan Zee Bridge to Troy, NY. A GIS map of SAV in the Hudson (courtesy of New York State Department of Environmental Conservation) will be expanded to include swan locations and other relevant ecological variables. The second phase of the project will focus more on the foraging and spatial ecology of the swans. We anticipate that assessment of the ecological impacts of invasive species on ecosystem health will become an important theme of the New York Bioscape Initiative.

Project Associates: EJ McAdams, NY City Audubon; Alex Brash and Bill Tai, City of NY Parks and Recreation; Joanna Burger, Rutgers University; Mike Gochfeld, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey; Kim Tripp, National Park Service; Bob Poppenga, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania; Susan Elbin, Wildlife Trust

Project Description: The diverse harbor heron and gull species nesting in NY Harbor have important biological and aesthetic value to residents and resource managers of the greater New York City area. Black-crowned night herons (Nycticorax nycticorax) as well as many other colonially nesting waterbirds face many anthropogenic and natural stressors that can affect health and reproductive success.  Despite these many challenges, it appears that some birds continue to nest in and around the NY Harbor waterways.  However, population monitoring over the past 5 years has demonstrated that the species composition has changed and annually fluctuates, while nesting island fidelity appears to be non-existent for certain islands within the NY Harbor.  Islands within the Arthur Kill and Kill Van Kull that were previously home to hundreds of wading bird nests in 2000 and 2001 are completely barren this year (2003).  This abandonment of nesting occurred abruptly; with out evidence of human disturbance or predators and the cause or causes remain unknown.  

Additional hypotheses that may explain island abandonment include pollutant exposure, loss of local prey quality and abundance, diseases, parasites, or alternatively, loss of nesting at a particular island (if it is temporary), may be a natural phenomena of wading birds.  Specifically, heavy metals, pesticides and PCB’s are all known contaminants of the NY Harbor and each of these classes of chemicals can have detrimental effects on both the health and reproductive success of birds inhabiting these waters.  We propose to study aspects of both ecology and health of the birds on these islands, as assessed through a combination of feather, blood and prey samples. Expected outcomes of this project include; foraging ecology information; health assessments of heron chicks, and establishment of a citizen science monitoring program.

Dung Beetle Community Dynamics in Fragmented Forests
Project Leader:  James Danoff-Burg                                                                           
Affiliations: Columbia University

Project Associates: Fred Koontz, Garrison, New York

Project Description: The project is the first step in an anticipated longer-term study by Dr. James Danoff-Burg to investigate ecology and health consequences of populations of dung and carrion beetles and parasitic wasps, and to assess ecological health based on insect abundance and distribution. The first focus is to understand the impact of land use type along an urban-to-rural gradient on the species richness, diversity and abundance of dung beetles in fragmented habitat. The New York Bioscape provides a natural laboratory for answering questions specific to the process of urbanization as well as theoretical ecological questions with generalized applicability. This study seeks to achieve both, in addressing the applicability of island biogeography in altered, managed areas, as well as furthering our understanding of the process of urbanization and the concomitant local extirpation of species, particularly insects. The conservation applications of this work falls into two central areas:      1) Improving our understanding of how elements of the urban landscape influence the colonization and persistence of species; and 2) Improving our understanding of the implications of the extirpation of those species on the long term ecological health of remnant habitat.

Dung and carrion decomposing beetles serve as good indicators of habitat quality and environmental change following shifts in land use. Decomposing beetles also perform a large number of ecological services, including burying of dung and carrion, seed dispersal, control of vertebrate parasites and soil aeration. Because the beetles’ mammal and bird food sources are strongly affected themselves by development and habitat fragmentation, the diversity and abundance of dung and carrion beetles serves as a general measure of mammalian and avian diversity. Furthermore, we suspect that dung and carrion beetles are likely to have important connections to human and wildlife health by the fact that these beetles rapidly bury potentially infectious dung and carrion below ground level - thus, reducing the chances of polluting surface water runoff and spreading disease by direct contact with other scavenging animals.   

Delineating Ecological Land Units Using Multi-temporal Landsat Imagery

Project Leader: John Mickelson
Affiliation: Center for International Earth Science Information Network, Columbia University

Project Associates: Fred Koontz, Garrison, NY; William Schuster, Black Rock Forest Consortium

Project Description: A detailed, land cover/habitat digital map is needed as a baseline layer for many regional studies. Such a map would be prohibitively expensive if carried out using traditional methods of aerial photography. While there are affordable ecological maps routinely produced by remote sensing from orbiting satellites, these maps are not detailed enough for many ecological and health studies. With advances in remote sensing, however, we believe it is now possible to produce detailed habitat maps by combining several seasonal images. A long-term need is to bring together environmental, biological, and human health databases to create benchmarks for evaluating regional ecological health. These benchmarks could allow local civic leaders, conservationists, and planners to monitor trends in health, and to measure success or failure of conservation policies. The first activity, currently underway, is to carry out a test project centered on Orange County, New York. This pilot study will demonstrate that it is possible to produce such affordable baseline ecological land unit maps.

Public Outreach and Professional Training

SEANET: Citizen-Scientist Seabird Health Monitoring                                                   Volunteer for this project!

Project Leaders:  Scott Newman and Christine Banks                                                                                    
Affiliation: Wildlife Trust

Project Associates: Mark Pokras, Flo Tseng, and Rebecca Harris, Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine; Harry Carter, Seabird Consultant; Susan Elbin, Wildlife Trust

Project Description:  This project aims, as part of a larger SEANET effort from Nova Scotia to Deleware, to develop a long-term monitoring database in which seabird mortality and demographic information will be collected at specific beaches in New Jersey and New York repeatedly through out the year in order to evaluate differential bird deposition rates.  This database will enable us to monitor marked changes in environmental conditions, using aquatic birds as bioindicator species both intra-annually and inter-annually.  A similar monitoring program has been in place in California and Washington state for many years and has provided tremendous insight into seasonal and annual mortality rates of seabirds on the west coast.

This project is lead by Dr. Scott Newman in collaboration with Susan Elbin and Christine Banks and colleagues at Tufts University Veterinary School: Drs. Rebecca Harris, Flo Tseng, and Mark Pokras, who are directing the larger SEANET effort. The SEANET is a citizen-scientist program that links scientists, veterinarians, and volunteers to walk beaches monthly from Maine to Delaware to count, collect, and study mortality in seabirds. The information will be used to develop a mortality and morbidity research program for seabirds.  Wildlife Trust will coordinate the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut portions of the program. Dr. Newman will also help conduct research projects using these valuable data, and undertake related projects.

Jamaica Bay Student Internships

Project Leader:  Kimberly Tripp Affiliation: National Park Service, Jamaica Bay Institute Project Associates: Rebecca Johnson, Columbia University; Susan Elbin, Wildlife Trust

Project Description: This project brings together scientists, educators, park managers, and students from Wildlife Trust, Gateway National Recreation Area's Jamaica Bay Institute, and Columbia University's Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC). Gateway includes the 10,000-acre Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, located in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. It is the only U.S. Wildlife Refuge that can be reached by subway! The goal is to empower students and local civic leaders to complete conservation medicine and biodiversity research projects at Gateway that are beneficial to Park managers. Funding is needed to buy equipment and supplies, and pay for transportation. Eight to ten students will be drawn from Columbia University's "Conservation Biology Certificate Program" (adult continuing education) and their graduate conservation biology program of the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology. Adult volunteers and students from other universities will be considered, if sufficient funds are available. The first student interns began their work in June 2003, focusing on conservation issues of the endangered piping plover.