Habitat, Population Dynamics, and Metal Levels in Colonial Waterbirds

Joanna Burger, PhD, is a Distinguished Professor of Biology in the Department of Ecology Evolution and Natural Resources, and Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Rutgers University, Piscataway (New Jersey). She is a member of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute and the Rutgers School of Public Health. Her main scientific interests include the social behavior of vertebrates, ecological risk evaluations, ecotoxicology, and the intersections between ecological and human health. Dr. Burger has published more than 700 refereed papers and more than 20 books. Additionally, she has received the Brewster Medal from the American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU) and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Society for Risk Analysis.Michael Gochfeld, MD, PhD, is Professor Emeritus at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and School of Public Health, Piscataway, New Jersey. He is an occupational physician and environmental toxicologist at the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute of Rutgers University. His main research interest has encompassed ecotoxicologic studies, primarily of birds. His biomedical interest focuses on heavy metal exposure and risk assessment for humans from consumption of fish, balancing the benefits against the toxicity of methylmercury. Dr. Gochfeld has coauthored or coedited eight books on protecting hazardous waste workers, avian reproductive ecology, and New Jersey’s biodiversity, as well as a textbook, Environmental Medicine.

• INTRODUCTION TO BARNEGAT BAY AND NORTHEAST ESTUARIES. Introduction. Barnegat Bay and Other Northeast Estuaries. Species, Methods, and Approaches. HABITAT AND POPULATION DYNAMICS. Habitat. Population Trends of Colonial Waterbirds in Barnegat Bay. Population Trends of Colonial Waterbirds in Other Northeast Bays. Global Warming, Sea Level Rise, and Suitable Nesting and Foraging Habitat. METALS. Overview of Ecotoxicology for Birds. Effects of Metals in Birds. Heavy Metals in Fish, Lower Trophic Levels, and Passerine Birds. Heavy Metal Levels in Terns and Black Skimmers. Heavy Metal Levels in Gulls. Heavy Metal Levels in Herons, Egrets, Night-Herons, and Ibises. IMPLICATIONS, CONCLUSIONS, AND THE FUTURE. Heavy Metals, Trophic Levels, Food Chains, and Future Risks. Colonial Waterbirds—The Future. Color Insert. References.

"Reading Habitat, Population Dynamics, and Metal Levels in Colonial Waterbirds: A Food Chain Approach will make you an expert of sorts on Barnegat Bay and the Northeast estuaries. That might seem an ambitious goal for the authors as well as the reader. But it really is not the goal. It is merely the starting point. The bay needs advocates and defenders. And advocates and defenders need experts. That is where you will come in."—Carl Safina, Director, The Safina Center at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York (from the Foreword)