News from Scientists at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
Monday, June 28, 2004
A Moving Story for the Birds USGS scientist Chandler Robbins has been a research biologist with the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center for more than 50 years. He is the author of the Golden Guide Birds of North America, originally published in the late 1960s and updated in 2001. Last spring on Midway Atoll, Robbins rebanded an albatross that he later discovered he had banded previously -- in 1956. It is estimated that this bird is at least 51 years old---and was brooding a chick! This breaks the longevity record for North American birds in the wild, the previous record being for this same species at the age of 42 years 5 months. Click for photo and info and click on "June 2002." Chandler Robbins is noted for his founding of the Breeding Bird Survey, recruiting thousands of volunteers to monitor birds. This work helped to document the far-reaching harm of DDT on birds -- an issue Rachel Carson cited in her book Silent Spring --and resulted in the ban placed on DDT. His work has also documented population trends, such as the decline of North American migratory birds and the invasion of non-native bird species. Robbins is well known among bird enthusiasts -- he received the 2000 Audubon Medal; previous recipients include Walt Disney, Rachel Carson, and Jimmy Carter. Contact Diane Noserale, Reston, VA 703-648-4333 Trade in Painted Buntings discussed in Bangkok, Thailand Contact J. Michael Meyers, Athens , GA , 706-542-1882. Presentations Dr. Roy McDiarmid of Patuxent’s Biological Survey Unit at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History attended the annual Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists hosted by the University of Oklahoma from May 26 – 31, 2004. In addition to having a great time and spending three enjoyable days in the field looking for amphibians and reptiles, he and his colleagues presented the following three papers at this meeting: Mary F. Mickevich, Dave Hardy, and Roy McDiarmid presented a paper in an ASIH symposium honoring Bruce B. Collette titled Collette and Computers; their presentation acknowledged Collette’s significant contributions to bioinformatic efforts within the National Marine Fisheries Service, the National Museum of Natural History, the ichthyological and systematics communities, and several national and international biodiversity projects. Maureen A. Donnelly and Roy W. McDiarmid presented a paper titled The herpetofauna of the “Lost World”: A multivariate statistical approach to study patterns of diversity. Maureen is a Research Associate of the Smithsonian’s Division of Amphibians and Reptiles and an Associate Professor at Florida International University in Miami . Diego F. Cisneros-Heredia and Roy W. McDiarmid presented a paper titled Observations on the taxonomy, distribution, and conservation status of the centrolenids from Ecuador (Anura: Centrolenidae). Diego is from the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador and was an undergraduate intern with Roy in the Research Training Program in 2002. He has been accepted into the graduate program at Boston University and will start his graduate student career in the Fall. Contact Roy McDiarmid, Washington DC , 202-357-2780 |
More Thorough Spatial Evaluation of Contaminant
Exposure in Ospreys throughout the Chesapeake is Warranted Contact Barnett Rattner, Laurel, MD 301-497-5671 BBS and the Quad 30 Campaign The BBS is the foundation of modern non-game, land-bird conservation in North America . These data, along with other indicators, are used by Partners in Flight, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Canadian Wildlife Service, and numerous state conservation agencies to develop bird conservation plans at national and regional scales. Since its inception at Patuxent in 1966, BBS participation has grown 4-fold with about 3000 routes sampled annually. But despite the success of the BBS and its importance to avian conservation, there are still over 1000 vacant routes in need of skilled birding partners. Thus the Quad 30 Campaign is a timely reminder of the need for renewed support for the BBS and its important mission. Contacts Keith Pardieck, Laurel, MD, 301-497-5843 USGS Assists with Bioinventory of Global Diversity Hotspot in Southwestern China Contact Diann Prosser, Beltsville, MD ; 301-497-5914. |
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June 2, 2003 |