News from Scientists at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
Thursday, April 5, 2001
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Patuxent Scientist Ginsberg Provides On-Camera Interview about Mosquito Survey and West Nile Virus Subject:
Mosquitoes and West Nile Virus (WNV) Response: This was an on-camera interview by the reporter with Dr Ginsberg and his Univ. RI colleague, Roger LeBrun, about West Nile Virus and their project surveying mosquitoes in eastern national parks. The reporter asked about prospects for WNV in the year 2001 and planned responses. Drs Ginsberg and LeBrun emphasized difficulty in predicting WNV activity in 2001 because it is a new virus in the Western Hemisphere and that they don't yet understand it's transmission dynamics well enough to predict. They also stated that they have nevertheless learned a great deal in the past year. During the interview, Ginsberg and LeBrun also discussed the project which involves surveying eastern National Park sites for mosquitoes and arboviruses, and emphasized the importance of the project as a knowledge base for intelligent response to arboviral activity. Dr Ginsberg and Dr LeBrun pointed out that the project is a collaboration between the USGS, National Park Service, Univ. Rhode island, and Univ. Maryland, Eastern Shore. Contact: Howard_ Ginsberg@usgs.gov Patuxent Scientist Droege Leads Sidwell Friends Students in Bee Monitoring TechniquesDuring the week of 19 April, sixteen 6th and 7th graders from Sidwell Friends School in Washington D.C. helped start a new investigation of bee monitoring techniques. The students were split into 3 groups; one lead by Sam Droege and the other 2 lead by science teachers from Sidwell. The groups set out 9 sampling sites using 40 colored pan traps for native bees. During the week they collected the catch from the bowls then sorted, cleaned, pinned, labeled and boxed the specimens. The kids were given a good exposure to field science, the types of questions that are addressed when investigating monitoring techniques, and the process and quality control that goes into doing careful work. Sam was impressed by the quality of the work that the students showed and the amount time he saved on the project. Contact: Sam_Droege@usgs.gov McFaul/Niemann to Demonstrate Use of CD and DVD Technology to Patuxent Staff on April 11 Jerry McFaul of the USGS Geology Division and Brand Niemann of the US EPA will be at Patuxent on Wednesday, 11 April, to demonstrate CD and DVD technology and how we can use these media to serve our products. These technologies have direct implications to much of the research and research products of Patuxent. The demonstration will be held in the Gabrielson Conference Room at 1:00 pm. All are invited and encouraged to attend. Contact: BH_Powell@usgs.gov
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Patuxent's Steinkamp and Sauer Attend 15th International Conference of European Bird Census Council in Hungary Melanie Steinkamp and John Sauer attended the 15th International Conference of the European Bird Census Council in Nyíregyháza, Hungary on 26th - 31st March 2001. The theme of the conference was "Monitoring for Nature Conservation." John presented an invited plenary talk entitled, Developing a General Conceptual Framework For Avian Conservation Science, and a contributed talk entitled, Hierarchical Models and the Analysis of Bird Survey Information (coauthored by William Link). John also moderated a session on monitoring methods. Melanie presented a talk entitled, Incorporating Precision, Accuracy and Alternative Sampling Designs into a Continental Monitoring Program for Colonial Waterbirds (coauthored by Bruce Peterjohn and Jeni Keisman) and a poster presentation entitled, Conserving Birds in North America: the North American Bird Conservation Initiative - A Continental All-Bird Conservation Strategy (Coauthored by James Kushlan). A peer-reviewed publication based on the conference presentations is in preparation. Contact: John_R_Sauer@usgs.gov Patuxent's
Rattner is Co-Editor of New Reference Text Entitled: A reference text entitled, Ecotoxicology of Wild Mammals, co-edited by Drs. Richard F. Shore and Barnett A. Rattner, has just been published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This 730-page book is the culmination of a 4-year effort by 32 scientists who critically reviewed the scientific literature on exposure and effects of environmental contaminants in wild mammals. The underlying theme of this text is encompassed by the following four questions: * What exactly do we know about environmental contaminants in mammals? * What are the commonalities and differences between mammal orders/species in the effects that contaminants have? * How and to what degree of accuracy can we predict the adverse effects of environmental contaminants on mammalian wildlife? * How significant are contaminant insults compared with other density-independent and -dependent factors such as habitat loss, climatic factors and disease? The book is organized three topical sections including introductory chapters that provide a background on environmental contaminants and the mammalian orders, eight taxonomic chapters discussing all aspects of the exposure to and effects of contaminants in mammalian orders, and four thematic chapters that review and discuss generic issues including biomarkers, prediction and extrapolation of exposure and effects, hazard and risk assessment, and the relative significance of contaminants on mammals compared with other commonly encountered stressors. A final a summary chapter identifies phylogenetic trends, critical data gaps, and overarching research needs. Contact: Barnett_Rattner@usgs.gov |
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