|
BRI Fall Happenings
On November 3, BRI and USM co-hosted world renowned ornitholigist Dr. Ian Newton. Click here for more.
BRI tropical program staff traveled to Belize in October. Scroll down for more.
From November 4-7, BRI's David Evers and Wing Goodale attended the annual Waterbird Society meeting in Cape May, New Jersey, hosted by the New Jersey Audubon Society. David Evers led the session "Waterbirds as Indicators of Environmental Health." |
|
2009 BRI Webcam Wrap
What a nesting season! We watched nature unfold with all its raw beauty and challenges in 2009.
When BRI's bald eagle pair nested in 2007, our website traffic soared and the 2009 nesting season was equally as exciting. We had bald eagles, peregrine falcons, ospreys and finches sitting on eggs and feeding chicks - many of which fledged. Here at BRI, we were tuning into the excitement, blogging and keeping our fingers crossed for the webcam pairs and their chicks. And we were not alone. This year's breeding season brought between 15,000 and 47,000 unique visitors a month to BRI's website, with web hits frequently exceeding 1 million per day.
If you missed out and would like to see what all of the excitement is about, check out our featured video footage from 2009 on Eagle Cam 2 by clicking here .
We are really looking forward to 2010. Eagle Cam 1 is already looking promising. Stay tuned and check out the latest at:
Webcam photo: Juvenile bald eagle on Eagle Cam 2, October 2009
|
|
BRI Tropical Program Update
BRI staff, along with colleagues from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Department of Interior, attended the XIII Congress of the Mesoamerican Society for Biology and Conservation (MSBC) in Belize City, Belize from October 26-30, 2009. The theme of this year's congress was "Conservation Challenges in a Rapidly Shrinking Planet." BRI organized a special symposium as part of the congress that included several presentations on the Department of Interior program, Neotropical Connections. Click here to learn more!
BRI Photo: BRI's Dave Yates with a howler monkey |
|
|
|
Greetings!
Fall may be racing into winter here in Maine, but we at BRI are by no means heading for hibernation. In our Gorham offices and across our growing network of collaborators, we continue to bring new energy, ideas and experience to local and global efforts to understand and protect biodiversity.
In this issue of the BioDiversity Monitor, we highlight just some of our most recent developments. As I read through it, I am reminded of the strength that collaboration brings to our work - from the tropics to the Arctic and in between. This issue also announces the launch of BRI's Wildlife Mercury Research Lab; an important and empowering step for BRI.
From protecting neotropical migratory birds in Central America to understanding bats in Maine and researching an endangered loon in three Arctic countries, BRI remains committed to using science to advance environmental awareness and inform decision makers.
Happy Holidays!
- David Evers, PhD, Executive Director
Photo (J. Fair): Dave Evers holding a yellow-billed loon |
|
Understanding and Protecting Maine's Bat Populations
Last spring, BRI's Tim Divoll launched a pilot study to better understand bat population dynamics in Acadia National Park in Maine. His efforts will not only begin to shed light on poorly understood migration patterns along Maine's coast, but they will also help to track the spread of white-nose syndrome (WNS) - a disease that is devastating bat populations in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont. Click here to learn more and find out how you can help.
T. Divoll Photo: eastern small-footed bat (Myotis leibii) with band
|
|
Ever Scoured the Saltmarsh for a Maggot?
BRI's Melissa Duron has. Her work in the saltmarshes of Maine and Massachusetts were part of BRI's first summer investigating mercury in food webs.  Her efforts were joined by those of Dave Buck and Kevin Regan, also of BRI, who sampled everything from fish eyes and muscle tissue to insects emerging from lake surfaces on Onondaga Lake in New York. To find out more about the importance of foodweb studies and this work, click here.
D. Buck Photo: BRI's Kevin Regan collecting insects from an emergent trap | |
The Yellow-billed Loon:Connecting the Arctic 
BRI's quest to understand the yellow-billed loon - proposed for listing as an endangered species in the U.S. - is fueled by collaboration. This research effort includes three Arctic nations, some passionate loon biologists, a mammoth researcher, and a reindeer herder, in a sometimes brutal, but stunning terrain. Click here to find out where we've been and where we're headed.
Photo by Daniel Poleschook and Ginger Gumm: yellow-billed loon on its nest |
BRI Launches Wildlife Mercury Research Lab
After over a decade of researching mercury and its impacts on wildlife, BRI is proud to announce the opening of the BRI Wildlife Mercury Research Lab (WMRL) right here in Maine. Over time the lab will not only ensure more immediate results, but it will also reduce the organization's analytical expenses. BRI's Oksana Lane will supervise the lab and Kevin Regan will serve as our lab technician. What do we analyze? Fish biopsies, blood, feathers, fur, hair, invertebrates, eggs and more. | |
|
|
|
