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Cormorants, Water Contamination & Steroidal Hormones
As
New York tries to cope with the wave of Cormorants that are
back "with a vengeance," (see NYT Friday July 1), a project
to study the Double-Crested Cormorants of New York Harbor is
part of the new round of PEER awards announced by The Nurture
New York's Nature/CUNY Program for Ecological/Environmental
Research (PEER).
The study of Double-Breasted Cormorants to be conducted by Queens
College professor John Waldman will take a look at the resurgence
of the species after a period in which their population declined
drastically, primarily because of DDT contamination. Last year
the number of cormorant breeding pairs on six islands and three
channel markers was estimated at 874. How do these cormorants
affect the others in the area, especially the harbor herons?
Are cormorants, described as superb piscine predators, depleting
the wild and aquacultured fishstocks in the area?
PEER Grants are also being awarded for a study of the hydrologic
transformation of the Flushing Estuary ecosystem and an investigation
of impact of manure-borne hormones in New York City's water
supply system.
Timothy Eaton, assistant professor of Queens College's School
of Earth and Environmental Science is studying hydrologic transformation
of the Flushing Estuary ecosystem because the highly urbanized
estuary is severely contaminated due to treated sewage discharges,
historical industrial discharges.
Pengfei Zhang, assistant professor of the Dept. of Earth and
Atmospheric Sciences at City College is examining the environmental
presence of hormones in three watersheds (the Croton, the Catskill
and the Delaware) because their presence in low concentrations
in water can adversely affect aquatic animals and, possibly,
humans. The three watersheds provide water supply to over 9
million residents in the area.
Nurture New York's Nature/CUNY's PEER awards were introduced
in 2004 as part of an effort to encourage critical cutting edge
investigations into ecological and environmental issues pertinent
to New York City, especially addressing the sustainability of
the natural environment. The first grant went to Hunter College's
Wenge Ni-Meister, William Solecki and Hongmian Gong for their
project to use satellite data and study how the local climate
and environment of the city is affected by urban land use.
The PEER award competition is open to research projects in the
disciplines that constitute the traditional academic areas including
the physical sciences, biological sciences, social sciences
and the humanities. Research topics of particular interest include
conservation biology, the relationship of the social sciences,
nature and urban ecosystems.
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