Can you count the letter e in:
Mercury contamination is an issue of national conservation concern, especially in wetlands where biogeochemical conditions are known to stimulate microbial methylmercury production. Wetlands provide critical foraging and nesting habitat for migratory waterbirds, which can place them at high risk to deleterious toxicological effects, such as reduced egg hatchability, from methylmercury exposure. Although the GSL’s wetland and saline habitats, and particularly the Bear River Migratory Bird National Wildlife Refuge, host large proportions of continental populations of migratory birds, little is known about the extent to which anthropogenic derived contaminants affect these species.
To address this uncertainty, USGS and USFWS have been collaborating on a 3-year study to identify the areas of greatest mercury and selenium risk to more than 30 species of waterbirds within the wetlands within the Refuge complex and GSL , and study the effects of mercury exposure on egg hatching success. Data acquired from the 2010 breeding season demonstrate that some waterbird species are accumulating elevated levels of mercury in their eggs, including Caspian terns, Forster’s terns, snowy plovers, black-necked stilts, and double-crested cormorants.
Additional on-going studies are necessary to identify the consequences of mercury exposure in waterbirds breeding at the Refuge and other GSL wetlands. Data from this study will provide Refuge staff with site-specific information about wetland management, and which wetland areas are exposing birds to the highest levels of mercury and selenium bioaccumulation. The results from this study, anticipated in 2013, can also be used to inform Great Salt Lake-wide mercury risk assessments that are being led by state and federal agencies. This investigation, which assesses contaminant levels in hundreds of eggs representing more than 30 species of waterbirds, is the most comprehensive assessment of mercury exposure to breeding migratory birds using the Great Salt Lake ecosystem.
John Isanhart is an ecologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Utah Ecological Services Field Office. His specialty is in the field of environmental contaminants, particularly avian and mammalian ecotoxicology. John conducts toxicological studies with wildlife, particularly migratory birds, performs ecological risk and natural resource damage assessments, plans and implements natural resource restoration projects on contaminated sites, and responds to hazardous releases that affect natural resources.He has been working with researchers from the USGS Western Ecological Research Center on a 3-year study to identify the areas of greatest mercury and selenium risk to more than 30 species of waterbirds within the wetlands within the Refuge complex and GSL, and study the effects of mercury exposure on egg hatching success. John received a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Central Arkansas and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology from Texas Tech University.
He enjoys spending his spare time with his 2-year old son, fly fishing in the Uinta Mountains, and snowboarding along the Wasatch Front.
user
I counted 309 "e"s in that text.
assistant