Judith Weis

• Ph.D.
• Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Coral reefs are the fundamental building blocks of tropical marine ecosystems. They are also one of the most endangered ecosystems on the planet suffering from a large number of environmental, fishing, and trade threats. However, little research has been done to better understand the trends in illegal imports of live corals into the United States,...

Imported to adorn tanks of marine aquarium hobbyists, the trade in live corals poses a significant risk to species that concurrently face threats from rising global temperatures, pollution, and destructive fishing practices. To better understand the live coral trade, we employed a crime script framework to analyze the process by which corals are ha...

The United States (US) Army Corps of Engineers and US Environmental Protection Agency share responsibility for regulating placement of fill material in coastal wetlands and open waters. However, achieving the goal of no net wetland loss has been difficult, particularly in urban regions where development pressures and environmental conditions have e...

Environmental Protection Agency share responsibility for regulating placement of fill material in coastal wetlands and open waters. However, achieving the goal of no net wetland loss has been difficult, particularly in urban regions where development pressures and environmental conditions have exacerbated wetland losses. Despite protections provide...

The “no net wetland loss” goal has not been met in urban coastal regions where conditions continue to exacerbate wetland losses. Under the Clean Water Act (Section 404) the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U. S. Environmental Protection Agency share responsibility for regulating placement of fill material in wetlands. The `no discharge of fill' rul...

Behavioral development occurs together with the development of the nervous system. Studies on mammals indicate that exposures to some chemicals during embryonic development at concentrations that do not produce anatomical malformations may nevertheless produce behavioral deficits later in life, an example of delayed effects. There have been reports...

Growth is an obvious and easily measured response, and is included in many standard toxicity tests as well as in research projects. Reduced growth is frequently traced back to reduced food intake, but even without reduced feeding, it is a logical outcome since organisms must expend energy to defend themselves against and detoxify contaminants. The...

Synthesizing decades of work, but up-to-date, this book focuses on organism-level responses to pollutants by marine animals, mainly crustaceans, molluscs, and fishes. Emphasizing effects on physiological processes (feeding/digestion, respiration, osmoregulation), life-cycle (reproduction [including endocrine disruption], embryo development, larval...

Background/Question/Methods ECOLOG-L is an Internet discussion group for topics in ecology, supported by Listserv software, hosted by the University of Maryland. As such, it can function in some ways like a “place,” similar to other places discussed in this session. Since its inception by David Inouye in 1992, it has grown to 17,000 subscribers, i...

Umbra pygmaea (Eastern Mudminnow) is a freshwater species common in Atlantic slope coastal lowlands from southern New York to northern Florida and is typical of slow-moving, mud-bottomed, and highly vegetated streams, swamps, and small ponds. We examined its seasonal food habits at the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), NJ and at the Croat...

Using visual census, fish and sessile epifaunal communities were compared in Rhizophora mangle (red mangrove) prop roots in Bocas Del Toro, Panama, and Utila, Honduras. A separate field experiment where epibionts were removed was also conducted at the Panama site. The results revealed a significant positive correlation between epibiont diversity an...

Managers are moving from a model of managing individual sectors, human activities, or ecosystem services to an ecosystem-based management (EBM) approach which attempts to balance the range of services provided by ecosystems. Applying EBM is often difficult due to inherent tradeoffs in managing for different services. This challenge particularly hol...

A population of the lemon-clawed fiddler crab (U. perplexa) in Fiji (island of Vanua Levu) was studied for types of communication (i.e., signaling via waving the male’s larger claw). Two types of signals were observed. In addition to the expected territorial display of a large and complex vertical wave that conveys its message over a typical distan...

Increasing water-use efficiency in all sectors is vital to ensure sustainable water resources for all uses. Human water demands, with only limited improvements in efficiency, are increasing and are already unsustainable in many regions. Nevertheless, potential exists for efficiency gains: irrigation efficiency, for example, could be increased by ap...

Umbra pygmaea DeKay (Eastern Mudminnow) is one of four species of Umbridae in North America. There is little published life-history information on the species within its native range, particularly on age, growth, and reproduction. This study focuses on these aspects of the life history of this fish at the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in Mor...

Studies are reviewed that demonstrate the leaching of Cu, Cr, and As from pressure-treated wood in aquatic environments. The metals leached out accumulate in sediments near the wood (particularly bulkheads, which have more surface area for leaching than dock pilings). The metals also accumulate in organisms, including epibiota that live directly on...

Killifish, grass shrimp, fiddler crabs, blue crabs, and young bluefish in contaminated estuaries differ ecologically from reference populations in relatively uncontaminated environments. All five of these species show reduced activity and feeding, but only fishes show reduced growth. In these areas, killifish are poor predators, eat much detritus,...

Prey capture was evaluated as a behavioral biomarker of contamination by examining feeding behavior of adult mummichogs (Fundulus heteroclitus) from 13 sites. Prey capture ability was related to sediment and tissue contaminant levels and with previous genetic analyses. The levels of contaminants at a site were highly correlated with each other, con...

Recent literature has suggested aggression may be context dependent. The purpose of this investigation was to examine aggressive and predator avoidance behaviors in juvenile blue crabs of two populations. Furthermore, we wanted to determine whether aggression persisted into the adult stages. Juvenile blue crabs collected from an impacted estuary, t...

Fish behavior can be altered by contaminants. There is an extensive literature on laboratory behavioral assays, with many chemicals impairing feeding or predator avoidance. However, there is not extensive work on fishes that live in contaminated environments. Therefore, we then review our recent research on feeding and trophic relations of populati...

The World Wildlife Fund is facilitating a dialogue on impacts of salmon aquaculture. The goal of the dialogue is to establish the state of knowledge in seven subject areas associated with the industry: benthic impacts, nutrient loading, escapees, chemical inputs, diseases, feeds and social issues and to establish international standards for salmon...

Young-of-the-year (YOY) bluefish, Pomatomus saltatrix, reside in some contaminated estuaries of the mid-Atlantic bight during their early life history, and as a result of this exposure, they may bioaccumulate high levels of contaminants, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), pesticides, and methyl mercury. Young-of-the-year bluefish from the...

Many crustaceans have been moved to new locations where they have caused ecological or economic problems, that is, have become invasive. This article focuses on the role of animal behavior in contributing to their success. Certain behaviors are particularly relevant, including (1) feeding: outcompeting native species for food or eating native speci...

In the decades since the Minamata tragedy in Japan, there has been a considerable body of research performed on effects of methylmercury in fishes. The studies have revealed that some of the most sensitive responses seen in fishes are reminiscent of the symptoms experienced by the Minamata victims. This article reviews the literature, with a focus...

Behaviors, activity budgets, and spatial locations of reef-associated schoolmaster snapper (Lutjanus apodus) and non-reef-associated checkered puffer (Sphoeroides testudineus) were cataloged in mangrove forests in Caribbean Honduras to see how and where they spent their time and whether this changed as they grew. For schoolmasters, swimming was the...

Blue crabs from a contaminated estuary (Hackensack Meadowlands-HM) and a cleaner reference site (Tuckerton-TK) were analyzed for Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, and Zn in muscle and hepatopancreas. Crabs from each site were taken into the laboratory and fed food from the other site, or in another experiment, transplanted to the other site for eight weeks. All crab...

Populations living in contaminated environments may exhibit behavioral changes that can alter predator–prey interactions. Blue crabs from the contaminated Hackensack Meadowlands (HM) had reduced ability to capture juvenile blue crabs and adult mummichogs (both active prey) compared with crabs from a reference site (Tuckerton (TK)). However, they co...

Fundulus heteroclitus from six sites throughout the Hackensack Meadowlands District in northern NJ, U.S.A., were examined. Differences in behaviour (surfacing, conspicuousness and activity) were compared to gill infection intensity. Fish from populations infected with >1500 digenean metacercariae of Ascocotyle phagicola diminuta and Echinochasmus s...

The invasion of the green crab Carcinus maenas in the northeastern U.S. and its competition with the native blue crab Callinectes sapidus and other native crustaceans has been well-documented and researched. Various reasons for the invader’s success against native crabs have been examined (juvenile predation, food source flexibility, etc.), but ano...

A field experiment was established in Bocas Del Toro, Panama to examine the relationship between sessile organisms living on mangrove prop roots and fish communities. Artificial mangrove roots (AMR) with different sets of artificial (AE) or real epibionts were established in five different locations in two separate years. Fish species in each plot...

Fish use of a mangrove habitat was studied in a small mangrove forest on the West coast of Madagascar. A sand bar near the inlet retains water in parts of the channel (pools) at low tide. Fishes in four of these pools were examined daily at all phases of the tidal cycle for 3 weeks using underwater visual census. During week 1, fishes were diverse...

The myriad of environmental problems facing cities are described and analyzed. The magnitude of the environmental crisis is explored and its causes are identified. In order to remedy environmental problems, an integrated policy approach is required. The tradeoffs between economic development and environmental quality are examined and a strategy to...

Fiddler crabs, Uca pugnax, were collected from a highly contaminated site and a relatively clean site, both in New Jersey to determine if and how environments with varying levels of pollutants may impact aspects of population biology including individual size, morphology (major cheliped size), population density, fecundity, recruitment and survivor...

Sublethal behavioural effects of exposure to paralytic shellfish toxins (PST; saxitoxin and its derivatives) from the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium fundyense were investigated in newly settled winter flounder Pseudopleuronectes americanus, larval sheepshead minnow Cyprinodon variegatus and larval mummichog Fundulus heteroclitus through an A. fun...

Metal distributions in the exoskeleton and soft tissues of the fiddler crab, Uca pugnax, were examined during intermolt and immediate postmolt to determine if distribution of the metals changed prior to molting and to determine if molting is a feasible mechanism to depurate metals. Fiddler crabs were collected from two locations in New Jersey, a hi...

Blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus (Rathbun), are an ecologically and commercially important species along the East coast of North America. Over the past century and a half, blue crabs have been exposed to an expanding set of exotic species, a few of which are potential competitors. To test for interactions with invasive crabs, juvenile C. sapidus mal...

Highly significant changes were found in digenean metacercariae infected gills of killifish Fundulus heteroclitus with respect to gill abnormalities. Gills infected with >1000 metacercariae exhibited up to 42 additional gill branches per fish when compared to less parasitized conspecifics. A strong positive correlation was found between abnormal gi...

The Hackensack Meadowlands District is a large heavily degraded, brackish marsh system in the urbanized northeastern region of New Jersey, USA. Six study sites were used, three of which were restored (Mill Creek, Skeetkill Creek and Vince Lombardi), and three others were unrestored (Richard DeKorte Park, Cedar Creek and Kingsland Creek). Highly sig...

As shorelines are developed, many wooden structures such as bulkheads and pilings have been placed in marshes and estuaries. Many of these structures have been made of chromated copper arsenate (CCA)-treated wood, which contains high quantities (40 kg/m)of the toxic metals Cu, Cr and As to prevent rotting and boring by invertebrates. Some quantitie...

Intertidal mangroves and manmade structures such as sea walls (jetties) may be used as nursery areas by coral reef fishes. Fishes utilizing these intertidal habitats near the island of Kaledupa were observed by visual census on ten occasions each, to identify the species utilizing these habitats, compare the abundance and diversity at the two sites...

Previous work has shown that adult mummichogs (Fundulus heteroclitus) from a polluted site (Piles Creek, PC, New Jersey) were more vulnerable to predation by blue crabs than fish from a more pristine site (Tuckerton, TK, New Jersey). The present study was conducted to compare the spontaneous activity, swimming performance and predator avoidance of...

The invasion of Phragmites australis (common reed) into Spartina alterniflora (cordgrass) salt marshes along the northeastern coast of the United States has recently been of concern. Numerous studies have evaluated the effects of P. australis on marsh nekton and infauna, but its effects on the distribution of stem-dwelling epifaunal communities has...

I analyzed stomach contents of white perch, Morone americana, caught throughout the year in the Hackensack River in northern New Jersey. The dominant prey items were amphipods, with shrimp and fish being less important. Stable isotope analysis indicated that the primary producers of importance in the food web leading to white perch were benthic or...

Cores taken from 16 stations within Eight Day Swamp, a highly contaminated marsh in the Hackensack Meadowlands, were analyzed for metal concentrations and for benthic community structure. Metal levels were compared with the benchmark ERM values, and expressed in terms of toxic units. Mercury was the most important metal in all the samples in terms...

Culms of Phragmites australis were grown in vermiculite in a greenhouse. Some plants were exposed to 1000 microg/g Cu or Pb or Zn, or combinations of two or three of those metals. When plants reached senescence, they were harvested and analyzed for metal concentrations in upper leaves, lower leaves, stems and roots. While all metals accumulated in...

Marshes have been proposed as sites for phytoremediation of metals. The fate of metals within plant tissues is a critical issue for effectiveness of this process. In this paper we review studies that investigate the effects of plants on metals in wetlands. While most of these marsh plant species are similar in metal uptake patterns and in concentra...

We studied the behaviors of four species of sympatric fiddler crabs on Kaledupa Island, Indonesia. Species differences in activity level, grooming, burrowing and feeding were related to their habitat and food. Uca chlorophthalmus, living in muddy mangrove areas, were inactive and spent most of the time feeding in place. Females fed 50% faster than...

To investigate the decay rate and metal uptake in litter from two species of wetland plants, leaves and stems of senescent Spartina alterniflora and Phragmites australis (P) were obtained from the Hackensack Meadowlands (NJ, USA) in October 1998, and their initial metal contents were determined. Two types of S. alterniflora were obtained, one set f...

Studies of effects of the invasive brackish marsh plant Phragmites australis (common reed) on estuarine biota are reviewed. With few exceptions, most field studies indicate that these P. australis-dominated marshes have diverse and abundant benthic biota, and are utilized by nekton, comparable to Spartina alterniflora marshes. However, larval mummi...

In earlier greenhouse and field studies, we found that upper leaves of Phragmites australis (common reed) and Spartina alterniflora (cord grass) tended to have lower levels of metals than lower leaves. Since lower leaves are produced earlier in the season and are older than upper leaves, there are two possibilities: (1) leaves produced earlier in t...

We evaluated larval prey capture as a "behavioral biomarker" of contamination by examining feeding behavior of larval mummichogs (Fundulus heteroclitus) from many different sites, including a severely contaminated "Superfund" site, moderately contaminated sites, and reference areas. Prey capture ability was related to sediment contaminant levels. T...

We examined patterns of biomass accumulation and tissue concentrations of five metals—mercury, copper, zinc, chromium, lead—and two elements—carbon and nitrogen—to determine differences in net metal accumulation and distribution between Phragmites australis (common reed) and Spartina alterniflora (cord grass) which were growing intermingled in a co...

When exposed to methylmercury in the laboratory, grass shrimp, Palaemonetes pugio, parasitized by the isopod Probopyrus pandalicola, accumulated lower concentrations of mercury than their unparasitized counterparts. The parasitic isopod accumulated far less mercury than the grass shrimp. When exposed to mercury in a contaminated field site, mummich...

Metals in contaminated salt marshes are mainly locked in the anaerobic layer of sediments, where they are tightly bound as sulfides and organic complexes. Vascular plants survive in saturated soils in part by pumping O2 into their root zones, changing their microenvironment to an oxic one. This, along with chelating exudates, mobilizes metals, allo...

Previous studies showed that adult and 6-month-old young-of-year Fundulus heteroclitus from a polluted site have enlarged thyroid follicles and (in adults) higher thyroxine levels compared to fish from an unpolluted reference site. This study's purpose was to discover when in development these differences begin to appear. For 15-20 mm fish, the ave...

Sediments, marsh grasses, and ribbed mussels were collected under two CCA wood walkways (15 and 3 years old) and 1, 3, and 10 m out, in the high, middle and low marshes. These sediments, and samples from reference sites, were analyzed for Cu, Cr, and As by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Metal concentrations were highly elevated under the walk...

Mummichogs or killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus) are abundant estuarine fish that can tolerate widely varying environmental conditions. They are found in some highly contaminated sites, and their development of tolerance to toxicants has been studied. Populations have developed resistance to methylmercury, kepone, dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls,...

Marsh vegetation plays an important role in trophic ecology of estuaries. Once broken down to detritus, it is an important food source for manyorganisms. In Atlantic Coast marshes, the reed Phragmites australis hasbeen invading many areas once dominated by smooth cordgrass, Spartina alterniflora. In this study we evaluated the growth of and trophic...

When exposed to methylmercury in the laboratory, grass shrimp, Palaemonetes pugio, parasitized by the isopod Probopyrus pandalicola, accumulated lower concentrations of mercury than their unparasitized counterparts. The parasitic isopod accumulated far less mercury than the grass shrimp. When exposed to mercury in a contaminated field site, mummich...

The release of mercury (Hg) from leaf tissue was compared between two dominant salt marsh macrophytes, Spartina alterniflora and Phragmites australis. Rates of Hg release were measured for individual leaves from late May to late July, along with concentrations of Hg in leaf tissue, rates of sodium (Na) release, and rates of transpiration. Leaves of...

We examined biomass accumulation, tissue concentrations of lead (Pb), and net uptake of Pb in Phragmites australis (common reed) and Spartina alterniflora (salt cord grass) grown under greenhouse conditions in sediment of different Pb concentrations. Sediment and newly emerged ramets of each plant species were collected in April 1999 from Tuckerton...

We used three populations of mummichogs (Fundulus heteroclitus), one from a polluted site (Piles Creek [PC], New Jersey) and two from cleaner sites (Tuckerton [TK], New Jersey, and East Hampton [EH], New York), to study (1) whether embryonic, embryonic plus larval, or larval exposure to methylmercury (MeHg) altered larval prey capture ability and g...

Mature Palaemonetes pugio, from a polluted estuary, Piles Creek (PC) are larger than those in a more pristine estuary in Tuckerton (TK). Possible causes for the differences in size-structure could be differences in environmental factors at the two creeks, differential competition at the two sites, inherent factors causing a greater growth rate in t...

Since previous short-term bioassays of methylmercury (MeHg) indicated no morphological effects in zebrafish (Daniorerio) after embryonic exposures below 20 μg/l MeHg, studies were done to determine whether embryonic exposure to MeHg at lower concentrations would induce behavioral effects. Newly fertilized embryos were exposed to 0, 5, 10 or 15 μg M...

Invasion by Phragmites australis into tidal marshes previously dominated by Spartina alterniflora is viewed as a serious environmental threat along the Atlantic coast of the US, but little is known about the relative habitat value of the two plants for most estuarine species. This study was designed to investigate behavioral responses, in the labor...

The perennial grass Spartina alterniflora, common to salt marshes of eastern North America, is known to accumulate metals from marsh sediment and release them into the environment. One pathway by which Spartina alterniflora releases metals is through the excretion of metal-containing salts produced by leaf salt glands. We examined the differential...

Mummichogs (Fundulus heteroclitus) from Piles Creeks (PC), New Jersey (a polluted site), are sluggish and show poorer prey capture and predator avoidance than reference fish from Tuckerton (TK). The behavioral dysfunction of the PC fish may be associated with thyroid impairment due to endocrine disruption. In this study, we compared thyroid histolo...

Behavior can demonstrate linkages ofcontaminant effects at different levels oforganization from the biochemical/cellular to theorganism, population, and community levels.Mummichogs, Fundulus heteroclitus, from acontaminated area were previously found to havereduced condition, growth, and longevity, comparedwith conspecifics from clean sites. Thispo...

Fish Ecotoxicology - Fish Ecotoxicology. BraunbeckT., HintonD. E., StrettB., eds. 1998. Birkhaeuser Verlag, Basel, Switzerland. 300 pp. $99.50 hardcover. - Volume 2 Issue 1 - Judith S. Weis

The effects of methylmercury (MeHg) exposure on neurotransmitter (NT) levels in larval mummichogs (Fundulusheteroclitus) obtained from a mercury-polluted site (Piles Creek (PC), NJ) and a reference site (Tuckerton (TK), NJ) were examined. Population differences between PC and TK larvae in neurochemical composition and in neurochemical changes in re...

Previous studies have demonstrated that mummichogs (Fundulus heteroclitus) collected from Piles Creek (PC), New Jersey, USA (a site polluted with heavy metals and organic materials), were sluggish and showed poorer prey capture and predator avoidance than those from a reference site (Tuckerton [TK], NJ, USA). We hypothesized that the behavioral dys...

Preliminary observations indicated that the grass shrimp, Palaemonetes pugio, parasitized by the isopod, Probopyrus pandalicola, captured significantly fewer prey items (Daphnia) and exhibited reduced activity compared to unparasitized conspecifics. Further research focused on elucidating the factors involved in altering the shrimp’s behavior. When...

Metals leached from chromated copper arsenate (CCA)-treated wood, taken up by epibiota and trophically transferred to their motile consumers or taken up directly by the consumers, were measured in caged organisms exposed to treated and untreated wood panels for 3 months. Epibiota on treated panels had more copper and arsenic than epibiota on untrea...

Predator/prey behavior has important consequences for individual survival and recruitment into fish populations, both of which can be affected by stressors such as environmental contaminants. The degree to which prey capture or predator avoidance abilities of a predator or prey species are affected will determine the direction in which the balance...

We determined effects of embryonic and/or larval exposure to methylmercury (MeHg) on swimming behavior and predator avoidance ability in larval mummichogs (Fundulus heteroclitus) from a site polluted with heavy metals and organic materials (Piles Creek (PC), NJ) and two reference sites (Tuckerton (TK), NJ and East Hampton (EH), NY). Mummichog eggs...

Eggs and sperm were obtained from mummichogs collected at a site polluted with heavy metals and organic chemicals (Piles Creek-PC) and a reference site (Tuckerton, TK) in New Jersey. Embryos and/or larvae were exposed to 5, 10 and 20 μg l−1 methylmercury (MeHg). Larvae at different ages were analyzed for total mercury (Hg) content. When raised in c...

To ascertain the extent of impacts from CCA-treated wood bulkheads, we sampled sediments along 10-m transects from these bulkheads and from reference sites (either bulkheads made of other materials or unbulkheaded areas nearby) and analyzed the fine fraction for metals. We ascertained metal content in resident biota, and analyzed species richness,...

Starting at the day of hatching, Fundulus heteroclitus L. larvae were exposed to 0, 0.1, 0.3, or 1.0 mg l−1 Pb (as lead acetate). At weekly intervals they were tested for prey capture of Artemia, spontaneous activity, and swimming performance. Prey capture was significantly decreased only after 4 weeks of exposure when there was a significant eleva...