Nellie Tsipoura

• Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Most migratory shorebird species are declining, some are endangered, and some may be vulnerable to contaminants on long distance travel between wintering grounds and high latitude breeding grounds. We examined whether shorebirds accumulated trace elements at the Delaware Bay (New Jersey) stopover by testing the null hypothesis that there was no dif...

In an effort to quantify the value of wetland habitats, GPS technology was used to document the movement patterns of 16 Great Egrets (Ardea alba) in North America. Patterns in daily flight distances and utilization distributions (UD; estimates of area occupied on the ground) were documented throughout the annual cycle. Maximum Daily Displacement (M...

Sandy beaches represent typical destinations for recreation and tourism worldwide, as well as being a lifestyle for people living along the shore. In the Northeastern United States coastal environments are build-up and overexploited, threatening both ecosystem integrity and coastal communities. Following hurricane Sandy, the US government funded a...

Understanding the relationship between heavy metal and selenium levels in biota and their foods is important, but often difficult to determine because animals eat a variety of organisms. Yet such information is critical to managing species populations, ecological integrity, and risk to receptors (including humans) from consumption of certain prey....

Identifying animals as sentinels for humans and other animal species is an excellent method for understanding exposure to environmental contamination at different times and places. Shorebirds are useful sentinels because they have a world-wide distribution, eat a range of prey, and are eaten by a range of other species, including humans. We collect...

It is essential to understand contaminant exposure and to compare levels of contaminants in organisms at different ages to determine if there is bioaccumulation, and to compare levels encountered in different geographical areas. In this paper, we report levels of mercury, lead, cadmium, cobalt, arsenic and selenium in the blood of semipalmated sand...

Understanding the relationship between metal level in predators and their prey is an important issue, and is usually difficult to determine because animals eat a variety of organisms. However, shorebirds that stop over during spring migration along Delaware Bay (New Jersey) stay for only 2-3 weeks, and eat mainly horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus)...

We investigated levels of arsenic mercury, lead, cadmium, and chromium in Red Knot (Calidris canutus), Semipalmated Sandpipers (Calidris pusilla), and Sanderling (Calidris alba) migrating through Delaware Bay, New Jersey to determine if contaminant levels are likely to be causing negative effects on the populations of these shorebirds, to compare a...

Hurricane Sandy resulted in massive destruction of many coastal ecological and human communities in the Northeastern United States in 2012. Beach-nesting and migrating birds are vulnerable to loss of essential habitat as a result of storms. In this paper we report the perceptions of beach users about avian use of the beaches, conservation measures...

Stakeholder contributions to conservation projects often occur during the problem formulation stage, yet the role of stakeholders throughout the process is seldom considered. We examine the diversity of state and federal agencies, conservation organizations, other non-governmental organizations, environmental justice communities, consultants, indus...

Understanding temporal changes in contaminant levels in coastal environments requires comparing levels of contaminants from the same species from different time periods, particularly if species are declining. Several species of shorebirds migrating through Delaware Bay have declined from the 1980s to the present. To evaluate some contaminants as ca...

The health of horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) eggs is important not only to maintain horseshoe crab populations, but because they are a resource for higher trophic levels, such as fish and shorebirds. We examined the concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, manganese, mercury, and selenium in the eggs of horseshoe crabs from Delaware...

This study investigated the impacts of urban wetlands and their adjacent residential environments on the transmission dynamics of West Nile virus (WNV) within the state of New Jersey (USA). A working hypothesis was that urban wetlands decrease the local prevalence of WNV through the dilution effect from increased bird diversity, and through relativ...

The New Jersey Meadowlands are located within the heavily urbanized New York/New Jersey Harbor Estuary and have been subject to contamination due to effluent and runoff from industry, traffic, and homes along the Hackensack River and nearby waterways. These extensive wetlands, though heavily impacted by development and pollution, support a wide arr...

Background/Question/Methods Zoonotic diseases may be affected by the diversity of host and/or vectors of a disease agent, as species are differentially able to both host and transmit the causative agent. These differential abilities can dilute the risk of disease. However, it is not clear how the diversity of different community components interact...

Zoonotic diseases may be affected by the diversity of host and/or vectors of a disease agent, as species are differentially able to both host and transmit the causative agent. These differential abilities can dilute the risk of disease. However, it is not clear how the diversity of different community components interact to affect disease risk. We...

The New Jersey Meadowlands is an important natural area, a diverse mosaic of wetland habitats positioned within the heavily urbanized NY City Metropolitan area and the NY/NJ Harbor. Persistent contaminants may pose threats to wildlife inhabiting these habitats, affecting reproduction, egg hatchability, nestling survivorship, and neurobehavioral dev...

Scientists interested in contamination normally deal only with pollution itself, not with people's perceptions of pollution or the relationship between pollution and land use. The overall objective of this article was to examine the relationship between people's perceptions of pollution and their views on future land use. People were interviewed at...

In this paper, we discuss methods to integrate ecological resources, ecosystem services, risk, and the transition to long-term stewardship on Department of Energy lands. Three types of information are required about ecological resources before decisions can be made about remediation, site transitions, and long-term stewardship: (1) the ecological r...

We examined the concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, manganese, mercury, and selenium in the eggs, leg muscle, and apodeme (carapace musculature) in horseshoe crabs ( Limulus polyphemus) from eight places on the New Jersey and Delaware sides of Delaware Bay to determine whether there were locational differences. Although there were l...

There is considerable concern for the health of spawning populations of horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) along the east coast of North America because of an increase in the harvest, an apparent decrease in population levels, and the dependence of migrating shorebirds on a superabundant supply of horseshoe crab eggs during their migratory stopov...

Large numbers of shorebirds stop over at Delaware Bay during spring migration and undergo major mass increases within a two- to three-week period. We studied plasma levels of corticosterone and growth hormone in three species of migrants that use this site, sanderlings, Calidris alba, semipalmated plovers, Charadrius semipalmatus, and semipalmated...

During spring migration, thousands of shorebirds gather in Delaware Bay at the same time as horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) are spawning. During their stopover, the birds store enough fuel in the form of fat and muscle protein to complete their migration to the Canadian breeding grounds. We documented the changes in body mass of shorebirds mig...

After a severe storm in 1996 along the Atlantic Ocean shore of New Jersey that washed up large numbers of surf clams (Spisula solidissima) onto the beach, we found 39 Dunlin (Calidris alpina) with bills caught between the two valves of the clams. There was a flock of about 3,000 dunlin actively feeding on the clams along the 6.5 km of beach censuse...

We applied fresh and weathered oil from the Anitra oil spill to the belly feathers of experimental sanderlings (Calidris alba) to simulate 20% plumage oiling, whereas controls were stroked with clean swabs only. We tested the null hypotheses that there were no differences in behavior following oiling and that there were no differences in weight gai...

Male Kentucky Warblers (Oporornis formosus) have a single, individually distinctive song type. The songs of 29 males breeding at a single location were placed into 6 categories based upon similarity of song types. Based upon these categories, song types were randomly distributed in the breeding population; there was no tendency for neighboring male...

"Graduate Program in Ecology and Evolution." Includes abstract. Vita. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 1999. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-144).