Hudson River Foundation Supports Independent Scientific Research
STONY BROOK, N.Y., May 9, 2005—Researchers from Stony Brook University have been awarded three grants totaling $200,000 by the Hudson River Foundation. The awards come from the Hudson River Fund, the largest single source of funding dedicated to scientific research on the Hudson River. The Fund is administered by the Foundation, which was created in 1981 in recognition of the need for independent scientific research that would contribute to the development of sound public policy concerning the River’s ecological system.
David Conover, Dean of Stony Brook’s Marine Sciences Research Center (MSRC), received $53,300 to study the factors influencing the abundance and distribution of Atlantic silversides in the Hudson River. Because silversides are consumed by many Hudson River predator fishes, including striped bass, bluefish, white perch, and fluke, they are an extremely important component of the food web. Dr. Conover will examine directly the influence of environmental factors (such as temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, substrate, river flow and vegetation) and other fish species on both the distribution and abundance of silversides. The study will provide information that is important for research scientists and fisheries managers.
Roger Flood and Robert Cerrato, also of the MSRC, were awarded $88,200 to study the biological classification of the bottom of the Hudson River. The investigators will re-analyze data from two areas of the river examined by the Hudson River Benthic Mapping Program of the NYSDEC’s Hudson River Estuary Management Program. This study will potentially assist environmental resource managers by providing a mechanism by which vast areas of the benthic ecosystem can be efficiently surveyed and characterized.
Jeffrey Levinton of Stony Brook’s Department of Ecology and Evolution, received $58,500 for a study of toxic substances in organisms of the Hudson River. Dr. Levinton will extract and analyze biota data from a large database compiled by NYSDEC. Statistical methods will be employed to discern temporal trends in contaminant concentrations by species and river location; identify geographic “hot spots” of contamination; compare uptake among species (by sex, size and ecology); and identify correlations among inorganic and organic contaminants.
“The Hudson River Fund has been instrumental in developing an entire generation of scientists specializing in the Hudson River,” said Clay Hiles, Executive Director of the Hudson River Foundation. “And their expertise is now informing crucial public policy decisions concerning the future health of the River.”
“These latest grants are a response to a special request for proposals aimed at analyzing and synthesizing existing data collected in the Hudson River,” said Dennis Suszkowski, the Foundation’s Science Director. “Collectively they present an opportunity for a much fuller evaluation of the many data sets that exist for the Hudson and will provide valuable new information to both the management and the scientific communities concerned with this ecosystem.”
To date, the Fund has provided more than 460 grants, totaling approximated $30 million. The Hudson River Foundation for Science and Environmental Research is a private, nonprofit organization, founded in 1981. Its mission is to make science integral to decision-making for the Hudson River and its watershed and to support competent stewardship of this extraordinary resource.
