Chris Evangelista

Each year the Meadowlands Research and Restoration Institute mentors up to 4 high school interns from Bergen County Academies. Students work in the NJDEP certified laboratory and  GIS laboratory.  Each student will work next to professional scientists learning lab techniques, conducting chemical analysis, aiding in the field work  and inputting data into different software.  GIS … Read more

https://meri.njmeadowlands.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/P9060688.mov The video shows Fiddler crabs hurrying for cover across the mudflat, which resembles a migration. This usually takes place when a boat comes near to the place where they are foraging or sunbathing. A well known evolutionary treat, the sexually dimorphic claws of the Fiddler crabs are on full display in the recording. The … Read more

Friday, August 11, 2023, our GIS specialist Christopher Blackley received a master’s in Geographic Information Systems from Penn State University. Chris’s knowledge of geospatial system analysis and design is critical in helping the Meadowlands District government officials, engineers, and scientists communicate geographically. His capstone project at Penn State was: Raptor Migration and Phenological Adjustments within … Read more

Aleshanee Mooney from MRRI assisted scientists from the Center for Natural Resources from NJIT during a routine salinity sensor maintenance at River Bend. Long-term measurement of the changes in salinity using digital salinity sensors and data loggers at River Bend. This research is funded by the National Science Foundation. The Principal Investigator is Dr. Michel … Read more

Forty environmental scholars (10th and 11th graders) from public and private schools in Newark visit the Meadowlands to learn about environmental science and coastal wetlands. Environmental Scholars participating in a nature observing exercise.  They identified critical features of wetlands and drew a living organism. Selected examples of the results of the nature observing exercise by … Read more

Benthic biofilms are matrixes of microbial cells and their secretions and have been shown to stabilize sediment in coastal environments. In the Meadowlands, biofilms may play an important role in limiting the mobility of contaminants associated with creek beds and mudflats.Only a few studies have investigated biofilm growth and how durable and effective their ability … Read more

Bergen County Department of Health Services Staff sampling for ticks in the Meadowlands The Gulf Coast Tick was found recently by the  Bergen County Department of Health Services in the Meadowlands for the first time. The Gulf Coast Tick transmits the spotted fever rickettsiosis in humans Sampling for the Marsh Mosquito (Aedes taeniorhynchus) in the Meadowlands … Read more

In Estuaries, sediments and contaminants move around with the tide.  This study measures the suspended sediment and flow direction from the main channel of the river to the marsh platform and the other way around. To determine in which directions contaminants are moving, MRRI scientists installed an Argonaut-ADV instrument that measures water velocity and direction, … Read more