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
The NJSEA’s Meadowlands Research and Restoration Institute (MRRI) and the New Jersey Institute of Technology on Oct. 11 hosted a regional workshop to exchange ideas on the best ways to abate harmful algal blooms. The consortium on Algae Bloom Mitigation and Algal Biotechnology for Sustainable New Jersey featured more than a dozen experts, scientists and … Read more
Restore America’s Estuaries
Saltmarsh Sparrow (Ammospiza caudacuta) is an endemic species to the Atlantic Coast of the United States and is widely considered one of the most rapidly declining avian species in the Western Hemisphere. Population estimates over time suggest the species declined by about 87% over 15 years at an alarming rate of 9% per year (Hartley … Read more