dukenvironment S p r i n g 2 0 0 2A n E nv i ro n m e n t f o r S o l u t i o n s

N I C H O L A S S C H O O L O F T H E E N V I R O N M E N T A N D E A R T H S C I E N C E S

entering the world of dolphins

AdministrationWilliam H. Schlesinger, DeanRichard B. Forward Jr., Chair,

Division of Coastal Systems Science & Policy Peter K. Haff, Chair, Division of Earth & Ocean SciencesCurtis J. Richardson, Chair, Division of Environmental Sciences & PolicyMichael K. Orbach, Director, Duke University Marine LaboratoryPeggy Dean Glenn, Associate Dean, External AffairsJames Haggard, Associate Dean, Finance and AdministrationLaura Turcotte, Administrative Assistant to the Dean

Office of External AffairsPeggy Dean Glenn, Associate DeanScottee Cantrell, Director of CommunicationsGaron Bodor, Director of Foundation and Corporate RelationsJill S. Range, Director of Alumni Affairs and the Annual FundGrace A. Badiali, Assistant Director of Alumni Affairs and the Annual FundRita M. Baur, Staff Assistant and Office Manager

Board of VisitorsSimon B. Rich Jr., Louis Dreyfus Natural Gas, Wilton, CT (Chair)Marshall Field V, Old Mountain Company, Chicago, IL (Vice Chair)Lawrence B. Benenson, The Benenson Capital Company, New York, NYRichard H. Bierly, Morehead City, NCTimothy J. Creem, Bridgton, MEAnn Douglas Cornell, Wallace Genetics Foundation, Washington, DCF. Daniel Gabel Jr., Hagedorn & Company, New York, NYHarvey Goldman, Syska & Hennessy Inc., New York, NYRep. Lyons Gray, 39th District, Winston-Salem, NCGilbert M. Grosvenor, National Geographic Society, Washington, DCJohn S. Hahn, Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, Washington, DCRichard G. Heintzelman, Janney Montgomery Scott, Allentown, PAGeorge C. Hixon, Hixon Properties Inc., San Antonio, TXChristian Holmes IV, Houston, TXRichard E. Hug, Environmental Elements Corporation, Baltimore, MD

(Emeritus)Thomas C. Jorling, International Paper, Stamford, CTSally Kleberg, New York, NYJuanita Kreps, Duke University, Durham, NC (Emeritus)Bettye Martin Musham, GEAR Inc., New York, NYJ.K. Nicholas, Northpoint Domain, Boston, MAPatrick Noonan, The Conservation Fund, Arlington, VAElizabeth B. Reid, Bedford Hills, NYJohn C. Reid, Curtis Reid Enterprises, Larchmont, NYDouglass F. Rohrman, Lord, Bissell & Brook, Chicago, IL Truman T. Semans, Brown Investment Advisory and Trust Company,

Baltimore, MD (Emeritus)Truman T. Semans Jr., McKinsey & Co., Charlotte, NCBartow S. Shaw Jr., Shaw, McLeod, Belser & Hurlbutt Inc., Sumter, SCThomas A. Shepherd, Shepherd Miller Inc., Fort Collins, CORonald J. Slinn, Slinn & Associates, Princeton, NJ (Emeritus)James A. Spangler, Spangler Environmental Consultants Inc., Raleigh, NC Fred Stanback, Salisbury, NCPeter W. Stroh, Stroh Brewery Company, Detroit, MIWayne F. Wilbanks, Wilbanks, Smith & Thomas Asset Management,

Norfork, VAGeorge M. Woodwell, Woods Hole Research Center, Woods Hole, MAWilliam Wrigley Jr., The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, Chicago, IL

Marine Lab Advisory BoardWayne F. Wilbanks, Wilbanks, Smith & Thomas, Norfolk, VA (Chair)Elsa Ayers, Greensboro, NC (Vice Chairman)James H.P. Bailey Jr., Cape Lookout Marine Inc., Atlantic Beach, NC Richard H. Bierly, Morehead City, NCCharles F. Blanchard, Blanchard, Jenkins & Miller PA, Raleigh, NC F. Nelson Blount Crisp, Blount & Crisp, Greenville, NC Hugh Cullman, Philip Morris (ret.), Beaufort, NCSylvia Earle, Deep Ocean Exploration & Research, San Leandro, CA Robert W. Estill, Raleigh, NCJohn T. Garbutt Jr., Durham, NCCecil Goodnight, Progress Energy Service Co., Raleigh, NCC. Howard Hardesty Jr., Andrews & Kurth, Washington, DC Robert G. Hardy, Cornerstone Ventures LP, Houston, TX Mary Price Taylor Harrison, Beaufort, NC Susan Hudson, Wainwright Farms, Wilson, NCSandra Taylor Kaupe, Palm Beach, FLWilliam A. Lane Jr., Dunspaugh-Dalton Foundation Inc., Coral Gables, FL Henry O. Lineberger Jr., Raleigh, NCJ. Thomas McMurray, Marine Ventures Foundation,Washington, DCStephen E. Roady, Oceana, Washington, DC Elizabeth Thrower, Vero Beach, FL, and Nantucket, MAStephen A. Wainwright, Duke University, Durham, NC

Alumni CouncilJames A. Spangler,

Spangler Environmental Consultants Inc., Raleigh, NC (President)Brad Dethero, Geo-Source Inc., Florence, ALJeff Dye, Jefferson Dye & Associates, LLC Management, New Orleans, LASusan Powell, DuPont Chamber Works, Deep Water, NJPeter Griffith, LBA-Ecology Project Support Manager, Largo, MDLynne Hawkes, Cary, NCRobert Beerits Lyon Jr., The Link Oil Company, Tulsa, OKDaniel Markewitz, Daniel B. Warnell School of Forest Resources, Athens, GAJames B. Miller, USDA Forest Service, Washington, DCThomas Dwight Nager, Chapel Hill, NCNancy Ragland Perkins, Legislative Assistant, Silver Spring, MDTimothy H. Profeta, Legislative Counsel for the Environment,

Washington, DCLori Sutter, NOAA Coastal Services Center, Charleston, SCMark Tukman, Space Imaging, Sacramento, CA

Editorial BoardSara Ashenburg, Director of Executive Education,

Center for Environmental EducationJudson (Judd) Edeburn, Resource Manager, Duke Forest Peter Haff, Chair, Division of Earth & Ocean SciencesPatrick N. Halpin, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Landscape EcologyLynne Hawkes MEM ‘88, Natural Resource Ecology, Alumni CouncilKaren Kirchof, Director of Career ServicesRandall A. Kramer, Professor of Resource and Environmental EconomicsMichael K. Orbach, Director of the Marine Lab,

and Professor of the Practice of Marine Affairs and PolicyCynthia Peters, Director of Enrollment ServicesDonna Picard, Staff Assistant, Office of the DeanClair Twigg, MEM ‘03, Water & Air Resources

dukenvironment is a publication of the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University.

dukenvironment Contents

2 Tropical Forest Clearinghouse: ParksWatch Works Against the Clock to Save Protected Areas

9 An Historian of Global Climate Change: Introducing the Newest Nicholas Chair

12 Entering the World of Dolphins: Research So Compelling That Andy Read Rarely Takes a Holiday

5 The Log: School News

16 Action: Student News

18 Scope: Faculty & Staff Notes

20 Sightings: Alumni News

22 Nature & Nurture: Campaign & Annual Fund News

25 Monitor: Upcoming Events

Produced by the Office of Creative Services & Publications,Duke University Health System, MCOC 2930Copyright © Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, 2002

Photography contributed by Jim Wallace and Les Todd, Duke UniversityPhotography; Scott Taylor, Scott Taylor Photography; Julia Connors T’04;Chris Fagan and Renata Leite, ParksWatch; Jim Patton, University ofCalifornia, Berkley; and National Geographic.

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S T U D Y

Tropical Forest Clearinghouse:ParksWatch Works Against the Clock to Save Protected Areas

Back in 1993, the Nicholas School’s John Terborghjoined an international group of fellow conserva-tionists that assembled in a crisis atmosphere at theWhite Oak Plantation in northern Florida.They wereworried that national parks, the main havens forbiodiversity in tropical regions, were in trouble.Thatwas alarming because the tropics are consideredthe most plant and animal rich areas on Earth.

For Terborgh, a James B. Duke Professorof Environmental Science, MacArthurFellowship “genius grant” winner, memberof the National Academy of Sciences, andco-director of Duke’s Center for TropicalConservation, concern about protectingthe enormous varieties of species in naturewas nothing new. The shortcomings oftropical parks weren’t either.

In a book that was just published at thetime of that meeting, Diversity and the TropicalRain Forest (1992, Scientific AmericanLibrary), he warned that “within a fewdecades, unperturbed nature will cease toexist outside of protected parks andreserves.” Terborgh added that “it is clear

that the rate of creation of new parklandwill decline in the future.”

The outcome of the conference nearJacksonville was another book called Last Stand: National Parks and the Defense of TropicalBiodiversity (1997, Oxford University Press),authored by Terborgh, his Center forTropical Conservation co-director Carelvan Schaik, and 10 other experts in andoutside of the Nicholas School.

Last Stand cited inadequate funding andpressures from logging, mining, roadbuilding, agriculture and throngs of needyhuman migrants as major threats to parksand similar protected areas. It noted thatthese bastions cover just 5 percent of thehighly threatened tropical rain forest habitats where more than half of all known species live, and probably mostundiscovered species too.

Terborgh’s next book, Requiem for Nature(1999, Island Press) reiterated the theme,calling most so-called refuges in the tropics“a sorry lot,” and contending that mostexist “only on paper.”

Well before Requiem’s publication, he haddecided to begin a surveillance programcalled ParksWatch to address the issue.Despite their many shortcomings, “theparks that are already established, at leaston paper, are really precious for the futureof the world,” he said in a recent interviewin the Center for Tropical Conservation’ssecluded office off Duke’s West Campusnear the Duke Primate Center.

“We thought what the world’s parksneeded was a watchdog organization, something equivalent to AmnestyInternational or Human Rights Watch,”Terborgh recalled. “So we began to look for support, and I have to say wesearched unsuccessfully for something like seven years.

“Funding foundations thought it was a bad idea. They thought it was none of the business of developed countries to be looking into what was happening in lessdeveloped countries. They thought it was northern imperialism imposing on the south.

Tikal National Park,Guatemala

Puma (Puma concolor) in Pantanal National Park in Brazil

Angel Falls, the largest waterfallin the world, Canaima NationalPark in Venezuela

by Monte Basgall

“I think what really broke the ice for uswas Requiem for Nature,” he said. “We got ourfirst grant shortly after that.”

Meanwhile, mindful of the early criticism, Terborgh and ParksWatch program director Chris Fagan MEM ’00have tried to steer a delicate course thatkeeps them credible and persuasive whilenot sounding “imperial.” In keeping withthis theme, Terborgh hired Fagan after listening to his Nicholas School Masters of Environmental Management projectpresentation on farming strategies for people living within a national park inGuatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve.

“What we’re trying to do is become aclearinghouse of information on tropicalprotected areas that other conservationgroups can then use,” Fagan said. “We pickbetween six and a dozen areas per year ineach country that we’re going to evaluate.We want to find out everything about them,and in particular, what are the threats tothose areas?

“We go into the field about once amonth to evaluate an area. We talk to parkguards, park directors, local people, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) thatmight be working in the area, anyone whoknows things about these parks. Our goal isto see our information being used to strength-en those areas and protect biodiversity.

“ParksWatch objectives are three-fold:to thoroughly evaluate the area throughon-site visits; to publicize our informationvia the Internet and local publicity campaigns; and to share our informationwith park managers so that it can be used to strengthen those areas and protect biodiversity.”

ParksWatch currently confines its operations to Latin America. As the firststep in a site investigation, an in-countryParksWatch data collector visits the protectedarea with a six-page standardized question-naire listing an array of questions about thesetting, management, demographics andthreats. There are checkoff boxes for thetypes of landowners there (for government,NGO, private, and multiple), managementprograms (none, only in the past, fires, fauna,forestry, hunting, fishing, humans, andother), and even how the reserve was accessed(road, plane, boat, trail, train, and other).

The questionnaire asks about the availability of maps, aerial photos, GIS(Geographic Information Systems) information and satellite images, andwhether or not there is a management plan,or ongoing research and publications, orsite-specific laws and the track record fortheir enforcement. Data collectors mustalso detail information on types of touristsand tourism facilities, when those residentsarrived, numbers of legal and illegalhuman occupants, and whether residentcommunities have management plans.

There are boxes as well for details onlegal hunting, poaching, fishing, agriculture,grazing, fires, firewood collection, logging,mining, oil extraction, dams, industries,and military activities, and which of thoseactivities are a threat to the park, and how.

All these data get translated fromSpanish or Portuguese into English andthen compiled into reports called “ParkProfiles,” which Fagan said, “we’re startingto see used by government agencies andNGOs involved in park management toguide their conservation strategies.”

As an example, he handed out a copy ofthe 18-page December 2001 profile for El Mirador-Rio Azul National Park inGuatemala, part of the Maya BiosphereReserve, an area of both ecological importance and great tourism potentialgiven its important ruins of former NativeAmerican cities.

The profile notes that the park’s biodiversity, while well protected, has notbeen sufficiently studied; that the park’smanagement plan is still not finished; andthat the amount of appropriated fundsspent there is unknown. Its list of threatsinclude the looting of archaeological sites,illegal fishing, hunting and extraction offorest products, and logging in areas surrounding the park’s boundaries.

Future threats, the profile continues,includes a proposed highway project, aimedat promoting tourism, that would crosspark boundaries. Research in 1988, it counters, “demonstrated that the primary cause of tropical deforestation inLatin America was highway construction.”Moreover, “constructing infrastructureinside of national parks is a violation of theProtected Areas Law of Guatemala,” theprofile adds.

Fagan proudly noted that Guatemala’spark service presented that profile to thecentral government, which subsequentlydecided to drop the highway plan. While acknowledging that he doesn’t know how strong a role the profile played in that decision, “this is success,”Fagan said. “This is what we are trying to do. We want governments to be able to call us and say: ‘What is the situationhere? What do you think about this

Blunt-headed tree snake (Imantodes cenchoa) Ilha do Mel Ecological Station in Brazil

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plan? What are the biggest threats?’”As of early February, the ParksWatch’s

Web site, www.parkswatch.org, listed fourcompleted Park Profiles. Besides the parkin Guatemala, there were three more inVenezuela. But Fagan said about that manymore were in preparation. “We can’t justgo talk to people and then write up thereport,” he added. “We want to find outnot only what the threats are, but also theunderlying reasons why those threats exist.In many cases it takes more than a monthto research these things so we can makesure our information is accurate.”

The Web site’s “photo gallery” now has images of 13 parks in both of thosecountries, plus Brazil, Mexico and Peru.Two Nicholas School work-study students,Amanda Zidek-Vanega and Austin Lane,perfected the database format and havekept the Web site updated with news and images.

Fagan acknowledged that funding hasbeen tight, basically only enough to support the ParksWatch in-country fieldstaff and his own full-time salary. Moneywoes worsened when the W. Alton JonesFoundation ceased operations, derailingrenewal of their grant for ParksWatch, he said.

Fortunately, the head of the W. AltonJones conservation program moved to theGordon and Betty Moore Foundation.That new foundation, begun by thefounder of the Intel Corp., promises a

wealth of new support for environmentalprojects. After he and Terborgh visited the Moore Foundation’s office at thePresidio on San Francisco Bay, “they asked us to send in a proposal,” Faganrecalled excitedly. “They love the idea ofParksWatch. They want to support us andsee us succeed.”

On March 13, the Moore Foundationagreed to provide a $770,000 grant toParksWatch over the next four years, Fagan said. “We’re going to hire a full-time data manager to be in charge of the information coming in from all thesedifferent projects.”

The Moore Foundation also stipulatedthat ParksWatch open a satellite office inthe Washington, D.C. area “to be seen aspart of the conservation community andbe near the foundations located there,”Fagan added. The head of that office willtake over fund-raising, and “allow me toconcentrate on managing the projects inSouth and Central America,” he continued.

ParksWatch has now become active infive countries, Mexico being the latest. Plansare to expand into Ecuador and Bolivia.“The Moore Foundation is very interestedin the tropical Andes,” Fagan said.

Meanwhile, 30 experts assembled anewat the White Oak Plantation in August1999 to share the latest information fromthe front lines of conservation in the trop-ics—a region holding most of the world’sbiodiversity, but where conservation is up

against steep odds, notes another follow-up book edited by Terborgh, his wife LisaDavenport, Van Schaik, and Terborgh’sformer graduate student Madhu Rao.

This time “our mission was to focus onthe ‘good news’ and to examine the detailsof conservation success stories,” Terborghsays in the preface to the book, Making ParksWork, Strategies for Preserving Tropical Nature(Island Press, spring 2002).

While still reiterating the many obstacles in a round-the-world update,including “anarchy” and “political instability,” the book notes that “this isnot to belittle the progress made todate.... There is a broad acceptance of the idea that humans have a moral obligation to share the earth with otherforms of life.”

In his recent interview, Terborghunderscored this new sense of optimismabout humankind’s resolve. One manifes-tation, he said, is “more money going intoconservation.” dukenvironment

Monte Basgall is senior science writer in Duke’s Officeof Research Communications.

Jaguar (Panthera onca) in IguassuNational Park in Brazil

Fagan (left) withTerborgh (right)

Canaima Lagoon, Canaima National Park in Venezuela

Short-eared dog(Atelocynus microtis)from the PurusReserved Zone in Peru

Laguna del Tigre National Parkin Guatemala

Course ‘Bridges the Distance’Using New Technology

New technology is bridging the 180 miles between the NicholasSchool students on Duke’s main campus and those at the DukeUniversity Marine Lab in ways that have not been possible before.

This semester, using new video conferencing technology,Patrick N. Halpin is teaching a GIS (Geographic InformationSystems) class simultaneously at the Levine Science ResearchCenter and at the Duke Marine Lab. Halpin conducts class fromthe LSRC’s computer lab, while students at the DUML follow himon a large-screen video monitor. An identical monitor in thecomputer lab and two-way microphones allow Halpin to see andtalk with his “long-distance” students.

“It’s not the same as face-to-face interaction, but it’s the nextbest thing,” said Halpin.

Based in Durham, Halpin, a geospatial technologies specialist,saw the DUML’s new equipment as an opportunity to offer amore advanced course on marine applications for GIS and tomeet the demand of students spending their semester in Beaufort.

ENV 298.33, GIS Remote Sensing for Coastal and MarineApplications, serves 20 students, five in Beaufort. Halpin, assistant professor of the practice of landscape ecology, sees thecourse as a pilot project and hopes that other courses can be created using the distance learning technology.

The video conferencing equipment, provided to the DUMLthrough a gift from J. Thomas McMurray of Marine VenturesFoundation in Washington, D.C., is used almost daily to connectthe two campuses for meetings, seminars and presentations.

Halpin uses another new technology, Duke’s Blackboardcourse information system, to make course materials—such as the syllabus, course schedule, assignments, frequently asked questions, quizzes and digital versions of lecture presentations—available to the students over the Web. Students can turn in labassignments on the Web and come back to check their grades. Inanother course, he used the technology to do a timed exam thatstudents could take at their leisure.

AGU Awards Gabriel Katul Prestigious National Medal

Hydrologist Gabriel G. “Gaby” Katul of the Nicholas School hasbeen awarded the American Geophysical Union’s prestigiousJames B. Macelwane Medal, which recognizes significant contributions to the geophysical sciences by an outstanding young scientist.

Katul, professor of hydrology and co-director of the Centerfor Hydrologic Science, specializes in the transfer of water vaporand carbon dioxide between the biosphere and the atmosphere.He has established a national reputation as an organizer and participant in the AmeriFlux program, funded by the U.S.Department of Energy, to measure the carbon uptake by largetracts of forest using eddy covariance methods. Working at theFACE (Free-Air CO2 Enrichment) site in Duke Forest, Katul has estimated forest carbon uptake under ambient levels of carbon dioxide.

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a nonprofit, scientific organization representing more than 38,000 geophysicalscientists from 117 countries. Its Macelwane Medal honors its 13thpresident, who was renowned not just for his contributions togeophysics but also for his deep interest in teaching and encouraging young scientists.

Katul is credited with numerous publications, most recently a multi-author study involving the FACE project in the Duke Forest. The study was published in the May 24, 2001, journal Nature: “Soil fertility limits carbon sequestration by forest-ecosystems in CO2 enriched atmosphere.”

Nicholas School Dean ElectedPresident of Ecological Society for 2003

William H. Schlesinger, dean of the Nicholas School of theEnvironment and Earth Sciences at Duke University, has beenelected president of the Ecological Society of America (ESA) for2003-2004. He will serve as president-elect until taking office.

Founded in 1915, the ESA is the country’s primary professionalorganization of ecologists, representing more than 7,600 scientists in the United States and around the world. In otheraction, Norman L. Christensen Jr., Nicholas School professorof ecology, was elected vice president for finance, a post held bySchlesinger since 1996. Another Nicholas School professor,James S. Clark, Hugo Blomquist Professor of Biology and Earthand Ocean Sciences, serves as vice president for science.

Schlesinger, James B. Duke Professor of Biogeochemistry, has served in various positions with the ESA since 1982, and hasbeen on the governing board since 1996. As president, he will be primary spokesperson for the society and will interact withother societies, government officials and the public on behalf ofthe ESA.

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Video Conferencing Technology Brings Durham Class to Beaufort

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Society of American ForestersContinues MF Accreditation

The Society of American Foresters, theaccrediting agency for forestry education in the United States, has extended accredi-tation of the Nicholas School’s Master ofForestry (MF) degree program.

The SAF conducts an evaluation every10 years, with a five-year interim evaluation.Accreditation ensures that programs meetcritical standards of quality and diversity,including a wide-ranging curriculum inforest management that encompasses areasof economics, ecology and silviculture, as wellas ethics, ethics training and administration.

Norman L. Christensen Jr., NicholasSchool professor of ecology, who spear-headed the accreditation effort, said theaction recognizes the graduate program in providing quality education in sustain-able forestry management. “We have awonderful forestry program and faculty,and the Duke Forest in which to train ourstudents. This recognizes our continuedefforts in training leaders and people who are going to be on the cutting edge of sustainable forestry.”

In a letter announcing the accreditation,William H. Banzhaf, SAF executive vicepresident, said, “We are pleased to recognizeyour program’s continued dedication toexcellence in forest resources educationand to acknowledge this achievement in thesociety’s publications and in contacts withprospective students seeking guidance whenseeking qualified programs.”

The Master of Forestry degree was originated by Duke’s School of Forestry,which was created in 1938 and laterrenamed School of Forestry andEnvironmental Studies. In 1991, it wasmerged with the Duke University MarineLab to form the Nicholas School.

In addition to the Nicholas School’s MFstudents, the forestry program serves morethan 30 percent of the MEM students whowork on problems or are interested in issuestied to forests and how they are managed,Christensen said. There are six facultyinvolved in the program whose primarytraining is in forestry, forestry managementand ecology, and more than a dozen facultywho have interests related to forestry.

Duke Forest Awarded Certification

The Duke Forest and the North CarolinaState University school forests are the first university research forests to receivecertification by the Forest StewardshipCouncil (FSC) and the SustainableForestry Initiative (SFI).

The 18-month audit process involvedthe 8,000-acre Duke Forest and 55,000acres of state-owned and university forestsin North Carolina. FSC, a broadly basedinternational system developed by environ-mental organizations, and SFI, created bythe U.S. forest industry, are the two mostwidely employed certification systems in thecountry. Certification provides independent,third-party verification that a woodland isbeing managed according to accepted standards of good forestry.

Nicholas School StudentReceives Walter B. Jones Award

David S. Canny, an MEM candidate, isone of the recipients of the Walter B. JonesMemorial and NOAA Excellence Awardsfor 2001, which honor the late NorthCarolina Congressman.

Canny, a winner of the Excellence inCoastal and Marine Graduate Study Award,will receive his MEM in resource ecology inMay. In December, he completed a DeanJohn A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship,a yearlong program sponsored by theNational Sea Grant Program.

Canny’s innovative work at Duke provides one of the first detailed looks atthe network of critical marine habitats offthe coast of North Carolina. As a Knaussfellow, Canny was assigned to NOAA’sSpecial Projects Office. He applied hismarine ecology knowledge, computer mapping and satellite imagery experience,and deep-sea diving proficiency mappingMarine Protected Areas in the Southeastand West coastal regions.

Sea Grant Names Two Knauss Fellows From Duke University Marine Lab

Two Nicholas School students have been named Dean John A. Knauss Marine PolicyFellows. They will spend the coming year learning about national policy-makingprocesses that affect the ocean, coastal and Great Lakes resources.

Angela Corridore MEM ’01 and Jeremy Potter MEM ’03, both in the coastal environmental management program, were selected for the prestigious fellowship that issponsored by the National Sea Grant College Program. The one-year fellowship, valued at $38,000, places talented scientists in a variety of federal government offices.

Corridore, of Alexandria, Va., is assigned to the executive branch of government,working with the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. Potter, of Morganton, W. Va., is assigned to the executive branch, working with the Office of Oceanographic andAtmospheric Research, Office of Ocean Exploration.

Sea Grant is a university-based program that promotes science-based solutions tocoastal and marine issues through research, education and extension.

Angela Corridore and Jeremy Potter

Doug Rohrman Steps Downas Nicholas School Board Chair

Douglass F. “Doug” Rohrman, a partnerwith the law firm of Lord, Bissell & Brookin Chicago, is stepping down as chairman ofthe Nicholas School Board of Visitors afterseven years of distinguished leadership.He will continue as a member of the Board.

Simon B. Rich Jr. will succeedRohrman as chairman.

“Doug Rohrman saw the schoolthrough extraordinary times,” saidPresident Nannerl O. Keohane. “He wasat the helm when Pete and Ginny Nicholasmade their naming gift, when the schoolmoved into its new home in the LSRCand when Bill Schlesinger was selected asdean. His influence will be felt at Dukefor many, many years.”

“Doug’s service on the search committeefor the new dean of the Nicholas School islegendary,” said Professor Randall A.Kramer, search committee chair. “He flewin from Chicago for every meeting andinterview. I don’t think he missed a singleone, and his insights were invaluable.”

Under Rohrman’s leadership, theboard implemented an active committeesystem, raised more than $50 million inthe Campaign for Duke, and established astudent mentoring program that is hailedby students and board members alike.

The former chairman is a 1963 graduateof Duke. He received his JD degree in1966 from Northwestern and specializes in environmental law, particularly in the areas of hazardous waste, toxic air contaminants and risk assessment strategies.Rohrman and his wife, Susan, have threechildren, Katie T’00, Liz and Sandy.With his newfound time, he looks forwardto chairing the advisory committee of theAmerican Numismatic Society.

New Center to be a Forum to StudyWater Quality on a River-Basin Scale

Efforts are underway to establish a newcenter in the Nicholas School to bringtogether scientists in the natural and policy sciences to study water quality on a basin-scale.

The Center for the Analysis andPrediction of River Basin EnvironmentalSystems (CARES), directed by theNicholas School’s Kenneth H. Reckhow,will collaborate with other Nicholas Schoolcenters, and with researchers and centersat the University of Georgia, VirginiaTech, and Columbia University.

Reckhow, who is spearheading the center’s creation, said: “River basins are ofcentral importance to human activity andprovide for the maintenance of terrestrialand aquatic ecosystems. Failure to preservethe quality and quantity of water in riverbasins risks significant impacts on humanwell being and potentially irreversibleeffects on ecosystems.”

Reckhow, Nicholas School professor ofwater resources, said now is the time to create the center because there is agrowing, national recognition of theimportance of understanding the processesthat affect water quality on a basin scale.Both the Environmental ProtectionAgency and National Geographic Societyhave initiatives focused on these issues.

This year the new center will establisha Web site at www.env.duke.edu/cares; co-sponsor speakers with the Center for Environmental Solutions, the Centerfor Hydrologic Sciences and others; and explore the creation of a continuing education intensive course on the EPA’sTMDL Program (Total Maximum DailyLoad), which is the foundation for the nation’s efforts to meet state waterquality standards.

Future research efforts, Reckhow said,may include such projects as examiningthe role of local land use changes and the significance of large-scale climate variations in modifying river basin hydro-biogeochemistry, employing innovative technologies and focusing onbasin-scale linages.

Duke faculty members associated withthe center include Reckhow; Curtis J.

Richardson, director of the WetlandCenter; Dean L. Urban; Patrick N.Halpin; Craig A. Stow; William H.Schlesinger, dean of the Nicholas School;Daniel D. Richter; Lynn A. Maguire;Randall A. Kramer; David E. Hinton;Dharni Vasudevan; Kathi Beratan; andRobert Wolpert, from the Nicholas School;and Robert Clemen of the Fuqua Schoolof Business. Collaborators includeUpmanu Lail, professor of civil engineeringat Columbia University; LeonardShabman, professor of the environmentaleconomics at Virginia Tech; and JudyMeyer, co-director of the River BasinScience and Policy Center at theUniversity of Georgia.

“It is vital to me that the science we doin the center is relevant for water qualitymanagement on basin-scale and relates tobetter decision-making and environmen-tal protection,” said Reckhow.

Study to Examine BiodiversityIn Little Tennessee Watershed

Norman L. “Norm” Christensen Jr.,professor of ecology, and three NicholasSchool MEMs will be walking the moun-tainous terrain of Western North Carolinathis summer sampling vegetation andamphibian populations. They are participating in a large-scale, biodiversityproject in the Little Tennessee Watershedin partnership with The ConservationFund, the Land Trust for the LittleTennessee and Western CarolinaUniversity.

The partnership was funded by a $3.5 million grant from the Doris DukeCharitable Foundation as part of its

Kenneth H. Reckhow

Doug Rohrman

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Southern Appalachian Forest ConservationInitiative. The initiative seeks to conserveecologically significant lands and improveforest management in the Little TennesseeRiver Basin in North Carolina and the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee and Alabama.

Christensen and his students will beworking their way across five counties andsome 50 locations in the watershed, one of the most pristine in the mountains,looking at the effects of different forestmanagement treatments on elements ofbiological diversity.

“We will be looking at the herbaceousdiversity—all the different plant species—and at amphibian diversity, particularlysalamanders, which are a unique part of the biodiversity of the SouthernAppalachians,” said Christensen. A groupfrom Western Carolina University, who willbe studying bird populations, will join theDuke University team.

“We are particularly interested in formsof management that are intended to be sus-tainable, where landowners are managing inorder to maintain forest cover and hope-fully preserve the biodiversity of the area,”said Christensen.

Christensen said that finding economi-cally viable sustainable strategies is crucialfor this very poor region where there isgrowing development.

Richardson Named AAAS Fellow

Curtis J. Richardson, head of theNicholas School’s Division ofEnvironmental Sciences and Policy anddirector of the Duke University WetlandCenter, has been elected a fellow of theAmerican Association for the Advancementof Science (AAAS).

Since 1874, the association has admittedto the rank of fellow those members whoseefforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its application are scientifically orsocially distinguished. Richardson was honored for outstanding research on thebiogeochemistry of nutrients in wetlandecosystems, particularly for studies elucidatingmechanisms controlling the storage, releaseand transformations of phosphorus.

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Jonathan Freedman to Head Consortium Toxicology Core

The Nicholas School’s Jonathan H. Freedman,associate professor of environmental toxicology, will direct Duke’s toxicology core in a new Toxicogenomics ResearchConsortium created with a $7.5 milliongrant to the Duke University Medical Centerand the Nicholas School from the NationalInstitute of Environmental Health Sciences(NIEHS), part of the National Institutes ofHealth (NIH).

The award is part of a $37 millionNIEHS grant to Duke and four other U.S.academic institutions to unravel the interplaybetween genes and the environment to better understand how toxic chemicals and otherenvironmental factors influence gene expression. One of the ultimate goals of the projectis to develop a database of genomic fingerprints for toxic chemicals. By comparing thefingerprint of a new chemical to the prints in the database, scientists may be able to quickly predict the toxicity of a new compound.

“With this grant, the Nicholas School will be in the genomics business,” saidFreedman, who will receive $820,000 over five years. Other Nicholas School researchersinvolved in the consortium are Dr. David A. Schwartz, chief of pulmonary medicine andprincipal investigator in the Duke effort, and Elwood Linney, professor of microbiologyand environment. Both hold secondary appointments in the Nicholas School’s Division ofEnvironmental Sciences and Policy.

The first order of business for Freedman’s toxicology core will be to set up standardsand practices, which will take about a year.

He plans to begin a pilot project this summer that will involve taking the nematode, C. elegans, treating it with cadmium or a toxic metal and then using microarray analysis tosee what genes are turned off and turned on. He anticipates it will yield preliminary datafor additional consortium studies.

Jonathan Freedman

Discussing Social and Environmental Certification: Co-organizers Gary Gereffi, professor of sociology, and the Nicholas School’s Roni Garcia-Johnson, assistant professor of environmental policy, and Erika Sasser,visiting assistant professor of environmental policy, talk with Mike Conroy of The FordFoundation (center) at TheSeventh Annual Colloquium onEnvironmental Law &Institutions. Sponsored by thefoundation and the DukeCenter for EnvironmentalSolutions, the December colloquium focused on“Certification Institutions andPrivate Governance: NewDynamics in the GlobalProtection of Workers and theEnvironment.” PowerPoint pre-sentations from the event areavailable at http://www.env.duke.edu/solutions/ppt_presentations.html.

F E A T U R E S T O R Y

by Monte BasgallReprinted from Duke Dialogue

Thomas Crowley, Duke’s new NicholasProfessor of Earth Systems Science, startedout wanting to be a historian, but wasthroughly co-opted by the geological sciences. In a flashback to his roots, he iscurrently engaged in computer-assistedstudies of Earth’s climatic history, with anemphasis on current global warming.

“One of the things I like about climaticresearch is that you learn a lot about manydifferent things,” Crowley said in aninterview in his new office in the OldChemistry Building, where he was recently(fall 2001) unpacking equipment broughtfrom Texas A&M University.

“You learn about the atmosphere andabout the ocean. If you get into paleocli-matology (the study of ancient climates)you have to know about fossils. If you’reinterested you can also learn about evolution. You will learn about sedimentaryrocks, and movement of continents andalso about geochemical cycles.”

He decided to come to Duke’sNicholas School because “the opportunities

for growth in this area were very attractive.The provost has indicated an interest insupporting global change research, andthat’s something I’m very committed to.”

Another attractant was Duke’s reputation and encouragement for interdisciplinary research and for relatedpolicy studies. “When you’re interested in global warming, that’s inevitably interdisciplinary,” he noted.

Last year Crowley published two articles in the world’s top research journals that reprise his recent researchefforts. The first was thecover story in the May 25,2000 issue of Nature about“Simulating SnowballEarth.” The second, in theJuly 14, 2000 issue of Science,assessed the “Causes ofClimate Change Over thePast 1,000 Years.”

Snowball Earth refers to astriking theory that the Earthof 600 to 800 million yearsago may have been coveredwith ice all the way to theequator because of a

particular arrangement of continentalland masses.

While he didn’t originate the hypothesis,which was based on geological evidence,Crowley and his longtime colleague,William Hyde, now a research associate atthe Nicholas School and the first author ofthe Nature report, were able to come upwith well-working computer models “that could simulate an ice sheet at theequator,” he said.

He was gratified to find that some ofhis models allowed for “patches of open

An Historian of Global Climate Change:Introducing the Newest Nicholas Chair

“When you’re interested in global warming,that’s inevitably interdisciplinary”

Thomas Crowley

F E A T U R E S T O R Y

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water” that would give the multicellularlife in that era some place to survive. The original hypothesis had suggested the ice might have frozen out all thosemulticellular forms, forcing life to restartfrom scratch.

“I found that very hard to accept,” herecalled. “I originally started out as a pale-ontologist interested in fossils. It took 3billion years to evolve multicell animals.”

The Science article, which Crowleyauthored alone, used computer simulationsto look for causes that could produce the“Medieval Warm Period,” the “Little IceAge” that followed, and the striking andaccelerating warming trend that character-ized the 20th century.

Crowley found that gas and dust fromvolcanic eruptions, plus changes in outputfrom the sun, could explain much of theclimatic variability until the 20th century.But warming since “is only consistent withgreenhouse gas forcing due to anthropogenicconditions,” he said. That’s science-speakfor carbon dioxide emissions due tohuman activities.

He also works with his mathematicianwife, German-born Gabi Hegerl, now anassociate research professor at the NicholasSchool’s Earth and Ocean Sciences division.The pair met at Texas A&M, where she wasvisiting at the time. “She does statistical studiesfor detecting changes in climate,” he said.

Crowley got his undergraduate degreeat Marietta College in Ohio, where he was

planning to major in history until he tooka geology course. Geology “seemed as natural as drinking water,” he said. So hetook more courses and ultimately changedhis major.

At Brown University, where heobtained his doctorate in 1976, he initiallystudied sediments and fossils to inferchanges in ocean circulation. “That gotme more interested in what caused thosechanges,” he said.

After his doctorate, Crowley “took abreak from science.” For a year and a half,he taught college courses aboard U.S.Navy ships. He went back to his field in1979 at the University of Missouri, wherehe worked with a well-known climatemodeler.

After that, he directed the NationalScience Foundation’s Climate DynamicsProgram, became a research fellow at theNASA/Goddard Space Flight Center andwas supervisor of the College Station,Texas, branch of a private consulting firm.Then he went to Texas A&M, where hebecame a professor of oceanography anddeputy director of the Texas Center forClimate Studies.

“Some people somehow just naturallyseem to like jumping and shifting intonew areas,” he explained.

At Duke, he plans to teach a newintroductory level class on climate changein the spring (2002) and a graduate levelcourse on paleoclimatology in the fall of

2002. On the research front, he plans todevelop a “very interdisciplinary type ofscience” that combines modeling with thelatest knowledge of physics, chemistry andbiology “to simulate actual sedimentarysequences through time.

“What I’d like to do is help developone of the next special areas of focus inthe department,” he said.

“I would also like to get involved instudying the effects of rising sea levels onbarrier islands and coastal ecosystems,such as the North Carolina Outer Banks.”dukenvironment

Monte Basgall is senior science writer in Duke’s Office ofResearch Communications.

“What I’d like to do is help develop one of the nextspecial areas of focus in the department”

SC: What is involved in choosing or creating a goodcomputer model?

TC: What I do is take models that have beenalready developed and apply them in certain scenarios and physical interests(past climates).There is an art to choosinga model. The idea is to identify an interestingscientific question and ask whether youcan formulate some sort of hypothesis that can be addressed with the model.Different types of climate questionsrequire different types of models, so if yourestrict yourself to one type of model younarrow down the choice of questions youcan address.

SC: What is the most important thing you’velearned about models that people in the field ofenvironmental management need to know?

TC: I’ve always been interested in comparinghow well models simulate what is actuallychanged as a result of such things as moving continents around or ice sheets.What I’ve learned from that experience isthat models have provided great insightinto how these processes have changed andas a result have given me greater confidencein the overall ability of models to simulateclimate change correctly. One of the bigquestions with respect to global warming is how much can you believe in thesemodels. My experience says, yes, there areuncertainties, but overall they give usapproximately the right answer in terms of the magnitude of climate change that is being predicted. My feeling is environ-mental managers have to have more than a

superficial understanding of models, theyneed some sufficient understanding inhow far you can go in believing models.They don’t have to become a modeler, butthey have to appreciate why modelers havesome level of creditability.

SC: What are some of the things you are findingwhen you use models to peer into the future?

TC: What I’ve predicted for the future isnot different from other researchers, it isjust that I have put it in the perspective ofwhat we have learned about in the last1,000 years. I know that we can expect amajor climate change, a very significantclimate change both in magnitude andspeed that will take place as a result ofglobal warming. It has tremendous impli-cations for policy. It doesn’t necessarilymean we have to stop it, but one would befoolish to think that everything will workout for the best if we do enter a world ofmajor climate change.

SC: What areas are you focusing on now?

TC: One of the big questions we have aboutthe climate of the future is “How big is thechange going to be?”And that question inscientific language is “How sensitive is theclimate system to a given level of green-house gas forcing?” We don’t know for agiven level of forcing if we are going to geta really big response or a moderate sizeresponse. One of the things I’ve beendoing is trying to see if we can constrainthe magnitude of that response by lookingat the climate over the past 1,000 years.

That would be a nice contribution if we can convince ourselves that we can say something with enough statistical confidence.

SC: How do you see your role in the Nicholas School?What does it mean to be one of the Nicholas professors?

TC: I think that when someone is broughtin as a chaired professor there is somehope that they will provide some leader-ship, or at least some advice and ideasabout how things might change, and whatdirections might be taken in the school. Iview my role as several fold. One is to helpestablish a new professional program inglobal change in the Nicholas School.Another is to do research into the area ofglobal change. I have talked to variousmembers of the division here to ask ifthere is anything we can do scientifically inthe area of global change that is unique, inwhich we can make a real contribution.One way might involve the effect of sealevel rise on barrier islands and coastalfeatures. I’ve been impressed that BradMurray (assistant professor of coastalprocesses and geomorphology) has someapproaches to this problem that I thinkare kind of rare. So, we are actuallyexploring—Brad is taking the lead—combining our predictions for future climate change and what might happen tosome of these coastal features.dukenvironment

Scottee Cantrell is director of communications for theNicholas School.

QA&Choosing the Right

Climate Model:Thomas Crowley Uses the Past to Predict the Future A conversation with the Nicholas School’s Scottee Cantrell

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Light to dark gray in color with prominent beaksthat give them their name, Bottlenose dolphinscaptivate boaters and aquarium show audiencesalike with their seeming playfulness and cozinesswith people, their dramatic displays of leapinggymnastics, the signs of sharpness emanatingfrom their as-large-as-human brains, and theirhigh pitched whistles and chirps that sound outwardly like communications.

The products of millions of years ofevolution that returned them from land tosea, their marvelous adaptations tempt usto rank them in a special place in the animal world—in many ways more like usthan others, though with far different skillsets than our own. The Navy has exploitedthese special talents by using dolphins as

unparalleled acoustic detectors of sub-merged mines buried in sand, leaving uswondering in amazement what else theycan do.

Scientists, working to separate the factfrom the fanciful out of places like theDuke University Marine Laboratory incoastal Beaufort, N.C., are finding muchleft to learn about these 8-foot-long,550-pound wonders. “You couldn’t askfor a more interesting animal to study,”said Andrew “Andy” Read, who leads dolphin work in and out of Beaufort forall of the year except the end of each summer. That’s when he and some of hisstudents do similar investigations of therelated harbor porpoises in Canada’s Bay of Fundy.

Heading one of the two largest labswithin the Duke Marine Laboratory—itssize a testimonial to marine mammals’popularity—the Canada-born researcherstudies bottlenose dolphins from NorthCarolina to Florida’s southern tip, teachesabout them in a world-class conservationbiology curriculum, and works with colleagues, fishermen and governmentofficials to devise ways to better protectthem. The work is so compelling that heand his wife, another dolphin researcher,

find little time for vacations. “In someways we don’t want to take holidays becausewe enjoy what we do so much,” exclaimsRead, who last year was named RachaelCarson Assistant Professor of MarineConservation Biology. “People are passionate about this, you know.”

Bottlenosed dolphins are classified asamong the “toothed whales.” According toRead, the entire whale family of marinemammals that includes what we callwhales, dolphins and porpoises left dryland about 55 million years ago, adaptingin stages for life in the water starting withlifestyles perhaps similar to today’s hip-popotamus. Evolving in what was then theTethys Sea (the earliest fossils were foundin present-day Pakistan), they cast off theirfour legs in favor of flippers and tail flukesand developed many other departuresfrom what we think normal for air-breathing mammals. Eventually, whalesbranched into the various species we knowtoday with bottlenose dolphins separatingabout two million years ago.

So how different are they?Consider the simple act of drinking,something bottlenosed dolphins, never do since they live in salt water which is

C O V E R

Andy Read

by Monte Basgall

Entering the World of Dolphins:Research So Compelling That Andy Read

“effectively a desert,” Read said. “There isno fresh water available to them in theirentire lives. So they need to obtain freshwater from their food through metabolicdigestion.” That means if dolphinsbecomes sick and stop feeding, dehydrationbecomes as much of a concern as starvation.

Because of their salty environmentsdolphins have especially efficient kidneysfor processing wastes. In addition, theirlungs are more efficient air handlers thanare human lungs. Lungpower aside, dolphins “are able to store more oxygen intheir bodies than we are,” he said.

The way dolphins breathe is different.While people do it automatically, dolphinsare “voluntary breathers,” Read said. That means “when they lose conscious-ness, they won’t breathe. That’s why wethink dolphins probably never experiencesleep like we do.” In fact, research by aRussian physiologist suggests they “restkind of one hemisphere of their brain at atime. They may go into a state of quies-cence, but they don’t sleep very deeply.”

Even though dolphins have “an innerear system very much like ours,” evolutionlong ago “streamlined” away dolphin’sexternal earlobes, Read said. Nature

substituted fat pads in their lower jaws totransmit sounds to their inner ears.While their lungs breathe air in and out,they don’t use those to power soundemissions either. Instead of exhaling air over vocal chords, scientists are discovering that dolphins use what arecalled “monkey lips” to make soundinstead of exhaling air over vocal cords.

“That’s what they look like in medicalimaging,” he explains. Those “lips” workby vibrating when recyclable air from sacsin the animals’ heads pass over them.Findings as new as those presented at the lastSociety of Marine Mammalogy meeting areshowing that there isn’t just one dolphinsound system but two. One produces thekind of high frequency sounds that atten-uates very quickly in water, while the othersystem creates lower frequency sound “that can travel longer,” he said. “If youhave both systems, you’re capable of doingdifferent things with your sonar. It’s a veryrecent discovery. We have no idea howthey do that.”

What’s clearer is that dolphins’ sonar-like sound emissions can be used for“echolocation” in water in a manner simi-lar to the way bats use ultrasonic pulses tonavigate in the dark. But dolphin sound

waves are emitted not though their mouthsbut rather through fat deposits in theirlarge foreheads, creating a focused beamanalogous to a flashlight. In essence, adolphin’s forehead serves as “an acousticlens,” according to Read. “I don’t thinkit’s possible for humans to imagine whatit’s like to have a sensory system like this.In the same way we can use ultrasound tolook at a human fetus, a bottlenose dolphincan see inside a pregnant female dolphinto find out the size and gender of its fetus.They also can look inside each other to seeif they have a full stomach, the size of theirtestes or condition of their ovaries,whether a female is ready to ovulate.”These same special talents make dolphinsgreat mine detectors.

Andy Read with wife Kim Urian

Rarely Takes a Holiday

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Dolphins aren’t just fathead soundemitters. There is plenty of potentialbrainpower in their bulbous craniumstoo. “A dolphin brain is probably equivalent in size to a human brain,”Read said. “But, having a big brain doesn’tmean you necessarily do that much withit,” he cautions. “They are clearly verybright creatures, capable of developingnovel approaches to problems and combining concepts in ways that mostother animals can’t. They also do thingsthat humans don’t do in terms of learningto interpret and emit sounds. There isclear evidence that they make sounds thatenable them to identify each other and mimic each other’s sounds. But thereis no evidence that they have a language.Maybe they do but we just don’t know.”

Language aside, scientists do know thatdolphins have “individually stereotypedwhistles that allow them to identify eachother,” Read said. “They learn these whistleswhen they’re young.” That’s significantbecause vocal behavior is instinctive ratherthan learned in most mammals. InAustralia’s Shark Bay, dolphins have alsobeen observed teaching their calves how touse primitive tools. Those babies learnhow to carry sponges on their rostra, thedolphin equivalents of noses. “We thinkthat they use sponges to pull fish out ofcrevices in corals, where there may beeither poisonous fish or very sharpcorals,” he adds.

In places as widespread as Australia,South Carolina and Georgia, dolphins areknown to work in groups to herd schoolsof fish onto mud banks—the better to eatthem while they’re trapped and flapping.

“That requires coordination and, again,it’s learned behavior,” he said. “Femalesteach their calves how to do it.” In a partof Florida Bay, the clear water areabetween the keys and the Florida peninsula’stip, dolphins create curtains of mud withtheir flippers and tails to encircle tastymullets in fish corrals. “Then a series ofdolphins will sit with their heads out ofthe water and their mouths open waitingfor the fish to jump over the top of themud plume,” notes Read, who has a doctoral student preparing to work there.“For some reason the fish won’t swimthrough the plume.”

Damon Gannon, another doctoralstudent working under Read, is investigatingwhether dolphins identify and seek outfood sources by the sounds those fishmake. Gannon’s work follows up on aFlorida researcher’s discovery that mostdolphin fish prey are noise-makingspecies. Doing his own North Carolinastudy of what dolphins eat, Gannon foundthat is even more the case in the NeuseRiver estuary near Beaufort. Bottlenosedolphin diets there consist mostly ofcroakers, which—as their names imply—are champion noisemakers. Croakers areunusually indiscriminate in that “bothmales and females possess the apparatusfor making sound,” Gannon said. Amongother members of the drum fish family,“it’s only the males who make sound, andthey only do it during the spawning season.”

By making recordings of underwatersounds and immediately trawling for fishsamples, he learned that Neuse Rivercroakers start their noisemaking at a very young age. Moreover, croakers thereoccur “in the size range that the dolphinseat.” As a next step, he plans to take hiscroaker recordings to Sarasota Bay onCentral Florida’s west coast, where dolphin behavior can be observed in watermuch clearer than the murky confines ofthe Neuse River’s mouth. A pan-and-tiltvideo camera will observe the dolphins’responses from the small tethered over-head blimp while a research boat broad-casts croaker sounds into the bay.

Read’s laboratory, which has sevendoctoral students and a number of master’s students, works with the Florida

Keys National Marine Sanctuary, theEverglades National Park, the DolphinEcology Project and colleagues at the MoteMarine Laboratory in Sarasota to conductdolphin research projects in Florida. As an example, Duke researchers are documenting how dolphins now use theFlorida Bay habitat as a benchmark forfuture changes. “As you go east up towardsMiami that environment is hyper-variablein its salinity,” he said. He means that thesalt content is much higher in some partsof the year than in others. “That’s a resultof the diversion of a lot of the fresh waterthat used to flow through the Evergladesfor agricultural and other human uses,”he explains.

But Florida and the federal governmentplan a massive decade-long projectdesigned to restore much of the originalcirculation patterns, which should returnmore fresh water to parts of Florida Bay.“Right now dolphins don’t use the easternpart very much,” Read continues. “Onlyfish species that can tolerate great rangesof salinity are found there, and there justisn’t much for dolphins to eat. What we’vepredicted is that when it gets re-plumbedand that eastern part of the bay becomesless variable, the fish populations shouldmove back in and the dolphins should fol-low.”

In the Neuse River estuary, whichempties into the southern Pamlico Soundwest of the Outer Banks barrier islandchain, Read’s group is conducting analo-gous habitat studies in concert with fishspecialists working under Larry Crowder,the Marine Laboratory’s Stephen TothProfessor of Marine Biology. Whilehydrological diversion is the issue inSouth Florida, the Duke researchers andcolleagues at the University of North

Damon Gannon in the Read Lab

Carolina’s Institute of Marine Sciences inMorehead City are trying to discern all theeffects of too many nutrient chemicalsfinding their way to the Neuse system as aresult of upstream pollution. Amongthose effects are seasonal algae bloomswhich rob oxygen from the water, causingfish to flee and sometimes die. “We’vebeen trying to understand how dolphinsuse that habitat,” Read said.

Other work funded by the NorthCarolina Sea Grant program seeks tounderstand why bottlenosed dolphins—despite their cognitive and echolocativeabilities—sometimes get entangled in gillnets and drown. “It seems counter-intu-itive,” he said. To answer that question,Read’s group is working with a fishermanwho sets up his gill nets close to shore nearFort Macon while the researchers trackdolphin movements around the nets with the aid of a surveyor’s theodolite, a calibrated optical instrument.

“What has become clear to us is thatdolphins use the nets to their advantagesometimes,” he adds. A gill net, so namedbecause it often entraps fish by its gills, is along panel of netting anchored at the bottom and held up by floats. Its intendedtargets, fish, try to swim through it and getstuck. “Some dolphins seem to have specialized in going along the nets andactually plucking fish out of them,” Readnotes. The scientists are pursuing severalhypotheses why the nets can also flummoxdolphins: Perhaps the dolphins get entangled while trying to remove fish. Orperhaps they blunder into the nets whenthey’re not echo-locating, “the same ideaas somebody not seeing a stop sign anddriving through it,” he said. The thirdpossibility is that dolphins get caught whiletrying to follow fish through the nets.

One solution that appears not to workwith bottlenose dolphins is to install smallsound-emitting alarms called “pingers” onthe nets. Studies by Read’s group off FortMacon show that this species, at least inNorth Carolina, is not deterred by pingerslike some other marine mammals thatavoid novel things and situations. By con-trast, bottlenose dolphins “like to investi-gate new stimuli,” Read said.

In general, the bottlenose dolphinseems to be a particularly “plastic” species,he said, meaning able “to evolve and adaptitself to life in a big variety of differentcircumstances.” Those living offshore of Beaufort might live their entire liveswithout seeing land, he notes, whereasthose inhabiting coastal waters seems toprefer the shallower depths of estuaries,bays and rivers. Found throughout theworld in tropical, subtropical and temperatewaters, they are also “able to adapt tohuman activities fairly well,” he notes.“You can see bottlenose dolphins in pristine salt march ecosystems, and youcan see them equally at home in the portof Morehead City, which is dredged andhas cement sides.”

In the summer of 2000 Read’s groupwas funded by Sea Grant to survey allinner waters of North Carolina for bottlenose dolphins, in part to assess theeffects of mortality from commercial fishing. There was a large-scale dolphindieoff in 1987-88 caused by a virus producing symptoms similar to caninedistemper. The survey, which identifiedabout 1,200 animals, was done from boatsusing cameras for documentation.Individual animals were identified by natural nicks or bite scars or fishing net wounds on their back fins, which serve as equivalents of fingerprints. Read’s wife, Kim Urian, an independentbiologist currently affiliated with theUniversity of North Carolina atWilmington, is curator of a catalog of bottlenose dolphin fin photos covering theentire East Coast, funded by the NationalMarine Fisheries Service.

In addition to spending time on hisresearch and with his students, Read serves on the Marine Mammal Protection Act“take reduction teams,” where scientists,

fishermen, environmentalists and govern-ment officials negotiate rules limitinginadvertent dolphin deaths due to fishing.

And somehow he finds time to teachtwo core courses at the Duke Marine Lab,one on the Biology of Marine Mammalsand another on Marine ConservationBiology. The first “is a popular course,because people like marine mammals,” hesaid. “But we strive to teach fundamentalprinciples, using marine mammals asexamples.” The latter, early-summercourse, coordinated by Crowder—whoheads the other largest lab at the MarineLab—“is really interesting to teach, becausemarine conservation biology is a youngand emerging field,” Read said.

“Most conservation biology is focusedon terrestrial systems, and terrestrial systems conservation rightly focuses onprotecting habitat like tropical rainforests. In the marine world, habitat loss isnot the primary threat to diversity. Theprimary threat comes from exploitation,the direct and indirect effect of fisheries.

“So we take the fundamental conceptsof conservation biology and then showstudents how we have to change those ifwe’re interested in conserving marinediversity. There are very few places that dothat, and we are one of the best places inthe world.” dukenvironment

Monte Basgall is senior science writer in Duke’s Office ofResearch Communications.

Damon Gannon checks accoustics

Story and Photos by Julia Connors T’04

“Dead fish, dead fish, dead fish...” graduate student Kristen Hartreminds herself as she walks around the corridor to a freezer storingthe bait for today’s outing. She takes out a garbage bag full of menhaden. “It’s what the crab fisherman around here use in theircrab pots, and it attracts terrapins, so that’s what we use, too.” Shehands me a bag of frozen fish to carry out to the truck and turnsback to the freezer, grabbing another for herself. The sunglassesresting on the top of her head, her flip-flops, old-shirt and quick-dry shorts confirm that she’s ready to go back into the field foranother day of research.

We load up all of the rest of the gear in our arms—buckets, waterbottles, sunscreen, rubber boots and a GPS (Global PositioningSystem) receiver—and navigate the stairs down to the waiting labtruck, its flatbed already filled with 14 red crab pots and several large buckets.

Kristen and I hop in the truck painted with the Duke UniversityMarine Lab ensignia, as Erin McLaughlin, Kristen’s field assistant,goes to retrieve two turtles that have spent the weekend in captivityand need to be returned to the location of their capture. She bringsthem over to give me my first glimpse at live diamondback terrapins,Malaclemys terrapin, the species of turtle that Kristen has been studyingsince she was an undergraduate at Boston College. Both turtles havebreathtaking black and white skin patterns and varied carapace patterns. The female is much larger than the male, which is typicalin the adults of the species. She places the bucket in the bed of thetruck and jumps into the cramped cab with Kristen and me.

As the houses grow fewer and we grow closer to the salt marsh

where much of Kristen’s research is based, she explains why she isstudying terrapins. Diamondback terrapins are listed by the U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service as a “Species of Special Concern,” andwere once extensively harvested. But when their populations beganto decline, so did the harvesting. Populations of such turtles appearnot to have recovered in the last several decades and remain subjectto some harvesting. In North Carolina, there are no real restrictionson size or season for harvesting terrapins.

“They call this road Terrapin Alley because there is so muchroadkill of terrapins,” Kristen tells me as we cross over the NorthRiver on Highway 70 near Beaufort, N.C., home of the DukeMarine Lab. But exposure to car and motorboat hits are only oneobstacle that terrapins face in this region today. In North Carolina,the major threat to terrapins is the commercial blue crab fishingindustry. Terrapins, which can stay underwater for up to five hoursbefore needing to the surface for air, swim into crab pots and areunable to find their way back out. The majority of turtles caught incommercial crab pots drown.

For her dissertation, Kristen is examining demographics andgenetics of terrapins, attempting to better understand their populationdynamics and structure in hopes that her research will contribute tofuture conservation efforts. She gives me an outline of the work shehas completed and hopes to complete in the next three years beforeher intended graduation in May 2004. I’m surprised by the varietyof the fieldwork, analysis, conferences, classes, and seminars thatshe lists as part of the long process toward earning her doctorate inecology. She explains, “It’s a lot of work, but I’m on top of things. Icame in with a masters [in Environmental Management in 1999]and that helped a ton to get the fieldwork rolling.”

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S T U D E N T S N E W Saction

Diamondback Terrapins:Working Toward a Ph.D. at the Duke Marine Lab

In the plan, Kristen details the five potential chapters of herdissertation, each taking a different approach toward her maingoals. Entitled, “Behavior ecology of terrapins in NC and FL,” thefirst chapter concentrates on determining home range, habitat use,and interactions with other species. Other chapters include,“Population genetics in NC and FL,” “Mark-recapture studies ofterrapins in NC and FL,” “Specific conservation application:Bycatch reduction devices (BRDs), terrapins, and blue crabs inNC,” and “Diamondback terrapin population modeling.”

“I hope to be a research scientist who teaches one course a year.I’d love to have graduate students eventually,” Kristen tells me.

Kristen pulls off the highway onto the side of the road and stopsthe truck. Several small man-made creeks weave through the tallgreen and brown grasses, creating a viable habitat for terrapins andblue crabs. This area is one of the five sites where Kristen conductsher research in North Carolina.

Climbing into the flatbed, she unloads the crab pots, thenjumps down with a bag of baitfish, loads the bait compartment ofeach pot with two fish and shows me how to set the pots in the creek.

After we set the pots, Kristen tells me, “Now we wait. We’ll comeback in about three or four hours and see what we caught.”

Not a single pot comes up empty; each is filled with several bluecrabs, various sizes of flounder and other fish. Only two come upwith turtles: two large females, one a recapture from the previousyear. We take the GPS location of the turtles, put them in bucketsand load them into the truck, then shake all of the large, ediblecrabs into a bucket, releasing the rest.

I spend a morning in the lab with Kristen and Erin as they do alab workup on four large turtles. Three are recaptures. Kristenbegins her work on the new turtle by taking several body measure-

ments. She then draws blood for genetic testing from the back ofthe squirming turtle’s leg. Afterwards, she takes out a passive integrated transponder (PIT) tag syringe and shows me the massivehollow needle, then injects it deeply into the skin of the turtleunder its carapace, pushing the tag into the body in the process.PIT tags contain microchips that give each turtle a nine- to 10-digitbar code. Using this system is an efficient way to keep tabs on individuals within a population. Putting the turtle back in the bucket, Kristen takes measurements and weights of the three recaptures,and then declares that they are ready to be sent back home.

Kristen has decided that I need to learn a little something aboutthe local sentiment towards turtles. So she takes me to C & S Seafoodwhen she goes to pick up her bait, where anti-turtle paraphernalialines the walls in the cramped office of a crab building.

“Did she tell ya’ that we put a bumper sticker on her truck?” theowner asks me as she pipes away on her cigarette. She laughs deeplyand reads me the quotation from the sticker, “We like to see turtlesswim too—in potatoes and onions.”

Getting back into the truck, Kristen explains that not only doterrapins eat the crabs inside the pots, but sea turtles eat the crabsfrom the outside, often times ripping and ruining the pots in theprocess. “The crab fishery is a $50 million business in NorthCarolina—the biggest fishery. I have learned that managementoptions MUST consider impact on local economy and values ofindividuals in the community. Fishermen are pretty much intoconserving resources too. They don’t want dead turtles in their pots.They do want better crab catches.”

Julia Connors T’04, attended Summer Session II at the Duke Marine Lab in 2001,where she met Kristen Hart.

Presentations and Conferences

Larry B.Crowder, (shownleft) StephenToth Professor ofMarine Ecology,and Michael K.Orbach, directorof the DukeMarine Lab andprofessor of thepractice ofmarine affairsand policy, chaired

two sessions at the recent COMPASSmeeting on Marine Protected Areas inMonterey, Calif. This meeting invited 100scientists and decision-makers fromaround the United States to discuss thepotential for a full system of marine protected areas in U.S. waters.

Renata Leite, research associate,Center for Tropical Conservation, presented a seminar to the WildlifeConservation Research Unit in theZoology Department at Oxford University,“South America’s Elusive Rain ForestCanid, The Short-Eared Dog: What isKnown About its Ecology, Diet and SocialBehavior.” The seminar represented thefirst research on this rare species and was supported by Diney ConservationFund, IdeaWild, British Airlines, andWildlife Materials.

Randall A. Kramer, professor ofresource and environmental economics, wasinvited to speak on “Incentive Measuresfor Biodiversity: A review of selectedcountries in central, eastern and westernEurope,” at a United Nations DevelopmentProgram Workshop on BiodiversityIncentives in Sofia, Bulgaria, Dec. 5.

Lynn A. Maguire, associate professorof the practice of environmental manage-ment, was an invited speaker at a workshopsponsored by the Ecological Society ofAmerica and the Society for Risk Analysis,October 2001, New Mexico. Her talk was“What Can Decision Analysis Do forInvasive Species Management?”

Marie Lynn Miranda, Dan andBunny Gabel Associate Professor of the

Practice of Environmental Ethics and Sustainable Development, presented“Environmental Justice Issues for theHispanic Community” to NIEHS(National Institute of EnvironmentalHealth Sciences) staff, September 2001.

A. Bradshaw Murray, assistant professor of geomorphology and coastalprocesses made the following presentationsand talks:• with Thieler, R., Guillemot, F., and

Tang, E., 2001, “A new view of sedi-ment sorting: The self-organization ofrippled scour depressions,” AmericanGeophysical Union Fall Meeting (EOSTransactions 82, pg. F623);

• “The self-organization of large-scaleshoreline shapes,” Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the ComplexSystems Laboratory, University ofCalifornia, San Diego, October 2001.

Kenneth H.Reckhow, professorof water resources,made the followinginvited presenta-tions:• February 2002,

“The TMDLApproach toWater QualityManagement.”Presented at TheEnvironmental Forum on TMDLs in Texas;

• December 2001, “A summary of theNAS Review of the TMDL program.”Annual Conference of the FloridaStormwater Association. Orlando, Fla .

Curtis J. Richardson, professor ofresource ecology and director the DukeUniversity Wetland Center gave an invitedseminar at Harvard School of Design,Nov. 9, “Restoration of the Everglades:Can it be successful without the applica-tion of ecological guidelines.”

Daniel D. Richter, professor of soilsand forest ecology, was invited to give the2002 Lyle Nelson Lecture at MississippiState University’s Department of Plantand Soil Sciences, Feb. 27: “Why Soil

Acidity Matters: From Edmund Ruffin toAcid Rain.”

JonathanB. Wiener,professor of lawand environ-mental policy,has given presentations atseveral confer-ences: • “Comparing

Precaution inthe U.S. andEurope: Evaluating the ConventionalWisdom,” Bruges/Brugge, Belgium, Jan.11-12.

• “Prudent Precaution in anInterconnected World,” Dec. 4, and“Better Ways to Decide AmericanTrucking,” Dec. 3, Society for RiskAnalysis annual meeting, Seattle,Wash.

In PrintRichard T. Di Giulio, professor of environmental toxicology, published inMarch: Di Giulio, R.T., and W.H.Benson, editors, Interconnections BetweenHuman Health and Ecological Integrity, SETACPress, Pensacola, Fla.

Robert B. Jackson, associate professorof botany and of environment, co-authoreda paper: Gill, R.A., H.W. Polley, H.B.Johnson, L.J. Anderson, H. Maherali, R.B. Jackson.,2002, “Nonlinear grassland responses to past and futureatmospheric CO2,” Nature.

Lynn A. Maguire, associate professorof the practice of environmental manage-ment, is author of an entry on biologicaldiversity in the Encyclopedia of Global Change,November 2001, Oxford University Press.

Marie Lynn Miranda, Dan andBunny Gabel Associate Professor of thePractice of Environmental Ethics and Sustainable Development, has publishedtwo papers: • M.L. Miranda and D. Bynum,

“Unit Based Pricing and UndesirableDiversion: Market Prices andCommunity Characteristics,” Society and

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F A C U L T Y & S T A F F N O T E Sscope

Natural Resources, January. • M.L. Miranda and B.W. Hale,

“Protecting the Forest from the Trees:The Social Costs of Energy Productionin Sweden,” Energy, September 2001.

A. Bradshaw Murray, assistant professor of geomorphology and coastalprocesses, has coauthored several papers:• Ashton, A., Murray, A.B., and Arnoult,

O. 2001, “Formation of shoreline features by large-scale instabilitiesinduced by high-angle waves,” Nature414, 296-300.

• Murray, A.B., and Reydellet, G., 2001,“A rip current model based on a newlyhypothesized interaction between wavesand currents,” Journal of Coastal Research, 17,517-530.

• Murray, A.B., 2001, “From strangeattractors to real-world data: Evaluatinga bedform model by measuring the distance between state-space plots,”Mathematical Geology, V. 33, 293-300.

Kenneth H. Reckhow, professor of water resources coauthored the follow-ing paper:

with Borsuk, M.E., D. Higdon, C.A.Stow, 2001, “A Bayesian HierarchicalModel to Predict Benthic OxygenDemand from Organic Matter Loading inEstuaries and Coastal Zones,” EcologicalModeling, 143:165-181.

Curtis J. Richardson, professor ofresource ecology and director of the DukeUniversity Wetland Center has coauthoredseveral papers:• Richardson, C.J., and K. Nunnery,

2001, “Ecological functional assessment(EFA): A new approach to determiningwetland health,” pp. 95-112, in Vymazal,J. (ed.), Transformations of Nutrients in Naturaland Constructed Wetlands, BackhuysPublishers, Leiden, 519 pp.

• Richardson, C.J., and J. Vymazal, 2001,“Sampling macrophytes in wetlands,”pp. 297-338 (Chapter 14) in Rader, R.,D.P. Butzer, and Scott A. Wissinger(eds.), Bioassessment and Management of NorthAmerican Freshwater Wetlands, New York:John Wiley & Sons. 469 pp.

William H. Schlesinger, dean andJames B. Duke professor of biogeochemistry,has published: Lawrence, D. and W.H.Schlesinger, 2001, “Changes in soil phosphorus during 200 years of shiftingcultivation in Indonesia,” Ecology 82:2769-2780.

Jonathan B. Wiener, professor of lawand of environmental policy coauthored“Reconstructing Climate Policy: The PathsAhead,” Policy Matters, 01-23, AEI-Brookings Joint Center forRegulatory Studies, August 2001, withRichard B. Stewart.

Memberships, Appointmentsand Awards

Sara Ashenburg,director of executive education,Center forEnvironmentalEducation, receivedthe “Newcomer of theYear Award” from the EnvironmentalEducators of North Carolina in September.

Robert B. Jackson,associate professor of botany and ofenvironment, is thenew president-electfor the Biogeosciencessection of theAmerican GeophysicalUnion.

Michael K.Orbach, director ofthe Duke Marine Laband professor of the practice of marineaffairs and policy, has been appointed tothe Science Advisory Committee of thepresidentially-appointed U.S.Commission on Ocean Policy.

Jonathan Wiener, professor of lawand of environmental policy, in Januarywas named a University Fellow ofResources for the Future (RFF), theresearch institute in Washington D.C. InDecember, Wiener was elected to a three-year term as a member of the governingcouncil of the international Society forRisk Analysis (SRA).

GrantsCurt J. Richardson, professor ofresource ecology and director of theUniversity Wetland Center received a$49,000 grant from the BinationalScience Foundation, for work on a three-year cooperative project with theKinneret Limnological Laboratory tostudy water quality in Lake Agmon, Hula Valley, Israel.

Daniel D. Richter, professor of soilsand forest ecology, has been awarded a$230,000 four-year grant from NationalScience Foundation for a long-termresearch project at the CalhounExperimental Forest in South Carolina.

The Duke University Wetland Centerreceived two grants: a $92,800 one-yearincubation grant from the NationalScience Foundation for “Understandingthe Biocomplexity of Differential NutrientLimitation Between Trophic Levels: Acomparison Among Biomes”; and a$450,000 one-year grant from TheEverglades Agricultural AreaEnvironmental Protection District forEverglades Restoration project.

Compiled by Donna Picard, Nicholas School

sightingsSylvia A. Earle: Her Marriage to the Sea

Sylvia A. Earle has had a love affair with theocean since the age of four. She remembersthe excitement she felt as she drove with herparents toward the coast, chased crabs andexamined the treasures receding tides leftstrewn across the sand.

In a 1998 profile of Earle for Heroes of thePlanet, she remarked that part of her attrac-tion to the sea is that the scientist in her isdrawn to “the place where the history of lifeactually can be found, not in fossils, but inliving creatures that represent life as it hasbeen, perhaps, from the beginning of time.”

Earle’s bond to the ocean was formalizedin 1966 when she left Duke to pursue a lifeof exploration and research. Her workbroke down gender barriers in a field dominated by men. As the captain of thefirst team of women in the government-sponsored Tektite Project, a two-weekunderwater experimental precursor to theoperational Space Station, she overcame the public’s label of “acuababe” to garneraccolades as a scientist. It has been this focusand drive that has made Earle a success inall her endeavors.

Following years of research at HarvardUniversity and the University of Californiaat Berkley, Earle was selected by PresidentCarter to serve on the President’s AdvisoryCommittee on Oceans and Atmosphere in1980. During the 1980s, Earle founded twoengineering firms specializing in the designof underwater equipment. In 1992, shestarted Deep Ocean Exploration andResearch (DOER), a company providingcutting edge technologies and operationalsupport for the U.S. Navy, the NationalAeronautics and Space Administration(NASA), the National Oceanic &Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), theCanadian Department of Defense andnumerous research institutions worldwide.In 1990, through an appointment byPresident Bush, she became the first womanto serve as chief scientist of NOAA.

After years of learning from the sea, shedecided to give back to the oceans so thatfuture generations might have the sameopportunity. Utilizing her experience as anacademic, business leader, and teacher,Earle turned her focus to her life-longcommitment to save the seas.

“While children are being taught theirABC’s and numbers, they also should learn

about the significance of the natural world.The importance of inspiring youngsterswith a love of nature led me to begin writingbooks for children, as well as for adults.”

Earle has written three children’s books,Hello Fish, Sea Critters and Dive!, a winner of fiveawards for excellence. A fourth on coralreefs will be published in 2002. She also isauthor of National Geographic’s OceanRealm, Exploring the Deep Frontier, Wild Ocean andthe 2001 publication Atlas of the Ocean. Earle’s1995 book, Sea Change, published by G. P.Putnam Sons, conveys personal experiencesgained during nearly a half century of oceanexploration and provides the basis for whatshe calls “ocean ethic.”

In 1998, she was named explorer-in-residence for the National GeographicSociety’s launch of the five-year SustainableSeas Expeditions project. The five-yearproject was designed to conduct exploration,research and education in the nation’smarine protected areas, a young but promising counterpart to the National Park System.

In 2001, she accepted an appointmentto lead the newly established Harte Institutefor Marine Research at Texas A&MUniversity in Corpus Christi, Texas. InJanuary, she was named executive directorof marine conservation of ConservationInternational, and now leads the organization’sconservation efforts in some of the world’smost biologically important and threatenedmarine ecosystems.

Through all her endeavors, Earleremains connected to Duke. As a memberof the Marine Lab Advisory Board, she hasworked along side other ocean enthusiastsoffering guidance to Michael K. Orbach,director of the Duke Marine Lab, in support of the Nicholas School’s quest tomake Duke’s marine facilities the best in the nation.

“Just as Harold Humm, C.G. Bookhout,Hugo Blomquist, John Costlow and others inspired me as a student at the Duke Marine Lab in the 1950s with theirenthusiasm and high standards, so are new generations inspired and shaped bypeople such as Michael Orbach who continue to make this place among the best in the world. The spirit lives on; theexcellence endures.”

by Jill Range, director of alumni affairs

National Geographic explorer-in-residence Sylvia Earle.

Sylvia Earle, National Geographic explorer-in-residence and project director of Sustainable SeasExpeditions, prepares to descend in DeepWorker,a one-person submersible from Nuytco Research

Ltd. that can descend to 2,000 feet.

National Geographic’s Atlas of the Ocean:

The Deep Frontier, by marine biologist and NationalGeographic explorer-in-residence Sylvia Earle.

A L U M N I N E W S

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Represent Your Class as a Class AgentGraduates of 1943, 1948, 1953, 1958,1963, 1968, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993,1998, we look forward to welcoming youto campus April 11-13, 2003 for a week-end of activities hosted by the NicholasSchool and Duke University. Help bringyour class together by contacting JillRange, director of alumni affairs, at (919) 613-8035, or jill.range@duke.edu.

Check Out the New Career NetworkWe just made networking easier! The newonline Alumni Career Network databasegives you the ability to locate alumni and learn about careers. Update your information at http://www.env.duke.edu/career, “All-Alumni Survey.”

Alumni Offered Continuing Ed DiscountAlumni now receive a 10 percent discount on open enrollment coursesoffered by the Center for EnvironmentalEducation. Visit http://www.env.duke.edu/cee/execed.html or call (919) 613-8082.

Volunteer to be a Panelist for Hindsight 20/20On Friday, Sept. 20, the Office of CareerServices and the Office of Alumni Affairs,will host the biannual Hindsight 20/20, acareer colloquium to help students facethe challenges of today’s environmentalprofessionals and to help them uncovercareer opportunities. Volunteer to shareyour professional advice while promotingand marketing your organization. ContactJill Range, director of alumni affairs, at (919) 613-8035, or jill.range@duke.edu.While you are here, plan to attend aThursday evening wine and cheese reception and a special lecture.

Alumni and Friends Meet the DeanReceptions in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte,Cleveland, Durham, New York andWashington, D.C., brought Duke alumniand friends together to meet new NicholasSchool dean, William H. Schlesinger. Intalks to alums, Schlesinger highlighteddevelopments at the Nicholas School and

discussed the school’s global climatechange research. “I have met people acrossthe country who seem starved for truthfulinformation about the environment. TheNicholas School is poised to provide suchunbiased information, based on the orig-inal work of our faculty.” Look for more“Meet the Dean” events in Los Angeles,San Diego, Seattle and Houston in 2002-2003.

Class NotesRonald M. Sanden MF ’62 has completed40 years with the Forest Service. He is astaff officer in the Fishlake National Forestin south central Utah. Sanden’s belovedwife, Brenda, passed away Oct. 28.

Linda Glover WC ’70 is working for the oceanographer of the Navy on a project to improve the timeliness of correlating targeting information to avoid“friendly fire” and civilian casualties.

Mike Vasievich MF ’74, G ’77 and hiswife, Marianne, have renewed their connection to Duke through their son,Matt, who joined the class of 2005. MattVasievich is participating in the FOCUSprogram on Biology, Technology andSociocultural Change.

David Fox MF ’78 has gathered GPS(Global Positioning System) data on roadsand villages for an NGO (nongovern-mental organization) while in Sumatra,

Indonesia. He returned to Indonesia atthe end of 2001 to meet with forestryofficials and the NGO concerning refor-estation plans and village cooperation.

Jumanne A. Maghembe MF ’78 waselected to the Parliament of the UnitedRepublic of Tanzania after 14 years as aprincipal scientist and country represen-tative of the International Centre forResearch in Agroforestry (ICRAF) inMalawi. He takes office in October.

Kimberly Anne Otero MEM ’79works for a local environmental firm inTucson, Ariz., where she is responsiblefor environmental regulatory permitting. She has been married for 16 years toWalter Otero and has a 13-year olddaughter, Anna Rose, a 9-year old son,Allen Federico, and three stepsons.

Steven G. Burak MF ’85 received adoctoral degree from Auburn Universityon Dec. 15. He is president of Sizemore &Sizemore Inc., a forest appraisal, analysisand management firm in Tallassee, Ala.He is a registered forester and a certifiedgeneral real estate appraiser in severalstates and holds the MAI designationfrom the Appraisal Institute.

Kevin Kratt MEM ’95 is director of Tetra Tech’s Cleveland, Ohio office. Hespecializes in projects related to waterresource management.

Tsung-Yi Lin G ’95 is active in theBlackfaced Spoonbill Society of Taiwan,which is succeeding in preserving the flockdespite government efforts to fill in thelagoon where the birds live.

Stephanie Thirolle MEM ’98, Eric Thirolle MEM ’97 and their 3 1/2year old daughter, Madeleine, welcomedAbigail Martha Thirolle, born on Jan. 14at Durham Regional Hospital and weighing 7 lbs. 10 oz.

Elizabeth Askew T ’99 recentlyreturned from Washington D.C. whereshe worked on the anthrax remediationproject at the Brentwood post office.

Phyllis Dermer MEM ’01 acceptedthe position of MPA Educator with theNational Estuarine Research Association(NERRA), a national non-profit education organization.

Dean William H. Schlesinger (center) at the Washington, D.C. Meet the Dean event with John Derrick E’61, CEO of Pepco(left), and John Nutter, Pepco’s manager of planning and development and a memberof the Nicholas School’s Board of Visitors.

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Luce Foundation Awards $800,000To Create Program for Mid-CareerProfessionals

The Henry Luce Foundation Inc. hasawarded a grant of $800,000 to theNicholas School to establish a new Mastersof Environmental Management Programfor mid-career professionals. The program, known as the ContinentalEnvironmental Leadership Program(CEL), is modeled on the Fuqua School of Business’ highly successful GlobalExecutive MBA program and will utilize acombination of intensive on-site coursesand long distance online assignments toenable students to obtain an advanceddegree with a minimum amount of timeaway from their jobs.

“We know that there are managers incorporations throughout America whonever envisioned that scientific and environmental issues would be part of theirjobs,” said Norman L. Christensen Jr., whowill direct the program. “Likewise, there arescientists and conservation professionalswho never expected to manage staffs, monitor budgets or analyze return on

investment. The CEL program is designedto provide the knowledge and skills today’senvironmental managers require regardlessof their previous educational backgroundor the kind of organization they manage.”

The Nicholas School will launch theprogram in Fall 2003. Over the course ofthe next year, faculty at the Nicholas Schoolwill team with faculty at Fuqua to developnew courses that will integrate their two disciplines. Topics are expected to includeenvironmental risk management, environ-mental cost accounting, managerial decision-making, strategy formulation andimplementation, negotiation, and the useof new technology such as the latest in GIS (Geographic Information Systems).

The new program will retain theNicholas School’s traditional requirementof a master’s project before receiving amaster’s degree. It is anticipated that eachstudent will bring a “real life” problemfrom his or her organization to addressover the course of the 18-month program.

For information on how to enroll inthe program contact, Sara Ashenburg at(919) 613-8063 or sea3@duke.edu.

C A M P A I G N N E W Snature& nurture

Pete and Ginny Nicholas

Nicholas School Goal

$60 million

$53.1 million raised

The Campaign for Duke stands at $1.78 billionand the Nicholas School campaign total at $53.1million as of March 31.

Pete and Ginny Nicholas Make Additional $25 Million Gift to Duke

Pete and Ginny Nicholas, who provided the $20 million gift to name the Nicholas Schoolof the Environment in 1995, have made an additional $25 million gift to Duke to establish The Nicholas Faculty Leadership Initiative. By matching new contributions on a1:2 basis, the gift will encourage an additional $50 million in support for endowed facultypositions and academic resources throughout the university.

The new gift will provide $20 million to endow “university professorships” that crossdepartmental lines, other faculty chairs, and curatorships as well as some directorships.The remaining $5 million is for specific faculty support, including research and equipment,and opportunities for faculty to take time to focus on enhancing their teaching andresearch. The Nicholas School expects to benefit from the matching provisions of this giftas other donors step forward with gifts for professorships and faculty enhancement.

In making the gift, Pete Nicholas said, “At a time when our nation is faced with unprece-dented challenges, the leadership of universities like Duke is more important than ever, andthe foundation of that excellence is the faculty. Our gift is an investment to help strengthenteaching and research by outstanding current scholars and new faculty who will be recruitedfrom across the globe to help Duke continue its trajectory as a leader in education andresearch.” Ginny Nicholas added, “President Keohane is fond of saying, that at its heart,Duke is teachers and students. Pete and I hope that our gift will encourage others to join usin making that heart even stronger.”

The Nicholases are 1964 graduates of the university. Their three children—Katherine,Peter and J.K. (and J.K.’s wife, Virginia Shannon)—also earned degrees from Duke. PeterNicholas currently serves as vice chair of the university’s Board of Trustees, and theNicholases co-chair the $2 billion Campaign for Duke.

Syngenta Supports School in Two Ways

The Syngenta Corporation of Greensboro,N.C., has established a $50,000 endow-ment at the Nicholas School and provided$5,000 in corporate support for theAnnual Fund.

The Syngenta Crop Protection Inc.Fellowship Endowment Fund will providetuition assistance to students pursuingeither a Masters of EnvironmentalManagement degree or a doctoral degree.Preference will be given to students studying environmental toxicology.

“I have known Dr. Rich Di Giulio formany years and have always been impressedwith the students he brought to visit ouroperations,” said Gary Dickson, vice president of global risk assessment atSyngenta. “Syngenta is committed to

scientific education and exploration at the elementary, secondary and universitylevels, and it made sense that we should besupporting an outstanding school that isin the same business as we—protecting the environment.”

Syngenta is a world-leading agribusiness,formed in 2000 by the merger ofNovartis Agribusiness and ZenecaAgrochemicals. The company ranks firstin crop protection, third in the high-valuecommercial seeds market, and is a strongpresence in biotechnology. The Research& Technology Division, located inGreensboro, maintains a state-of-the-artlaboratory and employs a staff of 150,including more than 40 with doctoraldegrees. The division is responsible forensuring the safety of the company’sproducts to humans, crops, animals andthe environment.

Dickson was a member of the ScientificAdvisory Board of the School of Forestryand Environmental Studies at the timeDuke University was contemplating forming the world’s first School of theEnvironment. “Duke saw a need andmoved to fill it in a way that was quiteextraordinary,” remarked Dickson.“Syngenta is delighted to be a part oftraining the scientists and environmentalmanagers who will make a difference inthe future.”

Anadarko Makes First Gift to EOS

Anadarko, one of the world’s largest independent oil and gas exploration and production companies, has made its first giftto the Nicholas School to the Division ofEarth and Ocean Sciences (EOS). The$10,000 gift will be used to provide a partialscholarship to an undergraduate or graduatestudent and to provide educational enrich-ment to all students in the division throughsuch activities as a student colloquium oradditions to the video library.

“We are proud to support the excellentwork Duke University is doing to attract and educate qualified students in the geosciences,” said Bill Sullivan, Anadarko’sexecutive vice president of exploration andproduction. “We absolutely depend on new graduates to complete our growingworkforce. We find that the students wereceive from Duke are top graduates who arecapable to work in the field immediately.”

Anadarko has diversified over theyears, shifting from being primarilyinvolved in natural gas to currently beingevenly split between gas and crude oil. Its United States reserves are located inAlaska, Texas, Louisiana, the mid-conti-nent and Rocky Mountain regions, andthe Gulf of Mexico.

Gary Dickson, vice president of global risk assessment at Syngenta

Duke Forest Receives $355,750Anonymous donors have made an additional gift of $355,750 forstewardship of the Duke Forest. This is the fifth gift that the couplehas made and brings their endowment to more than $1.2 millionto help secure the forest’s future.

Duke Forest dates to the beginning of the university, whenJames B. Duke acquired farm and forest land to serve as a bufferaround the new campus. In 1931, the tracts were consolidated intoDuke Forest and Clarence Korstian became the first director, andlater, the first dean of the School of Forestry. Since that time, theDuke Forest has served as a laboratory for forestry students and thesite of pioneering research in forest soils, silviculture, wetland management and the effects of rising carbon dioxide, ozone, andacid precipitation levels on the forests of the future.

Today walkers, joggers, runners, bikers, equestrians, birdersand wildlife enthusiasts use the Duke Forest. It boasts more than900 species of plants, including more than 100 species of trees. It

is currently the site of sophisticated student and faculty researchfunded by NASA, the National Science Foundation and theDepartment of Energy.

The Duke Forest is managed by a staff of five and must generateits own operating budget each year, primarily from the sale of sustainably-harvested timber. “As research expands and more acresare allocated for student and faculty experiments, generation ofincome becomes more difficult. Endowments such as this will becritical to the maintenance of Duke Forest in the future,” saidResource Manager Judson Edeburn F’72.

In making the gift, the donors said, “Mr. Duke and Dr. Korstian showed enormous foresight in the purchase and early management of the Forest. One of our favorite photos shows the foresters of the 1930’s planting the seeds that wouldbecome the forest we treasure today. It is up to us to insure its con-tinuance in the future.”

gift clubsWilliam Preston Few AssociationPresident’s Executive Council$25,000 Minimum Gift

President’s Council$10,000 - $24,999

Few Associates$5,000 - $9,999

Washington Duke ClubWashington Duke Club Fellow$2,500 - $4,999

Washington Duke Club Member$1,000 - $2,499

Washington Duke Young Alumni MemberDuke University undergraduates 5-9 yearspost-graduation may join for $300. Duke University undergraduates 0-4 yearspost-graduation may join for $100.

Clarence F. Korstian Society$500 to the Nicholas School of theEnvironment

A.S. Pearse Society$500 to the Duke University MarineLaboratory

Nicholas School Young Alumni MemberIndividuals who have graduated from DukeUniversity within the last five years mayjoin the Korstian or Pearse Societies at aspecial “Young Alumni” rate of only $100.

Join Us for the Second Annual Beaufort Experience Weekend

The second annual Beaufort Experience Weekend is scheduled for July 19-21. Gift Club members and their families are invited to join friends, faculty and staff for a weekend of faculty presentations, tours, educational events, great food and fun! Invitations will be mailed to Gift Club members in June, so make your gift today. Gift Club levels arelisted to the right.

Your Annual Fund Gift Makes a Difference

It’s not too late to make your gift in support of the Nicholas School 2002 Annual Fund.The Annual Fund provides financial aid to deserving students, helps cover the cost oflaboratory and field supplies, and assists students in finding summer internships andjobs through the Office of Career Services.

Make arrangements to visit the school and see your dollars at work as students utilizeGIS (Geographic Information Systems) equipment in the Duke Forest or work withadvanced computing systems analyzing their data in the Levine Science Research Center.Your support is essential for the school’s continued success in recruiting and producingthe highest quality graduates in environmental policy and science.

Make your gift at one of the Gift Club levels and join us at the beach for the secondannual Beaufort Experience Weekend in July.

Duke Alums Taking Advantage of Online Giving

Duke University pioneered the secure online gift contribution system and was one of thefirst universities in the United States to offer its constituents a quick and easy method formaking a gift to Duke. Contributions made via the Internet have doubled each year sincethe inception of the system in 1998.

Nancy Ragland Perkins T’93, CEM’97 and her husband, Jack Perkins E’94, takeadvantage of the simplicity offered by Duke’s new online giving site. “I like making mycontribution online because it is quick, I can divide my gift between the Nicholas Schooland the Marine Laboratory, and I get an automatic confirmation that my gift wasreceived,” said Nancy Perkins. “Like the online alumni directory and calendar, this isjust one more example of how Duke is facilitating the ways in which alumni and friendscan participate more easily in the life of the university.”

If you would like to make your gift online, access the university’s site atwww.giftrecords.duke.edu, and click on “Make a Credit Card Gift Online.” Fill in your credit card information and gift amount and then designate your gift by checkingthe box for either the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences or the Marine Lab.

Once you have made a gift, you will receive a tax receipt from the Office of GiftRecords and the Nicholas School will be notified so that we may recognize your gift.

Tom Shontz G’72, Terry FarnerT’95 and Cody Burke enjoy thebeach and the view at the CapeLookout Lighthouse during the 2001 Beaufort ExperienceWeekend

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May 11, 2002Recognition Ceremony for Nicholas School GraduatesAddress by Kathryn Fuller, President of theWorld Wildlife Fund9 a.m.Levine Science Research Center Courtyard

Marine Lab Reception1:30 p.m.Levine Science Research Center

May 12, 2002Duke University Commencement Address by author Tom WolfeContact: Cindy Peters (919) 613-8070

May 16, 2002Environmental Institutions Seminar SeriesRobin Cantor“Compensation for EnvironmentalContamination in an Interconnected World”LSRC A150Contact: Kathryn Saterson (919) 613-8080

June 3-6, 2002Preparing and Documenting EnvironmentalImpact AnalysesCenter for Continuing EducationContact: Sara Ashenburg (919) 613-8063

June 13-15, 2002Duke Center for Environmental SolutionsTransatlantic DialogueComparing Approaches to Risk and Regulation

July 14-18, 2002Environmental Science Institute - an upper-levelinstitute for NC high school environmental science teachersCenter for Environmental EducationContact: Sara Ashenburg (919) 613-8063

July 19-21, 2002Beaufort Experience Weekend for Gift Club membersDuke University Marine LaboratoryBeaufort, N.C.Contact: Belinda Williford (252) 504-7508

Sept. 20, 2002Hindsight 20/20Contact: Karen Kirchof (919) 613-8016

Sept. 23, 2002Meet the Dean in Seattle6:30-8:30 p.m.Reception and DiscussionContact: Grace Badiali (919) 613-8001 orgbadiali@duke.edu

Sept. 25, 2002Meet the Dean in Los Angeles6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.Reception and DiscussionContact: Grace Badiali (919) 613-8001 orgbadiali@duke.edu

Sept. 26, 2002Meet the Dean in San Diego6:30-8:30 p.m.Reception and DiscussionContact: Grace Badiali (919) 613-8001 orgbadiali@duke.edu

Oct. 5-9, 2002 Society of American Foresters (SAF) National ConventionWinston-Salem, NCContact: Grace Badiali (919) 613-8001 orgbadiali@duke.edu

Oct. 6, 2002Society of American Foresters (SAF) National ConventionAlumni SocialWinston-Salem, NCContact: Grace Badiali (919) 613-8001 orgbadiali@duke.edu

Oct. 25, 2002 Parents’ Weekend Nicholas School Lecture & ReceptionContact: Grace Badiali (919) 613-8001 orgbadiali@duke.edu

Oct. 27-30, 2002Geological Society of America (GSA) Annual MeetingDenver, Colo.

Nov. 19 - 21, 2002Environmental Leadership Forum“Dealing with Disasters”Contact: Kathryn Saterson (919) 613-8080

December 6-10, 2002 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting San Francisco, CA

February 7, 2003Duke/Yale Career FairGallaudet University, Washington, D.C.Contact: Karen Kirchof (919) 613-8016

April 11-13, 2003Alumni Reunion WeekendHonoring the classes of 1943, 1948, 1953, 1958,1963, 1968, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998Contact: Jill Range (919) 613-8035

April 12, 2003Field DayDuke ForestContact: Jill Range (919) 613-8035

May 11, 2003Commencement

How to contact us:Nicholas School of the Environment

and Earth SciencesOffice of External AffairsDuke UniversityBox 90328Durham, NC 27708-0328

(919) 613-8003 phone(919) 613-8077 fax

www.env.duke.edu

Duke University Marine Laboratory135 Duke Marine Lab RoadBeaufort, NC 28516-9721

(252) 504-7503 phone(252) 504-7648 fax

dukenvironment is printed with vegetable-based inks on recycled paper.Please recycle this magazine.

monitorU P C O M I N G E V E N T S

Mark your calendar for the followingdates and monitor our Web site athttp://www.env.duke.edu for additional events:

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