Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI), a nonprofit ecological research group based in Portland, Maine, conducts innovative wildlife science worldwide.
BRI’s Center for Mercury Studies plays a lead scientific role in understanding the exposure and effects of mercury on wildlife in New England, North America, and around the world. The Center for Waterbird Studies is dedicated to assessing current and emerging threats to waterbirds. The programs in our Center for Ecology and Conservation Research aim to understand the workings of wildlife and their habitats while exploring how ecological stressors affect different species and ecosystems.
BRI's researchers are available to talk to journalists and provide expert information on both their work and the broader topics of their expertise.
To set up interviews, contact:
Deborah McKew, Communications Director
BRI research on common loons was recently published in the journal, Science of the Total Environment. The article, Restoration of common loons following the North Cape Oil Spill, Rhode Island, USA, uses a resource equivalency analysis (REA) to calculate the total loss of common loons after the North Cape Oil Spill in 1996, and uses site-specific productivity data collected between 2000-2009 to shape recommendations for restoration of the species through protection of high quality loon breeding habitat. Specifally, the study estimates that the North Cape Oil Spill killed 402 loons, equivalent to 2,920 loon-years. Using site-specific data to update the original REA conducted at the time of the spill, researchers found that 70 nests would have been required to offset the lost-loon years; ultimately permitting the protection of 119 nests.
