Adam Duerr

CCB Research Biologist, Waterbird Ecology and Conservation

Adam Duerr with Brown Pelican chick on Smith Island

Before coming to CCB in the fall of 2007, what were you doing?

I received my PhD from the University of Vermont in the spring 2007. My dissertation focused on population dynamics, foraging ecology, and management of double-crested cormorants on Lake Champlain. This work included investigating several aspects of cormorant ecology and biology that wildlife biologists in Vermont and New York could apply directly to management of this overabundant species. For example, I studied the diet of cormorants because there was concern that they could have negative effects to important sport fish populations in Lake Champlain. I also investigated how cormorants responded to management actions aimed at reducing the size of the population by moving to other colonies.

What skills from your research experience have helped you the most at CCB?

While at the University of Vermont, I expanded my analytical skills to include estimating demographic and energetic parameters from individually marked animals. I then incorporated these parameters into mathematical models used to compare results from different management scenarios. This process forced me to think about how birds make decisions about where to breed or forage, and then how wildlife managers can use that information to inform their management program. Thus, if birds respond to management by changing their activities, managers can use models to anticipate this and alter their program to account for or take advantage of these changes.

Prior to working in Vermont, I was an environmental consultant in Arizona for 2 years after completing my Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees at the University of Arizona in Wildlife Science. As a consultant, I worked for state and local governments and corporations on a wide-variety of projects. This experience exposed me to the broad array of challenges that people face when dealing with conservation of natural resources and the challenges that our natural resources face from society.

Can you highlight a few projects that you are currently working on?

One of my interests in understanding how and why bird populations change over time. Examples were highlighted in CCB’s last newsletter (CCB Investigates Human-Vulture Conflicts and Red Knot Stopover Ecology on the Barrier Islands). I am trying to understand how damage and numbers of black vultures at a roost change over time. If we can understand what influences vulture numbers, then we might be able to devise a management strategy to reduce damage that they cause. The other example involves expanding a project to understand the importance of the Virginia Barrier Islands for red knots.

I am also assisting with a project to expand our knowledge of the influences that fish eating birds have on fish populations of the Chesapeake Bay (See Foraging Distrbution of Cormorants & Osprey on the Chesapeake Bay).

What has been your biggest challenge so far?

The single biggest challenge that I have faced is obtaining funding required to complete projects to adequately address conservation and management needs. Unfortunately at CCB, we have a wide variety of projects that we can initiate that would contribute to the conservation of birds and improve their management. I say it is unfortunate because the large number of projects that we could initiate is a reflection of data and conservation needs for birds in general. The real challenge is matching these many needs with much more limited funding sources. As a research biologist at the beginning of my career, I anticipate learning nearly as much about funding research as I do from the research itself.