Grant Project Summary:
Tufts University
Seabird Ecological Assessment Network Mapping Application (SEANET MAP): Distributed Internet Mapping for Marine Ecosystem Health
September 2004 to August 2005
Project Summary
The proposed distributed database and mapping application, SEANET MAP, will
provide, for the first time on the northeastern U.S. coast, a comprehensive
and integrated source that will allow users to correlate multiple environmental
variables and risk factors with seabird population fluctuations and mortality
events. The main project goal is to facilitate a network of researchers, educators,
and policy makers in monitoring the health of coastal avian populations.
The
following tasks have been designed to accomplish this goal: continue to develop
SEANET database on seabird mortality and collect other relevant GIS data;
develop the SEANET MAP Internet mapping application to access distributed seabird
data;
develop partnerships with other seabird data providers; continue outreach
and education, and inform the public and resource managers about SEANET MAP.
Project
partners include Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management, the U.S. Geological
Survey, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
NOAA Coastal Services Center's Role
The Tufts University Department of Environmental and Population Health and
the NOAA Coastal Services Center entered into a cooperative agreement to develop
the SEANET MAP project. The Center is providing assistance in the development
of the SEANET MAP distributed GIS Internet Mapping Application, and technical
support in overcoming obstacles such as data security.
Grantee Overview
Tufts
University's Center for Conservation Medicine (TuftsCCM), in North Grafton,
Massachusetts, works with many collaborators to implement the Seabird
Ecological Assessment Network (SEANET). SEANET serves to coordinate the
diverse research bodies that have been operating independently up and down
the northeastern Atlantic coast.
Effective protection of the populations and habitats of coastal avian species,
from New Jersey to Atlantic Canada, necessitates identifying and correlating
multiple environmental variables with population fluctuations and mortality
events. The project supports the collection and compilation of baseline data,
including regular volunteer-based beached bird surveys, that will act as an
initiation point for many coastal and marine conservation studies.
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