Calvin Prof, Student Study Great Lakes Birds

August 22 , 2007 == MEDIA ADVISORY

Summary: A Calvin College professor of biology and three students are
researching the effects of pollution on Great Lakes colonial water birds.

Full story see
http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2007-08/grasman-research.htm

A Calvin College professor of biology and three students are researching the
effects of pollution on Great Lakes colonial water birds.

Keith Grasman, a biologist who specializes in ecotoxicology, spent the summer
performing medical tests on colonies of herring gulls, black-crowned night
herons and Caspian terns at sites in Muskegon and Saginaw Bay. Joining Grasman
was a trio of students: Calvin junior Samantha Miller of Aurora, Ohio, and
sophomores Luke Vande Zande of Wyoming, Mich., and Nate De Haan of Byron
Center, Mich.

Grasman, a graduate of Calvin who holds a Ph.D. in wildlife sciences from
Virginia Tech University, is trying to determine how much current pollution
levels, which have remained relatively consistent over 20 years, are still
harming the birds.

The team uses state-of-the-art medical tests—the types of tests used for
humans—to assess the health of the birds. Some of the procedures test how and
to what degree the birds' immune systems are compromised by PCBs
(polychlorinated biphenyls) and dioxins. The team also tracks birth defects and
the percentage of dead eggs at their test sites.

This summer the team pioneered a new method of research using Calvin's flow
cytometer, a sophisticated piece of equipment not often found on undergraduate
campuses.

The cumulative results of his research on the birds has been sobering.

"We can say quite confidently that the pollutants are affecting the immune
systems of the birds," says Grasman. "We've been able to see it over multiple
years and in multiple species using many different types of tests."

Contact Grasman at 616-526-6024

-end-
Received on Wed Aug 22 13:45:03 2007