Michael Gochfeld received a B.A. degree from Oberlin College (1961), an M.D. from Albert Einstein College of Medicine (1965), and a Ph.D. from City University of New York (1975). He completed post-doctoral studies at Rockefeller University in animal behavior. He has studied the breeding biology of gulls, terns, and skimmers and other birds in the eastern U.S., South America, Africa, and Australia. He has co-authored The Black Skimmer: Social Dynamics of a Colonial Species (1990, Columbia University Press), The Common Tern: Its Breeding Biology and Social Behavior (1991, Columbia University Press), and Butterflies of New Jersey (1997, Rutgers University Press). He has edited books on hazardous waste and environmental toxicology medicine. He is professor of Environmental and Community Medicine at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey, where he specializes in environmental toxicology and risk assessment. Current address: Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, 170 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854. E-mail: gochfeld@eohsi.rutgers.edu.
Joanna Burger began studying breeding shorebirds and migrant gulls on her parents’ farm along the Mohawk River at Niskayuna, New York. She received a B.A. degree from the State University of New York at Albany (1963), and M.S. from Cornell University (1964), and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota (1972) under H. B. Tordorff, for her study of the breeding behavior and marsh adaptations of Franklin’s Gull at Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge. She continued her post-doctoral work under Niko Tinbergen (Oxford University) studying the Black-headed Gull at Ravenglass, and under Colin Beer (Rutgers Institute for Animal Behavior), studying Brown-hooded Gull (Argentina). For the past 25 years she has studied the breeding biology and behavior of herons, gulls, terns, skimmers, and reptiles in New Jersey and New York and foraging behavior and vigilance in birds and mammals in Africa, with supplemental studies in many other parts of the world. Her studies have included social behavior, habitat selection, chemical ecology, and environmental toxicology. She has investigated the distribution of heavy metals in seabirds in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Pacific oceans. In addition to co-authoring with M. Gochfeld the books on Black Skimmer, Common Tern, and Butterflies (see above), she has authored semi-popular books such as A Naturalist Along the Jersey Shore (1996, Rutgers University Press), has edited four volumes on the behavior of seabirds and shorebirds and two volume on the Arthur Kill oil spill. She is professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Rutgers University. Current address: Division of Life Sciences, Nelson Biological Laboratories, Piscataway, NJ 08854. E-mail: burger@biology.rutgers.edu.
Ian C.T. Nisbet received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Cambridge in 1958. He is currently working as a free-lance consultant, specializing in assessment of effects of toxic chemicals on wildlife. He has studied Roseate Terns in Massachusetts since 1970 and has served on the Recovery Team for the Northeastern Population of the Roseate Tern since 1988. Current address: 150 Alder Lane, North Falmouth MA 02556. E-mail: icnisbet@cape.com.
