Fresh From the Field

Top: PDE’s Restoration Specialist Jecy Klinkam scopes out the area where PDE is in the process of conducting bird surveys in Port Mahon, Delaware.

Fieldwork has taken our science squad all over the Delaware Estuary lately.

Recently, we conducted bird surveys at Port Mahon, Delaware. Marshland in this area of the Delaware Bay will soon undergo restoration, so we’re doing before-and-after assessments of bird sounds to see how the soundscape changes.

Early birds get a good sunrise Klinkam walks along the fishing dock at Port Mahon in Delaware.

We’ve also been doing a lot of work with mussels. Since April, some of our science crew has been monitoring wild freshwater mussel gravidity near the Delaware River in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The gravidity checks are to see which female mussels are carrying larvae, and an important part of the process of studying the mussel life cycle and their population. The checks will carry through June.

Members of the PDE science team check freshwater mussels by the banks of the Delaware River to see which female mussels are carrying larvae.

In New Jersey, we took to the marshes to monitor changes in marsh elevation.

Gathering marsh elevation data every year gives us insight into how marsh elevation is faring relative to sea level rise.

We use a couple of methods to collect the information we need. We use surface elevation tables to help us see small height changes. We also utilize marker horizons, which consist of intentionally placed layers of feldspar to track the accumulation of new sediment and changes in elevation over time.

PDE has been collecting this data from various marshes in New Jersey and Delaware for over a decade. This data helps us understand how marshes deal with rising sea levels and set goals for restoring the area.

PDE’s Assistant Director of Estuary Science LeeAnn Haaf, Ph. D., checks elevation readings in a New Jersey marsh.