Download My topics of discussion are: 1. Turtle ecology and conservation. 2

My topics of discussion are:
1. Turtle ecology and conservation.
2. Waterbird and seabird ecology and reproductive biology.
The turtle talk will focus on the turtles of New England and the mid-Atlantic region. I study 4 species and
will use data from my projects as the take off point. I will present summaries of what we know about
population status, biology, diet, movements, and efforts to conserve populations.
The seabird and waterbird talk will focus on such species as loons, waterfowl (ducks and geese),
shorebirds, seabirds (storm petrels, shearwaters, auks). I will use slides to describe the natural history
and life history strategies of these birds. I have studied a number of species, so will use my personal
experiences as the foundation for my talk. I have lots of slides!
For both subjects, I will also lead some walks and field trips to try and observe birds and turtles. Birds, of
course, will probably be much easier to observe than turtles. But there may be turtles on the island and if
there are, we will search ahead of time to determine where they are so we can show others. On the bird
field trips, we will looks at whatever species we can.
Here is a rather long "brief" biography that you can use if needed (cut and trim):
Christopher Swarth is a wetland ecologist and ornithologist. Since 1989, he has been the Director of the
Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary in Lothian, Maryland. At the Sanctuary, he oversees a corps of about 350
research and education volunteers, and is mentor to two to three university research interns every
summer.
B.S. in zoology from Humboldt State University (California) in 1978
M.S. in biology in 1983 from California State University, Hayward.
He has been a research ecologist and biology instructor since 1979. His research interests are water bird
distribution and population abundance on estuaries; patterns of songbird reproduction on Maryland’s
Coastal Plain; turtle population structure, home range, diet and habitat use and nutrient dynamics in
freshwater tidal wetlands.
His graduate thesis focused on the diet and foraging ecology of Snowy Plovers (Caradriidae;Charadrius
alexandrinus nivosus) at Mono Lake in eastern California.
His research experience includes positions as Staff Biologist - U.S. Fish &Wildlife Service (San Francisco
Bay National Wildlife Refuge); Staff Biologist - Pt. Reyes Bird Observatory (Farallon Islands National
Wildlife Refuge; Bolinas Lagoon); Field Biologist - UC Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (Pt.
Barrow, Alaska & Cameroon, West Africa).
He is a member of the San Diego Natural History Museum’s centennial re-survey field team for the 1908
San Jacinto Mountain Expedition (field work in 2008; 2009). He is on the field team for the Carnegie
Institution of Washington’s biological/geological research in the Australian Outback (1994; 1997; 2007;
2010). In July 2011 he was on a research team for a two-week exploration of the Belcher Islands in
Hudson Bay.
He’s taught at Diablo Valley College (Calif.) and at Anne Arundel Community College, and was a biology
instructor at the Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley. He is currently a part-time
faculty member in the Johns Hopkins University, Kreiger School of Advanced Academic Programs.
Christopher Swarth was president of the Atlantic Estuarine Research Society (2003* 2005) and was a
board member of the Estuarine Research Federation (2003-2005).
He currently serves on the Patuxent River Commission, Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources
Wildlife Diversity Advisory Committee, and is on the Maryland Amphibian and Reptile Atlas coordinating
committee. He served on Maryland’s Sea Grant Research Advisory Committee and is site manager for
the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. He is co-editing (with AatBarendregt, Ultrect
University) a Special Publication on fresh water tidal wetlands for the Coastal and Estuarine Research
Federation. He was vice president of the Golden Gate Audubon Society (San Francisco), Education Chair
of the Audubon Naturalist Society (Washington, DC), is a life member of the American Ornithologist’s
Union, and is a Research Associate with Hudsonia (NY) and with the San Diego Natural History Museum.
Recent publications include a chapter on animal ecology in the book, Freshwater Tidal Wetlands (2009;
Backhuys Press, Leiden); co-authoring a paper on the thermal environment of overwintering box turtles
(2010; Canadian Journal of Zoology); and a paper on home range and habitat use by eastern mud turtles
(2011; Chelonian Conservation and Biology).