In April, six of our graduating seniors presented their work virtually at the Northeast Natural History Conference. Chloe Ng (Blind Brook HS) gave a lecture on her summation of 15 years of data from our long-term vegetation plots and what it means for the health of our forest and, specifically, as an assessment of our […]
Since 2019, MRG has been involved in a partnership with the New York Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation and SUNY ESF to begin the restoration of the iconic American chestnut. American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was a keystone species of the eastern hardwood forest, as well as the tallest tree species in the east, until […]
We’re now accepting applications for our Research Assistantship Program. The RAP offers 3-years of funding for thesis research to graduate students investigating applied ecology in urban and suburban ecosystems. RAP students are awarded a grant of $5,000/yr for two (Master’s) or three (Doctoral) years. The application deadline is Feb. 1 to May 1st, annually. More info […]
MRG and our partners have studied the growing coyote population in New York City for a decade now, and it has been one of our most productive and popular research studies. From the beginning, we expected coyotes to flourish in NYC as they have done across North America. In addition, if coyotes can penetrate the […]
Abstract For the past 200 years, coyotes have steadily expanded their range eastward from the Midwestern USA. They have successfully colonized the contiguous landscape east of the Mississippi River and have been documented on Long Island, New York since 2009 with successful breeding confirmed in 2016. Occupying a diverse array of habitat types along the way, […]
Chris Nagy, Ph.D., presented his talk, “Coyotes of Gotham,” via Zoom to enthusiastic participants at the Harris Center for Conservation Education on August 28, 2020. Click here to enjoy Chris’s talk. Checking the camera traps
By Andy Cortese As you hike in the Mianus River Gorge Preserve, you may have noticed a stark contrast between the old-growth hemlock forest that dominates the gorge itself and the maple dominated post-agricultural forest farther up the ridge. Approaching the top of the ridge from the bottom of the gorge, the dark evergreen canopy […]
Research and education at MRG never stop, even in Covid times. Originally planned as a project to be done in the field, WTP student Eileen Dockery (Harrison High School) worked out from home how to create the project using the popular iNaturalist app and with help from citizen scientists. About the project in Eileen’s words: […]
2019 RAP Award SUNY ESF – Doctoral Candidate Study of mycorrhizae fungi in the forest soil RAP student, Andy Cortese from SUNY ESF, is studying the mycorrhizae fungi in the forest soil in Mianus River Gorge Preserve. The soils have developed a complicated underground network of mycorrhizal fungi that are hundreds of years old (visible […]
Wildlife Technician Class of 2020 Irvington High School Project name: Activity patterns of mammal communities in NYC parks Project Status: Completed Project Description: Chris worked on the Gotham Coyote Project, examining potential effects that newly arrived coyotes had on the activity patterns of other species. Using nearly 500 thousand pictures from our camera traps located throughout […]