2008 An Environmental Crossroads

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Global warming clouds our future. Pollution degrades our air, soil and water. Environmental toxins compromise the health of our children. Misuse threatens the sustainability of our forests, fisheries, wetlands and coasts, and the health of species that live there.

But there is reason for hope.

Through sound science and policy research, we're finding answers to these problems. Airborne lead and acid rain have been dramatically reduced. Industrial water pollution has decreased. Habitats are being preserved.

Faculty members from the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University are part of the effort to help find these answers and establish new environmental practices and policies to safeguard our natural resources for generations to come.

To contact our experts or learn more about what we're doing in states across the nation, click on the state you're interested in.

Beaches & Islands
Natural and manmade forces are constant agents of change along Maryland’s Atlantic and Chesapeake coasts and have contributed to the degradation of habitat for important economic species such as blue crabs, oysters and scallops. Policymakers and citizens alike must carefully consider the impact of beach erosion, artificial beach nourishment, water and air pollution, and nonsustainable development on their coastal ecosystems and resources.

Richard Forward studies the behavior and physiology of blue crabs and other crustaceans native to the Mid-Atlantic Seaboard. His studies on crab migrations have helped policy makers and conservationists identify critical crab habitats and set sustainable catch limits.
tel:(252) 504-7610 : e: rforward@duke.edu

Research focus: Forward works on the physiological ecology of marine crustaceans and fishes. Studies focus on sensory physiology and behavioral responses to environmental (e.g. light, temperature, salinity) and chemical cues, and biological rhythms. Recent studies have applied result to diel vertical migration and selective tidal stream transport.

William Kirby-Smith studies water quality impacts of freshwater runoff into estuarine headwaters, invertebrate zoology, nekton and benthic community structure, wetland ecology, and marine ecology.
tel:(252) 504-7577 : e: wwks@duke.edu

Research focus: Kirby-Smith's past research projects have involved studies of community ecology in aquatic systems extending from the interface between rivers and estuaries to the edge of the continental shelf. His current research interests are in applied ecology, especially the restoration of aquatic systems (e.g. marshes, agricultural ditches, storm water drainage systems) at the freshwater/saltwater interface and in the ecology of fecal coliform bacteria as they impact management of shellfish resources.

Mike Orbach served as a scientific advisor to the US Commission on Ocean Policy and is an expert on marine and coastal management and policy. He is director of the Duke Marine Lab.
tel:(252) 504-7606 : e: mko@duke.edu

Research focus: Applications of social science to environmental policy and management. Marine fisheries and integrated coastal management. Public involvement and participatory action in environmental policy. Environmental sociology and anthropology.

Orbach has conducted research on all U.S. coasts, as well as Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and the Pacific Rim.

Orrin Pilkey studies shorelines and coastal geology, focusing primarily on the impact of human and natural forces on barrier islands. He is director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines.
tel:(919) 684-5833 : e: opilkey@duke.edu

Research focus: Basic and applied coastal geology, especially of barrier island coasts. Coastal zone management. Beach erosion, stabilization and nourishment.

Pilkey has for years studied the effects of human development and natural forces on North Carolina’s barrier islands, particularly on beach erosion, stabilization and nourishment, and on hurricanes’ effects on beaches and beachfront structures. His warnings that seawalls can actually destroy beaches as they protect buildings have helped influence state policy.

Off Wrightsville Beach, he is studying petrographically distinct beach replenishment sand to determine paths of sand transport on the shoreface. Another ongoing project involves a detailed study of the evolution of salt marshes along various shoreline types in Pamlico and Albermarle sounds.