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John Waldman

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John Waldman
  
John Waldman

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  John Waldman

  Professor

  Ph.D. (City University of New York )

  Office: NSB D-320  

  Tel: (718) 997-3603 

  Laboratory: NSB E-335 

  Tel: (718) 997-3529 

  E-mail:john.waldman@qc.cuny.edu

 

 

 

 

Research Interests:

My original major research interests are the ecology, evolution, and conservation biology of temperate North American fishes, especially the diadromous forms that migrate between fresh and salt water. However, in my twenty-years as a scientist with the Hudson River Foundation I worked primarily on better understanding and managing New York Harbor and the Hudson River Estuary---a system with myriad environmental problems.

An area of interest that grew out of my historical analyses of New York Harbor for my book, Heartbeats in the Muck, is the growing importance of shifting baselines---that is, the notion that resource managers settle for less and less as their vision becomes further removed from original pristine conditions. To this end, I am working on a project that will chronicle the historical ecology of western Atlantic diadromous fishes from pre-Colonial times to the present.  A major element of this is a nearly finished book titled Running Silver to Ghost Fishes.

Also, with the radical improvements to the metropolitan area’s water quality since the Clean Water Act of 1972, I believe protecting and possibly increasing its habitat quality and quantity remains its next research and management frontier. I am interested in studies of pile-supported structures, oyster reefs, tributary streams, and wetlands.

Another focal area for me is the stock structure of fishes, in both the theoretical and applied senses. I have worked collaboratively, mainly using molecular approaches, on species such as Atlantic and shortnose sturgeons, striped bass, and American shad, and will continue active studies on sea lamprey, Atlantic cod, and winter flounder. Additionally, the analysis of otoliths (ear bones) of fishes has become a superb tool in teasing apart their life histories and I expect to begin to apply this approach to selected questions of local importance.

Other research topics that I have experience with or strong interests in include the systematics of percoid fishes, the zoogeography and diversity of North American fishes, fluctuating asymmetry as an indicator of stress, fish passage restoration, mark-recapture of fishes, the effects of regional warming on biota, the ecological effects of power plants, the natural export of tropical fish to temperate waters, and the literature and art of natural history and angling.

Podcast:

"Swimming with the Fishes (The Death and Life of New York’s Waterways)". A Cuny Radio Podcast featuring Biology Professor John Waldman. Listen Now

Links:

CISC (CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities)

NAC-CESU (North Atlantic Coastal-Cooperative Ecosystems Study Unit)

Selected Publications:

Most Recent Technical Books

Waldman, J.R., K. Limburg, and D. Strayer.  2006.  Hudson River Fishes and their Environment.  American Fisheries Society Symposium 51.  365p.

Levinton, J.S., and J.R. Waldman.  2006.  The Hudson River Ecosystem.  Cambridge University Press, New York.  471p.

Friedland, K., J.R. Waldman, and S.X. Cadrin.  2004.  Stock Identification Methods.  Elsevier, San Diego.  719p.

Limburg, K.E., and J.R. Waldman. 2003. Biodiversity, Status, and Conservation of the World’s Shads. American Fisheries Society Symposium Series 35. 369p.

Journal Articles and Book Chapters 2002-2011  

Wirgin, I., L. Maceda, J.R. Waldman, S. Wehrell, M. Dadswell, T. King.  2012.  Stock origin of migratory Atlantic sturgeon in the Minas Basin, Inner Bay of Fundy, Canada, determined by microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA analyses.  Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 141:1389-1498.

Waldman, J., L. Maceda, and I. Wirgin.  2012.  Mixed-stock analysis of wintertime aggregations of striped bass along the mid-Atlantic coast.  Journal of Applied Ichthyology 28:1-6.

Buonaiuto, F., L. Patrick, V. Gornitz, E. Hartig, R. Leichenko, P. Vancura, and J. Waldman.  2011. Coastal Zones. Responding to Climate Change in New York State: The ClimAID Integrated Assessment for Effective Climate Change Adaptation.  Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1244:121-162.

Waldman, J.R. 2011. Conservation and restoration of Acipenser oxyrinchus in the U.S. Pages 517-526 in (P. Williot et al., editors). Biology and Conservation of the Atlantic European Sturgeon A. sturio L, 1758. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.

Waldman, J., L. Maceda, and I. Wirgin. 2012. Mixed-stock analysis of wintertime aggregations of striped bass along the mid-Atlantic coast. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 28:1-6.

Williams, L., and J.R. Waldman.  2010. Wintering biology of striped bass at a power plant discharge.  Northeastern Naturalist 17:373-386.

Waldman, J., R. Daniels, M. Hickerson, and I. Wirgin.  2009.  Response to Comment: Mitochondrial DNA analysis indicates sea lampreys are indigenous to Lake Ontario.  Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 138:1190-1197.

Limburg, K.E., and J.R. Waldman.  2009.  Dramatic declines in North Atlantic diadromous fishes.  Bioscience 59:955-965.

Waldman, J.R., C. Grunwald, and I. Wirgin.  2008.  Sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus, an exception to the rule of homing in anadromous fishes.  Biology Letters 4:659-662.

Wirgin, I., C. Grunwald, J. Stabile, and J.R. Waldman.  2008.  A genetic contribution to delineation of distinct population segments of shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum).  Conservation Genetics 9:1111-1124.

Waldman, J.  2008.  The world’s diadromous fishes: Resetting shifted baselines.  Pages 151-163 in State of the Wild: A Global Portrait of Wildlife, Wildlands, and Oceans 2008, Wildlife Conservation Society, New York.

Waldman, J.R., P. Doukakis, and I. Wirgin.  2008.  Molecular analysis as a conservation tool for monitoring the trade of North American sturgeons and paddlefish.  Journal of Applied Ichthyology 24 (Suppl. 1):20-28.

Grunwald, C., L. Maceda, J. Waldman, J. Stabile, and I. Wirgin. 2007. Conservation of Atlantic sturgeon Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus: delineation of stock structure and distinct population segments. Conservation Genetics.

Wirgin, I., C. Grunwald, J. Stabile, and J. Waldman. 2007. Genetic evidence for mid-Atlantic coast relict Atlantic sturgeon stocks. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 27:1214-1229.

Wirgin, I., A.I. Kovach, L. Maceda, N.K. Roy, J. Waldman, D.L. Berlinsky.  2007.  Stock identification of Atlantic cod in U.S. waters using microsatellite and single nucleotide polymorphism DNA analyses.  Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 136:375-391.

Waldman, J.R., C. Grunwald, and I. Wirgin.  2006.  Evaluation of the native status of sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus in Lake Champlain based on mitochondrial DNA sequencing analysis.  Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 135:1076-1085.

Wirgin, I., and J. Waldman.  2006.  Bioaccumulation and toxicities of aromatic hydrocarbon contaminants at different trophic levels of the Hudson River Ecosystem.  Pages 1552-1568 in W.N. Rom, editor.  Environmental and Occupational Medicine, 4th Edition, Lippincott-Raven Publishers.

Dunning, D.J., J.R. Waldman, Q.E. Ross, M.T. Mattson.  2006.  Dispersal of Age-2+ striped bass out of the Hudson River.  American Fisheries Society Symposium Series 51:287-294.

Waldman, J.R., T. Lake, and R.E. Schmidt.  2006.  Biodiversity and zoogeography of Hudson Estuary Fishes.  American Fisheries Society Symposium Series 51:129-150.

Waldman, J.R., K.E. Limburg, and D.L. Strayer.  2006.  The Hudson River environment and its dynamic fish community.  American Fisheries Society Symposium Series 51:1-7.

Limburg, K., J. Waldman, A. Kahnle, and K. Hattala.  2006.  Fisheries and fisheries management of the Hudson River estuary.  Pages 189-204 in J.S. Levinton and J.R. Waldman, editors. The Hudson River Estuary, Cambridge University Press.

Waldman, J.R.  2006.  The diadromous fish fauna of the Hudson River: life histories, conservation concerns, and research avenues.  Pages 171-188 in J.S. Levinton and J.R. Waldman, editors.  The Hudson River Estuary, Cambridge University Press.

Wirgin, I., C. Grunwald, E. Carlson, J. Stabile, D.L. Peterson, and J. Waldman. 2005.  Range-wide population structure of shortnose sturgeon Acipenser brevirostrum based on sequence analysis of the mitochondrial DNA control region.  Estuaries 28:406-421.

Wirgin, I., D. Currie, N. Roy, L. Maceda, and J.R. Waldman.  2005.  Introgression of nuclear DNA (nDNA) alleles of stocked Atlantic coast striped bass with the last remaining native Gulf of Mexico population.  North American Journal of Fisheries Management 25:464-474.

Wirgin, I., and J.R. Waldman.  2004.  Resistance to contaminants in North American fish populations.  Mutation Research 552:73-100.

Wirgin, I., and J.R. Waldman.  2004.  Use of nuclear DNA in stock identification: single-copy and repetitive sequence markers.  Pages 321-359 in S. X. Cadrin, K. Friedland, and J. R. Waldman, editors.  Stock Identification Methods, Elsevier, San Diego.

Waldman, J.R.  2004.  Meristics.  Pages 191-201 in S. X. Cadrin, K. Friedland, and J. R. Waldman, editors.  Stock Identification Methods, Elsevier, San Diego.

Waldman, J.R.  2004.  Definition of stocks: an evolving concept.  Pages 5-14 in S. X. Cadrin, K. Friedland, and J. R. Waldman, editors.  Stock Identification Methods, Elsevier, San Diego.

Waldman, J.R., C. Grunwald, N.K. Roy, and I.I. Wirgin.  2004.  Mitochondrial DNA analysis indicates sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) indigenous to Lake Ontario.  Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 133:950-960.

Rodríguez-Muñoz, R., J.R. Waldman, C. Grunwald, N. K. Roy, and I. Wirgin.  2004.  Mitochondrial DNA variation in sea lamprey between North American and Spanish rivers.  Journal of Fish Biology 64:783-787.

Waldman, J.R., and K.E. Limburg.  2003.  The world’s shads: summary of their status, conservation, and research needs.  American Fisheries Society Symposium Series 35:363-369.

Nolan, K.A., J.R. Waldman, and I.I. Wirgin.  2003.  Intraspecific and interspecific molecular differentiation of American shad and Alabama shad: a synthesis.  American Fisheries Society Symposium Series 35:295-302.

Navodaru, I., and J.R. Waldman.  2003.  Shads of Eastern Europe from the Black Sea: review of species and fisheries.  American Fisheries Society Symposium Series 35:69-76.

Waldman, J.R.  2003.  Introduction to the shads.  American Fisheries Society Symposium Series 35:3-9.

Wirgin, I., J. Stabile, J. Waldman, B. Lubinski, and T. King.  2002.  Comparison of mitochondrial DNA control region sequence and microsatellite analyses in determining population structure and homing fidelity in Atlantic sturgeon Acipenser oxyrinchus.  Journal of Applied Ichthyology 18:313-319.

Waldman, J.R., C. Grunwald, J. Stabile, and I.I. Wirgin.  2002.  Impacts of life history and biogeography on the genetic stock structure of Atlantic sturgeon Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus, Gulf sturgeon A. o. desotoi, and shortnose sturgeon A. brevirostrum.  Journal of Applied Ichthyology 18:509-518.

Ludwig, A., L. Debus, D. Lieckfeldt, I. Wirgin, N. Benecke, I. Jenneckens, P. Williot, J.R. Waldman, and C. Pitra.  2002.  When the American sea sturgeon swam east.  Nature 419:447-448.

Grunwald, C., J. Stabile, J.R. Waldman, R. Gross, and I.I. Wirgin.  2002.  Population genetics of shortnose sturgeon, Acipenser brevirostrum, based on sequencing of the mitochondrial DNA control region.  Molecular Ecology 11:1885-1898.

Briggs, P.T., and J.R. Waldman.  2002.  Annotated list of fishes reported from the marine waters of New York.  Northeastern Naturalist 9(1):47-80.

Popular Books

        Waldman, J.R.  2005.  100 Weird Ways to Catch Fish.  Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA.  191p.

Waldman, J.R.  2002.  Dance of the Flying Gurnards: America’s Coastal Curiosities and Beachside Wonders.  Lyons Press, New York.  209p.

Waldman, J.R.  1999.  Heartbeats in the Muck: The History, Sea Life, and Environment of New York Harbor.  Lyons Press, New York.  178p.