Walter Nelson Beyer

USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
BARC-East, Bldg 308
10300 Baltimore Ave
Beltsville, MD 20705

Telephone: 301-497-5703

Fax: 301-497-5624

Email: nbeyer@usgs.gov 

Zoologist

Primary Responsibilities: 
To conduct research on the effects of environmental contaminants on wildlife.

Education/Training: 
B.A., Columbia University, Biology (1971)

Ph.D., Cornell University, Ecology (1975)

Accomplishments/Awards/Achievements: 
Dr. Beyer studied the environmental contamination from mining and smelting in the Tri-State Mining District in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri.  With his colleagues, he identified zinc poisoning in geese, a swan and a mallard.  This this the first such example reported in wild birds.  The work is being used in a natural resource damage assessment.

Based on years of research conducted by himself and colleagues, Dr. Beyer related sediment lead concentrations to injury to waterfowl in the Coeur d'Alene River Basin.  He tied the contamination in the sediments directly to death and to sublethal measures of lead poisoning.  The results became critical to the Department of the Interior's Coeur d'Alene River Basin Natural Resource Damage Assessment case, in which he was called as an expert witness. 

Dr. Beyer has demonstrated that estimating the exposure of waterfowl to lead and to related metals is simpler than thought previously. When field data were examined, it became clear that exposure to lead depends mainly on the amount of sediment ingested and the sediment lead concentration.  In a series of papers he showed that for a risk assessment on waterfowl to be credible, the assessor must consider sediment ingestion.  The researcher received a Scientific Achievement Award from the U.S. Geological Survey for this work. 

With coeditors Gary Heinz and Amy Redmon-Norwood, Dr. Beyer edited a book entitled "Environmental Contaminants in Wildlife: Interpreting Tissue Concentrations," published in 1996.

Active Projects: 

Estimating injury from zinc smelting to the forest near Palmerton, Pennsylvania

Toxicity of lead and zinc to wildlife

Publications/Products: 
Beyer, W. N., G. Gaston, R. Brazzle, A. F. O'Connell, Jr., and D. J. Audet.  2007. Deer exposed to exceptionally high concentrations of lead near the Continental Mine in Idaho, USA. Environmental Toxicolgy and Chemistry 26:1040-1046.

Beyer, W. N., J. Dalgarn, S. Dudding, J. B. French, R. Mateo, J. Miesner, L. Sileo, and J. Spann. 2005. Zinc and lead poisoning in wild birds in the Tri-State Mining District (OK, KS, MO). Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. 48:108-117.

Beyer, W. N. 2001. Estimating toxic damage to soil ecosystems from organic matter profiles. Ecotoxicology 10(5):273-283. 

Beyer, W. N., D. J. Audet, G. H. Heinz, D. J. Hoffman and D. Day. 2000. Relation of waterfowl poisoning to sediment lead concentrations in the Coeur d'Alene River Basin. Ecotoxicology 9:207-218. 

Beyer, W. N., D. J. Audet, A. Morton, J. K. Campbell and L. LeCaptain.  1998. Lead exposure of waterfowl ingesting Coeur d'Alene River Basin Sediments. Journal of Environmental Quality 27:1533-153. 

Beyer, W. N., J. C. Franson, L. N. Locke, R. K. Stroud and L. Sileo.  1998. Retrospective study of the diagnostic criteria in a lead-poisoning survey of waterfowl. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 35:506-512. 

Beyer, W. N., E. Connor, and S. Gerould.  1994. Survey of soil ingestion by wildlife. Journal of Wildlife Management 58:375-382.