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For more information on these science news and feature story tips, please contact the public information officer at the end of each item at (703) 292-8070. Editor: Bill Noxon Contents of this News Tip:
U.S. SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING WORKFORCE IS REALLY MUCH BIGGER THAN YOU THINKTraditional methods probably have underestimated the size of the U.S. science and engineering (S&E;) workforce, a new National Science Foundation (NSF) Issue Brief suggests. NSF's traditional S&E; occupations fall into five broad categories: computer and mathematical scientists; life scientists; physical scientists; social and behavioral scientists; and engineers. However, many professionals who regularly use their science or engineering education in their jobs - such as chemists who teach high school chemistry and engineers who manage manufacturing plants - are not now counted as part of the S&E; workforce under the current classification system. Adding people whose jobs are related to their science or engineering degrees could more than double the size of the S&E; workforce, says Melissa Pollak, author of the NSF Division of Science Resources Studies brief, "Counting the S&E; Workforce - It's Not That Easy." Future NSF reports should be able to provide a more precise count, Pollak says. Respondents to the 1999 National Survey of College Graduates whose highest degrees are not in S&E; fields will be asked if their jobs require technical expertise in science and/or engineering. This new information could increase the estimated size of the S&E; workforce to more than 8 million people. [Joel Blumenthal] For more information see: http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/issuebrf/ib99344.htm INVADING CRUSTACEANS SURVIVE SNOOZE IN SUPER-POLLUTED LAKELimnologists, funded in part by NSF and affiliated with Cornell University, have documented the invasion by an exotic species in one of North America's dirtiest lakes -- an invasion that ultimately failed when a polluting industry cleaned up its act. Dormant eggs of the crustacean Daphnia exillis were hauled up by the scientists from the toxic bottom of New York's Onondaga Lake, then hatched in the laboratory to yield healthy crustaceans, and finally genetically traced to one pioneering organism that hitchhiked east in the 1920s. "These little guys are real survivors -colonized a lake far from their natural habitat [salt water], and banked their eggs in the muddy bottom of a place that ultimately became a Superfund toxic cleanup site," says Cornell environmental scientist Nelson Hairston, Jr. Onondaga Lake was once the site of a soda ash factory known as the Solvay Process plant. During the factory's heyday, massive waste beds of calcium carbonate and sodium chloride were left at the water's edge, raising the salinity of Onondaga Lake to a level in which the crustaceans could survive. Hairston says that it's likely that a few crustacean eggs hitched a ride in mud plastered on mining machinery brought to New York from points saltier, and that one lucky egg found "a suitable home here and started it all." The crustaceans were found in the lake until the early 1980s when the chemical industry stopped depositing waste salts along the lake shore, and Onondaga Lake's waters once again became more fresh than salty. [Cheryl Dybas] PACIFIC HERRING FISH STOCK TAKES NOSEDIVE IN ALASKA'S PRINCE WILLIAM SOUNDThis spring's biomass of Pacific herring in Prince William Sound, Alaska (site of the Exxon Valdez oil spill), is only about one-half of that predicted by a mathematical model used by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. According to NSF-funded veterinarian and fisheries biologist Gary Marty at the University of California at Davis, the fish stocks were so low that most herring fisheries in the sound did not open this spring. What was the cause? "Most of the mortality probably actually happened a year ago, in that it occurred during and after the 1998 spawning season, when prevalence of ulcers on the skin of these fish was high, and when their behavior was abnormal," explains Marty. "The mortality was likely not documented until this spring because Pacific herring disperse during the summer, and the most accurate population estimates are made in late March and early April when the fish return to spawn." This year, he says, those fish that did come back looked relatively healthy, and should provide a good basis for recovery of the population in future years. Scientists are able to understand the causes of this particular population crash because of the availability of extensive pre-crash data, says Marty, information that has never before been available to explain the decline of a wild fish population. "Clearly, the investment in long-term research is reaping excellent knowledge dividends," Marty believes. [Cheryl Dybas]
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