Environmental Internship Program - 2023 Booklet

Isadora Rivera-Janer ’24
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
Certificate: Environmental Studies
ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY
AND URBAN SUSTAINABILITY
PROJECT TITLE
The Social-ecological
Dynamics of the Harvest,
Consumption and Trade of
Aquatic Biodiversity in
New York City
ORGANIZATION(S)
High Meadows
Environmental Institute,
Princeton University;
American Museum of
Natural History; New York
City Department of Parks
and Recreation (NYC Parks)
LOCATION(S)
New York City, New York;
Princeton, New Jersey
MENTOR(S)
Christian Rivera,
Postdoctoral Research
Associate, High Meadows
Environmental Institute,
Princeton University; Erin
Betley, Biodiversity
Specialist and Coordinator,
American Museum of
Natural History; Mary Blair,
Director, Biodiversity
Informatics Research,
American Museum of
Natural History; Neha
Savant, Wildlife and
Fisheries Ecologist, NYC
Parks
I helped conduct a preliminary study of the
harvest, trade and consumption of aquatic
wildlife in New York City (NYC). Our methods
included field visits to fish markets and coastal
sites in NYC, interviews with stakeholders
from various fields and reviews of relevant
academic literature. After synthesizing
information from these sources, we then used
the Mental Modeler software to create models
that attempt to represent the trade systems of
NYC and Jamaica Bay. We found relationships
between many factors including fish advisories,
law enforcement, inflation, targeted wildlife
populations and climate change. Overall, we
found many research gaps in the knowledge
of wildlife trade systems in NYC in terms of
ecological, cultural, legal and social aspects. This
project gave me a rare glimpse into how to create
methods for data collection, even when working
with unfamiliar systems.