Nate Wintle serves PDX Wildlife as a staff scientist. In this position, he conducts research on species such as Steller sea lions, California sea lions, elephant seals, harbor porpoises, harbor seals, California condors, several bamboo species, PNW aquatic invasive species such as the rusty crawfish, and giant pandas.
Nate’s work addresses the effects of pollution on both marine and terrestrial organisms. His thesis researched mercury contamination of marine mammals in the Pacific Northwest. Currently, he is analyzing bamboo from Sichuan, China for total mercury in association with the diet of the giant panda. Future projects involve aquatic invasive species in the PNW, and giant panda scat analysis. He is interested in the level of contamination that giant pandas receive in accordance with the location of bamboo cultivation. When not toiling in the lab, Nate works as a biological contractor performing shorebird surveys, persistence studies, and drift studies in the Gulf of Mexico.
Nate graduated from Portland State University, with bachelors in biology in 2007 and a masters in biology in 2010. He immediately was hired as a biological contractor, and continued his involvement with PSU as a research associate. Nate works as part of a collaborative team with Meghan Martin during her PhD work in China. Starting in 2012 Nate and Meghan will involve undergraduate interns who will get the unique opportunity to live abroad in China and study giant pandas (Click on the intern tab above).
PAPERS
- Nathan J.P. Wintle & Meghan S. Martin. An Analysis of Total Mercury in the Wild Bamboo Species (Bambusa emeiensis) from Ya’an, Sichuan, China, Journal of the American Bamboo Society, in review.
- Deke T. Gunderson, Deborah Duffield, Tina Randall, Nathan J.P. Wintle, David Shepherdson. Organochlorine Contaminants in blubber samples from stranded marine mammals collected from the Oregon and Washington coasts; implications for re-introducing California condors in Oregon, Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemisty, in review.
- Nathan J.P. Wintle, Deborah Duffield, Nelio B. Barros, Ronald D. Jones, James M. Rice, Total Mercury in Stranded Marine Mammals from the Oregon and Southern Washington Coasts, Marine Mammal Science online, Mar. 17th, 2011
PRESENTATIONS
- Setac Europe 21st annual meeting, Milan, Italy. A novel approach for reporting concentations of mercury in marine mammals. April 2011
- Setac North America 31st annual meeting, Portland, Oregon. Organochlorine concentrations in marine mammals. November 2010.
- California Condor recovery program, UC Davis, California. PCB’s & DDE in potential Condor food sources. February 2010.
- Biennial conference for marine mammalogy, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Total mercury in stranded marine mammals from the Oregon and southern Washington coasts. October 2009.
- Portland State University, Graduate student night. An update on mercury in marine mammals from the northern Oregon coast. September 2009.