About

Joanna Burger is associated with EOHSI at Rutgers University, which sponsors research, education, and service programs in environmental health, toxicology, occupational health, exposure assessment, public policy, and health education. The institute houses a group of scientists, physicians, educators, and policy researchers engaged in studies of contaminants and various environmental policy and public health issues. EOHSI's mission includes studying and improving environmental and occupational health through scientific research, training, and communication of research findings to professional and lay groups. The institute offers graduate degree programs such as the Joint Graduate Program in Toxicology, the Joint Graduate Program in Exposure Science, and a Residency Program in Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Additionally, EOHSI participates in summer enrichment programs for undergraduates and high school students interested in environmental and occupational health, toxicology, and related fields, including the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF), Toxicology, Health and Environmental Disease (THED) High School Summer Program, and the Partners in Science Program.

Research topics

• Biology
• Ecology
• Organic chemistry
• Chemistry
• Biochemistry
• Environmental chemistry
• Environmental science
• Toxicology

Selected publications

• Sediment addition to address tidal marsh elevation deficits caused by farm impoundments: a Delaware Bay, New Jersey, <scp>United States</scp> case study

  Restoration Ecology · 2026-04-30

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Introduction Dredge material use is emerging as an important technique for restoring marshes threatened by historic mismanagement and sea‐level rise, yet optimal methods to maximize ecological benefit remain under development. The Delaware Estuary is in urgent need of restoration, as historic agricultural conversion caused substantial and persistent elevation loss. Objectives We conducted a pilot project in a previously restored marsh where elevation deficits continued to inhibit revegetation. Using material from maintenance dredging of tidal channels, we elevated a 0.4 ha site contained with coir logs to create conditions conducive to plant recolonization and long‐term recovery. Methods Dredging occurred from Fall 2018 through March 2019, with sediment pumped into containment to raise elevations to a target of 0.5–0.7 m NAVD88 (just below MHW). Elevation and vegetation were monitored before, immediately after, and across five growing seasons following construction. Results Target elevations were achieved, producing a mean post‐construction elevation of 0.54 m (0.53–0.56, 95% CI), a 0.42 m increase from pre‐project conditions. Vegetation cover rose from 55 to 86% by the second season and reached 100% by year 5, despite 0.1 m of settling. Areas 50–100 m outside the containment also gained elevation and vegetation, indicating localized sediment dispersal. Previously vegetated zones that received material did not settle and instead showed increasing elevation across all five seasons. Conclusions This project demonstrates that integrating hydrological restoration with sediment addition can restore optimal elevations for Spartina alterniflora and accelerate vegetation recovery in degraded mid‐Atlantic marshes.

  PublisherDOI

• An approach for assessing risk, planning, and decision-making in protecting ecological resources on contaminated sites compared to local regions

  Environmental Monitoring and Assessment · 2025-04-29 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  The United States and other countries have degraded lands because of legacy wastes from the Second World War, Cold War, and industrialization. There is a need to return lands to productive uses that necessitates assessing and monitoring ecological resources. Federal governments and the public are interested in assurances that federal landowners are protective of environmental and ecological health. This paper uses the U.S. National Land Cover Database to (1) compare land cover on two Department of Energy (DOE) facilities with the surrounding region (10-km and 30-km bands), (2) determine if each has preserved more of the climax vegetation on each site, and (3) discuss how the method allows managers, regulators, and the public to assess if ecological resources on contaminated lands are protected. The analysis method employed provides a monitoring tool that can be used following restoration or management. About 70% of Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) is forested, compared to 45% of the 10-km buffer (52% of 30-km buffer). Savannah River Site (SRS) protected 58% of its forest compared to 27% of its buffers. Both DOE sites have the opportunity to preserve the largest tracts of unbroken forest during remediation, especially those that include wetlands surrounded by forest. The highest percentage of land cover on both sites is the local natural forest. Visually, ORR has more development in the surrounding region than does SRS. This method can be applied to degraded sites across the U.S. and elsewhere and provides a visual tool for managers, regulators, and the public to quickly access information on vegetation types, the importance of ecological resources, and vulnerability of these resources within the region.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Kleptoparasitism in four species of parrots from Australia

  The Wilson Journal of Ornithology · 2025-11-24

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Using National Land Cover Database as an indicator of successful remediation: the Department of Energy’s Rocky Flats (Colorado) as a case study

  Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health · 2025-07-22 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Missions for federal facilities, such as the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Energy (DOE), include protecting human health and the environment. The public is interested in whether ecological resources are protected on such lands, especially following remediation of legacy wastes remaining from World War II, Cold War, and industrial activities. Many DOE sites are remediated for future uses depending upon potential for exposure to residual contamination. This study: (1) examined the % ecological resources remaining on Rocky Flats following completion of cleanup, (2) compared the ecological resources (i.e. plant cover) of Rocky Flats (RF) with the surrounding 10-km and 30-km bands of land, and (3) measured % natural vegetation on RF with comparable % on three other large DOE facilities that are still undergoing remediation. Rocky Flats contains significantly more grassland than the surrounding region, with less development, and is mostly a National Wildlife Refuge open to the public. Agriculture and grazing do not occur on RF. The three sites undergoing remediation have significantly more natural habitat (climax vegetation) than their surrounding buffer areas. The aim of this study was to examine the implications of ecological protection of climax vegetation upon these sites and the importance of consistently examining regional ecologies.

  PublisherDOI

• Assessment of mercury and selenium concentrations in Sepia pharaonis and Uroteuthis duvauceli from the Persian Gulf, Iran: Implications for human health and seafood safety

  Food and Chemical Toxicology · 2025-05-03

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Perspectives on the Effect of Incubation Temperature on Pine Snake Hatchlings

  Ethology · 2025-12-04

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  ABSTRACT The effects of incubation temperature on sex in sea turtles and other reptiles have long been known, but behavioral and morphological effects were unknown. I summarize and synthesize experiments in Northern pine snakes ( Pituophis melanoleucus ) nesting in the New Jersey Pine Barrens that show that incubation temperature directly alters the risks pine snakes face upon hatching, emerging, avoiding predators, and searching for prey. NJ pine snakes are unique among most snakes in North America because females dig their own nests in pine barrens sand and can partly control temperature conditions in the nest. Experimental incubation temperatures included the range of temperatures that occur in natural nests. Incubation temperature affected every morphological and behavioral test that could be devised, and the snakes that were incubated at the lowest temperatures (21°C–23°C) were the most severely affected; there were some adverse effects at 33°C. Incubation period decreased with increasing temperature, while the percentage that hatched was highest at 30°C (98%), but decreased at 32°C. Body length increased to 30°C but decreased thereafter. At the optimal temperature (26°C–28°C): (1) there were fewer morphological abnormalities, (2) they required less time to emerge from the nest and shed, and less time to emerge once their head was exposed, (3) they made more underground tunnels from the nest (e.g., avoiding predators), (4) righting response was lowest and they required less time to move a 3 m course, (5) they fell less often from an incline, could bridge a longer gap and climb a tree faster, and (6) they ate a mouse quicker and avoided predators faster than other incubation groups. The experiments indicate an optimal temperature bounded by adverse outcomes in pine snakes at both low and high temperatures. Implications for offspring survival given temporal patterns of reproductive activities, female options, and climate change are discussed.

  PublisherDOI

• Protection of Pine Barrens Habitat on Federal Lands: A Case Study Using the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory

  EcoHealth · 2025-04-24

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Industrial, radiological, and chemical wastes remain from nuclear production and research from the Cold War and subsequent industrial activities. Cleanup of these lands is essential to allow future land uses. Some of the US Department of Energy's (DOE) lands will remain in federal ownership, where research and development continue. An opportunity exists to preserve important habitats and ecological resources while still completing a cleanup mission. This paper uses DOE's Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) as a case study to examine whether it has sensitive and rare ecological habitat compared to the surrounding region. Our approach was to use the National Land Cover Database to compare the percentage of land use types on BNL to areas from its border to 10 and 30 km of BNL. BNL has a higher percentage of forest on its lands (63%), than occurs in the surrounding region within 10 km (39%) and within 30 km (26%). Pine barrens habitat is threatened globally and is unique in the northeast. Other than the NJ Pinelands, this habitat does not occur for several hundred kms to the south. Our approach can be used at other sites to understand the importance of specific ecological vegetation types compared to the surrounding regions, and to encourage protection when sites contain unique regional habitats. Critical and climax vegetation provides the habitat for endangered and threatened species, as well as local and regional species of concern.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Snake Fungal Disease (Ophidiomycosis) in Northern Pine Snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus melanoleucus) in New Jersey: Variations by Year, Sex, and Morphological Sampling Site

  Journal of Fungi · 2025-03-06 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Ophidiomyces ophidiicola, the fungus causing Snake Fungal Disease (SFD) or ophidiomycosis, is prevalent in North American snakes and can have deleterious population effects. Northern pine snakes (Pituophis melanoleucus melanoleucus) in New Jersey often test positive for ophidiomycosis. In this paper, we use qPCR to examine changes in prevalence from 2018 to 2023, and differences by age, sex, and morphological sampling locations. We swabbed ventral surfaces, head, and cloaca of snakes, and lesions and eyes if there were clinical ophidiomycosis signs. A snake was considered positive if any site was positive by qPCR. The prevalence was 47% (2018), increased to 100% (2022), but declined to 46% in 2023. The prevalence was highest in snakes with lesions (46–100%); head swabs had the lowest rates. The more lesions a snake had, the more likely it was that at least one would be positive. Males had significantly more lesions than females, but the prevalence was similar. In 2023, the prevalence of O. ophidiicola was low, but the prevalence of lesions did not decrease as markedly. We discuss the temporal changes in the positivity for O. ophidiicola and its implications for ophidiomycosis effects, suggesting that the fungus is endemic in this population.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Element Levels in Feathers of Atlantic Puffins (Fratercula arctica) in Iceland: Establishing Background Levels in an Arctic Migratory Species

  Toxics · 2025-01-28

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Examining contaminant concentrations in birds in Arctic environments is important for managing species for assessing long-term trends. Recent reports on mercury (Hg) concentrations in Arctic species of seabirds has identified a need for data from missing regions or species. We measured arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), Hg and selenium (Se) in the body feathers of Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica) from four colonies in Iceland in 2011 and one in 2009. Puffins forage on small fish at an intermediate trophic concentration. We found that (1) concentrations examined in the colony in 2009 were lower than in 2011 for all metals except As and Hg, and (2) concentrations of Cd and Se varied significantly among colonies for feathers collected in 2011. Pb concentrations in Puffin feathers in one colony were 14-fold higher in 2009 than in 2011 (mean of 805 ng.g−1 vs. 58 ng.g−1). The highest mean Hg concentration in 2011 was 362 ng.g−1 and was 4880 ng.g−1 for Se. The concentrations of Hg in the Atlantic Puffins reported in this study were similar to, or lower than those reported for the same species elsewhere and for Tufted Puffin from the Pacific.

  PublisherDOI

• Brown Noddy (Anous stolidus)

  Birds of the World · 2025-01-17

  reference-entry
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Michael Gochfeld

  Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  1045 shared

• Christian Jeitner

  New Jersey Pinelands Commission

  233 shared

• Taryn Pittfield

  Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute

  83 shared

• Charles W. Powers

  83 shared

• David S. Kosson

  83 shared

• Joel W. Snodgrass

  Virginia Tech

  62 shared

• Mark Donio

  Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  47 shared

• Tracy Punshon

  Dartmouth College

  43 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Environmental Science

  Rutgers University

  1995

• M.S., Environmental Science

  Rutgers University

  1991

• B.S., Environmental Science

  Rutgers University

  1988