By Jenna Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 11, 2008

Douglas E. Decker's senior research project examined the relationship between water quality in the St. Mary's River and bird communities. The project required him to go onto the river and count birds, often in the freezing cold.

"Basically, you just stand in a boat for 15 minutes and see how many birds you can count, and what kind they are," said Decker, 24, a senior biology major at St. Mary's College of Maryland who will formally graduate at the end of the summer. His mentor for the project, biology professor Jordan Price, "didn't sympathize with me at all. But the friends who went with me did."

Each year, seniors at the college have the option to complete a St. Mary's Project, an undergraduate research effort similar to a graduate school thesis. This year, 240 of the 450 graduating seniors decided to do a project or were required under their major to complete one.

Decker divided the birds he observed into two categories: generalist birds, such as mallards, that can live in a variety of environments; and specialist species, such as loons or big-headed little-bodied buffleheads. These specialist varieties can live in only a few environments that have the right types of food, water and climate.

Decker also evaluated the quality of the river water in different places but found that it did not deviate much. Clarity of the water -- how far down you can see from the surface -- is one thing that does change, so Decker used a black-and-white disk attached to a stick to measure how far down he could see.

After collecting information for 10 weeks, Decker concluded that specialist water birds are more likely to live near high-quality, clear water. That finding was not too earth-shattering, he said.

Nine of the 240 students who completed St. Mary's Projects were recognized for outstanding work during this weekend's graduation events, which included commencement exercises yesterday on campus. Decker, who is from Mechanicsville, was presented a Geneva Boone Award, along with Alexander Arguello of Crownsville, Robert Blackwell of Bel Air, Laura Carroll of Arlington County, Virginia Insley of the Netherlands, Megan Rippey of Baltimore and Oscar Sinclair of Binghamton, N.Y.

Sinclair also received the Margaret B. Marlay St. Mary's Project Award, as did Marianne Wood of Wakefield, Mass.

Blackwell and Amechi Adamson of Silver Spring received the Myron G. Marlay St. Mary's Project Award.