About the Author James T. Maughan is an ecologist who received his undergraduate training in natural history, his master s degree in freshwater aquatic ecology, and his Ph.D. in biological oceanography. He has used these skills as an environmental consultant for almost twenty years and has brought his combined education and experience into focus to conduct ecological assessments. A Virginia native who has lived in New England for seventeen years, Dr. Maughan has conducted ecological studies in areas as diverse as the Egyptian desert, the Greenland Ice Cap, and the Alaskan tundra. He has