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January 27, 2012

Brisbane 2011: Living with Floods and Dancing with Dugongs: Part 1- Introduction

A seminar entitled ‘Brisbane 2011: Living with Floods and Dancing with Dugongs’ was presented on 8 July 2011. The seminar was sponsored by the University of Queensland Global Change Institute, and delivered at the historic Customs House in downtown Brisbane, situated along the shore of the Brisbane River. The following fifteen part blog series captures [...]

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July 1, 2010

Discussion following Howard Townsend’s seminar on Communicating complex scientific results for ecosystem-based management using cgi (computer generated image) animation

This blog post discusses the seminar given by Howard Townsend, of the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office, at the IAN Seminar Series on June 24, 2010. Following Howard’s seminar, two short videos were aired. The first one depicted some of Howard’s hidden talents on the dance floor, and the second one was a 6 minute Computer [...]

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May 3, 2010

Chesapeake Bay restoration: Are we headed in the right direction?

The Chesapeake Bay Program has a long history of setting goals, and unfortunately an equally long history of NOT reaching these goals. The initial Chesapeake Bay Program goal, set in 1984, was for a 40% reduction in nutrient loads entering the Bay, specifically nitrogen and phosphorus. In spite of considerable investments in various nutrient reduction [...]

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April 28, 2010

Discussion following Heath Kelsey seminar on beach and shellfish forecasts using integrated data from monitoring programs, remote sensing, and observing systems

This blog post discusses the seminar given by Dr Heath Kelsey, of EcoCheck, at the IAN Seminar Series on April 22, 2010. A wide ranging discussion of bacteria, viruses and contaminants in water and shellfish followed the seminar. Typical of discussions of bacteria in water or shellfish, the issue of the different methods was raised. [...]

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March 30, 2010

Discussion following Bill Dennison seminar on Chesapeake Bay health: What causes positive and negative trajectories?

This blog post discusses the seminar given by Dr Bill Dennison, of the Integration and Application Network, at the IAN Seminar Series on January 28, 2010. Several lines of inquiry were discussed as a way of further analyzing the Chesapeake Bay trajectories. The issue of watershed geomorphology (e.g., watershed size, topography, shoreline length) was one [...]

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August 27, 2009

The Bird’s Head Seascape in West Papua

Jane Thomas from IAN has been working with The Nature Conservancy this week in Bali. Together with Conservation International and World Wildlife Fund, TNC has been working with the Indonesian government to plan and establish multiple Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Bird’s Head/Raja Ampat region of Indonesia’s West Papua province. This region is in [...]

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August 21, 2009

Aloha from the big island of Hawai’i

Tim Carruthers and Jane Hawkey are visiting Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park located on the shore of west Hawai’i. Working with National Park Service managers and staff from the park and from the Pacific Island Network, we are drafting a natural resource condition report, using the NPS Rock Creek Natural Resource Condition Assessment report as a [...]

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July 16, 2009

The Battlefields

Bill Dennison and Jane Thomas from IAN spent the last two days up at Monocacy National Battlefield and Manassas National Battlefield Park. They are part of the National Capital Region Network of parks, and IAN is in the process of conducting a natural resource condition assessment of these two parks, along with Antietam National Battlefield. [...]

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July 13, 2009

Water quality monitoring with the Chester River Association

Last Wednesday, IAN went out with the Chester River Association on one of their weekly water quality monitoring trips on the Chester River. You know what they say – a bad day in the field is better than a good day in the office. And this was a great day in the field! The Chester [...]

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June 23, 2009

Paddling the Patuxent River

On Monday, I joined the Patuxent Sojourners for the final day of their four-day paddle along the upper Patuxent River. Organized by the Patuxent Riverkeeper, the Patuxent Sojourn aims to elevate awareness of the Patuxent River’s importance to the region and to encourage local residents to play an active role in its restoration and preservation. [...]

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