Presentations
IAN will continue to produce a variety of presentations for scientific, government and public audiences. All presentations are downloadable in PDF format by clicking on the thumbnails.
These presentations will focus on synthesizing data, information and knowledge into methods that can be used for problem solving. There will be a strong emphasis on the use of conceptual diagrams to relay our current understanding of various ecosystem processes and the issues affecting ecosystem health.
Presentations are available as a PDF 
or in some cases, also as a multimedia presentation 
recorded by the presenter which includes slides and their audio.
Do retreating marshes create seagrass habitat? The importance of sand, plant morphology, and hydrodynamics
Caroline Wicks and Evamaria Koch
Sea level rise leads to marsh loss due to increased frequency of flooding. Additionally, waves make these marshes more vulnerable to erosion leading to marsh retreat. Over time, marsh retreat may create potential seagrass habitat. In the field, seagrasses were absent from the sub-tidal marsh substrate adjacent to a retreating marsh, but were present when sand (2-15 cm) overlaid the marsh substrate. Lab experiments indicated that sediment organic content was not limiting seagrasses, but that plant morphology and anchoring capacity of seagrass roots may determine the presence of seagrasses adjacent to eroding marsh shorelines. The combination of sediment characteristics, plant morphology, and hydrodynamic conditions seems to determine the growth and distribution of seagrasses adjacent to retreating marshes in Chincoteague Bay, Maryland. Retreating marshes can create new sub-tidal areas, but the local sediment and hydrodynamic conditions determine if these areas are suitable as seagrass habitat.
National Estuarine Eutrophication Assessment: A Decade of Change
Suzanne Bricker, Ben Longstaff, Bill Dennison, Adrian Jones, Kate Boicourt, Caroline Wicks, and Joanna Woerner
This presentation describes the methods used in the NEEA and focuses on the national results. It also describes the Mid-Atlantic results and International case studies. The presentation was given at the 2007 Estuarine Research Federation conference.
2006 Chesapeake Bay health report card
Ben Longstaff, Michael Williams, and Bill Dennison in collaboration with the Chesapeake Bay Program
This presentation highlights the process that occurred to produce the 2006 Chesapeake Bay report card. The background information on the report card is discussed, as well as the methods used to produce the scores for each tributary. Additionally, the results and conclusions from 2006 are presented and solutions to cleaning up the Bay are touched upon. This effort is in collaboration with the Chesapeake Bay Program.