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IAN Press is committed to producing practical, user-centered communications that foster a better understanding of science and enable readers to pursue new opportunities in research, education, and environmental problem-solving. Our publications synthesize scientific findings using effective science communication techniques.
Publications
- Australia
- Brisbane
- Darwin Harbour
- Great Barrier Reef
- Moreton Bay
- Southwest Western Australia
- Caribbean
- Eastern Caribbean Sea
- Mesoamerican Reef
- Chesapeake Bay
- Anacostia River
- Baltimore Harbor
- Chesapeake Bay
- Chester River
- Choptank River
- Elizabeth River
- James River
- Lower Bay
- Lower Eastern Shore (Tangier)
- Lower Western Shore (MD)
- Magothy River
- Mid Bay
- Monie Bay
- Nanticoke River
- Patapsco and Back Rivers
- Patuxent River
- Potomac River
- Rappahannock River
- Sassafras River
- Severn River
- South River
- Tangier and Pocomoke Sounds
- Upper Bay
- Upper Eastern Shore
- Upper Western Shore
- West and Rhode Rivers
- Wheel Creek
- York River
- Gulf of Mexico
- Apalachee Bay
- Apalachicola Bay
- Aransas Bay
- Atchafalaya and Vermilion Bays
- Baffin Bay
- Barataria Bay
- Brazos River
- Breton and Chandeleur Sound
- Calcasieu Lake
- Caloosahatchee River
- Charlotte Harbor
- Choctawhatchee Bay
- Coastal Louisiana
- Corpus Christi Bay
- East Mississippi Sound
- Florida Bay
- Galveston Bay
- Gulf of Mexico
- Lake Borgne
- Lake Pontchartrain
- Lower Laguna Madre
- Matagorda Bay
- Mermentau River
- Mississippi and Atchafalaya Plume
- Mississippi River
- Mobile Bay
- North Ten Thousand Islands
- Pensacola Bay
- Perdido Bay
- Rookery Bay
- Sabine Lake
- San Antonio Bay
- Sarasota Bay
- South Florida
- South Ten Thousand Islands
- St. Andrew Bay
- Suwannee River
- Tampa Bay
- Terrebonne and Timbalier Bays
- Upper Laguna Madre
- West Mississippi Sound
- Hawaii
- Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail
- Hawaii Volcanos National Park
- Kalaupapa National Historical Park
- Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park
- Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site
- Maryland
- Deep Creek Lake
- Maryland Coastal Bays
- Assateague Island
- Assawoman Bay
- Chincoteague Bay
- Isle of Wight Bay
- Maryland Coastal Bays
- Newport Bay
- Sinepuxent Bay
- St. Martin River
- Mexico
- Nichupte Lagoon
- Puerto Morelos Lagoon
- Mid Atlantic
- Antietam National Battlefield Park
- Barnegat Bay
- Buzzards Bay
- Catoctin Mountain Park
- Chesapeake and Ohio National Historical Park
- Connecticut River
- Delaware Bay
- Delaware Inland Bays
- Gardiners Bay
- Great South Bay
- Hudson River and Raritan Bay
- Integration and Application Network
- Long Island Sound
- Monocacy National Battlefield Park
- Narragansett Bay
- New Jersey Inland Bays
- Rock Creek Park
- UMCES Center Administration
- Mid West
- Northern Great Plains
- North Atlantic
- Blue Hill Bay
- Boston Harbor
- Cape Cod Bay
- Casco Bay
- Damariscotta River
- Englishman and Machias Bay
- Great Bay
- Hampton Harbor
- Kennebec and Androscoggin River
- Massachusetts Bay
- Merrimack River
- Muscongus Bay
- Narraguagus Bay
- Penobscot Bay
- Plum Island Sound
- Saco Bay
- Sheepscot Bay
- St. Croix River and Cobscook Bay
- Waquoit Bay
- Wells Bay
- North Pacific
- Airai Bay, Palau
- War in the Pacific National Historical Park, Guam
- Pacific Coast
- Alamitos Bay
- Alsea River
- Anaheim Bay
- Bellingham and Padilla and Samish Bays
- Central San Francisco and San Pablo and Suisun Bays
- Columbia River
- Coos Bay
- Coquille River
- Drakes Estero
- Eel River
- Elkhorn Slough
- Grays Harbor
- Hood Canal
- Humboldt Bay
- Klamath River
- Mission Bay
- Monterey Bay
- Morro Bay
- Nehalem River
- Netarts Bay
- Newport Bay
- Port Orchard Sound
- Puget Sound
- Rogue River
- San Diego Bay
- San Francisco Bay
- San Pedro Bay
- Santa Monica Bay
- Sequim and Discovery Bays
- Siletz Bay
- Siuslaw River
- Skagit Bay and Whidbey Basin
- South Puget Sound
- Tijuana Estuary
- Tillamook Bay
- Tomales Bay
- Umpqua River
- Willapa Bay
- Yaquina Bay
- Panama
- Bocas del Toro
- Philippines
- Verde Island Passage
- South Atlantic
- Albemarle Sound
- Altamaha River
- Biscayne Bay
- Bogue Sound
- Broad River
- Cape Fear River
- Charleston Harbor
- Indian River
- Neuse River
- New River
- North and South Santee Rivers
- North Carolina Outer Banks
- Ossabaw Sound
- Pamlico and Pungo Rivers
- Pamlico Sound
- Savannah River
- South Carolina Beaches
- St. Andrew and St. Simons Sounds
- St. Catherines and Sapelo Sounds
- St. Helena Sound
- St. Johns River
- St. Marys River and Cumberland Sound
- Stono and North Edisto Rivers
- Winyah Bay
- South Caucasus
- Kura River basin
- South Pacific
- National Park of American Samoa
- Virginia
- George Washington Memorial Parkway
- Manassas National Battlefield Park
- Prince William Forest Park
- Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts
- West Virginia
- Harpers Ferry National Historical Park
agricultural aquatic assessment australia battlefield chesapeake bay chester climate change coastal coastal bays communication conceptual diagrams conference conservation coral creek dissolved oxygen document ecological ecosystem environmental estuarine federation fisheries flood forecast global habitat harbor health impacts implementation indicators loading maps marine menhaden monitoring nitrogen nutrient ocean overall oyster park partners patuxent pollution predicted reef report card restoration river seagrass sediment spatially studies study threats tidal tributary water quality watershed workshop zone
Staff Publications
You are currently viewing all 16 publications by Michael Williams. You can browse/search by year/month, and search terms to view other publications in the database.
Assateague Island National Seashore Natural Resource Condition Assessment (Report) 
Natural Resource Report NPS/ASIS/NRR—2011/405
Author(s): Carruthers TJB, Beckert KA, Dennison WC, Thomas JE, Saxby TA, Williams MR, Fisher T, Kumer J, Schupp C, Sturgis B, and Zimmerman C
Assateague Island National Seashore with lands and waters in Maryland and Virginia receives some two million visitors per year. After determining key habitats on Assateague Island, potential indicators were identified and data sourced. Attainment of reference condition was assessed for each metric and summarized by habitat and ultimately for the whole park. Based on these key findings, management recommendations were developed. Overall, the natural resources of Assateague Island National Seashore were assessed to be in fair condition. Download the PDF or purchase a hard copy from Lulu.
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Assateague Island National Seashore Natural Resource Condition Assessment - Executive Summary (Report)
Natural Resource Report NPS/ASIS/NRR—2011/405
Author(s): Carruthers TJB, Beckert KA, Dennison WC, Thomas JE, Saxby TA, Williams MR, Fisher T, Kumer J, Schupp C, Sturgis B, and Zimmerman C
This is a 12-page Executive Summary of the Assateague Island National Seashore Natural Resource Condition Assessment.
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2009 Chester River Report Card (Report card)
Publisher: Chester River Association
This report card summarizes 2009 water quality results, which are based on data collected by the Chester River Association and various partners. It helps to clarify the Chester River's health in both tidal and non-tidal regions, and provides information on what individuals can do to help improve water quality.
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Novel Applications of the Chesapeake Bay Health Index (Presentation)
Presented at the 2009 Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) conference in Portland, Oregon
Author(s): Williams MR, Longstaff BJ and Dennison WC
An environmental health index developed for the Chesapeake Bay (Bay Health Index - BHI) has been used to describe the health conditions of 15 reporting regions from 1986-2008. This method was recently adapted to accommodate additional sampling data and a sensitive species metric in the Severn River and modified further for use in Maryland and Virginia's Coastal Bays. In this novel application, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, dissolved oxygen, and chlorophyll a were used to create a Water Quality Index (WQI), whereas hard clam abundance, brown tide occurrence and the area of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) were used to create a Biotic Index (BI). These indices were combined to create a Coastal Bays Health Index (CBHI) which showed distinct separation among the reporting regions of Chincoteague Bay and the two mainland tributaries, suggesting that the aquatic health of the Coastal Bays is strongly affected by nutrient loading from upland areas.
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Assessing the Coastal Bays of Maryland and Virginia: A comparison of approaches (Poster)
Poster presented at the 2009 Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) conference in Portland, Oregon
Author(s): Thomas JE, Beckert K, Cain C, Carruthers TJB, Dennison WC1, Fisher T, Jesien R, Kumer J, Longstaff BJ, Radcliffe G, Schupp C, Sturgis B, Wazniak C, Wicks EC, Williams MR and Zimmerman C
Two ecosystem health assessment frameworks are being applied to the Coastal Bays region of Maryland and Virginia. Ecosystem health in these bays and their watersheds is at a 'tipping point,' so effective ecosystem health analysis and communication are essential to empower the community; inform monitoring, research, and management; and galvanize environmental change. The report card gives an annually reproducible communication tool with a fast turnaround time, while the habitat-based assessment gives a thorough analysis of habitats, repeatable every several years. These different assessments communicate ecosystem condition to different stakeholders and assist in developing stronger links between monitoring, research, and management.
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2008 Chesapeake Bay Report Card (Report card)
Prepared by EcoCheck and the Integration and Application Network
This report card provides a transparent, timely, and geographically detailed annual assessment of 2008 Chesapeake Bay habitat health. This is the third year that the report card has been released. This report card rates 15 reporting regions of the Bay using six indicators that are combined into a single overarching index of habitat health. The overall health of Chesapeake Bay was poor in 2008, obtaining a grade of C-. Health of the 15 individual reporting regions varied, ranging from B- (moderate-good) to F (very poor). For further details, visit the Report Card website.
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2008 Severn River report card (Report card)
Produced by Severn Riverkeeper Program and EcoCheck (NOAA-UMCES Partnership)
This newsletter introduces the first Severn River ecosystem health report card. The report card summarizes 2008 water quality results, which are based on data collected by the Severn Riverkeeper Program. This report card helps to clarify the Severn's health, and provides instructions on what individuals can do to improve its condition.
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2008 Chester River report card (Report card)
Produced by Chester River Association and EcoCheck (NOAA-UMCES Partnership)
This newsletter describes the second annual Chester River report card. The Chester River Estuary received an overall grade of D and the Chester River creeks received an overall grade of C+. In addition to the grades, the newsletter includes information on increased monitoring, provides a comparison of a healthy and unhealthy Chester River, and suggests actions that citizens can take to improve the health of the Chester River.
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2008 Patuxent River Report Card (Report card)
Produced by Patuxent Riverkeeper and EcoCheck (NOAA-UMCES Partnership)
This newsletter is the second annual Patuxent River ecosystem health report card. The report card provides grades for the three tidal regions of the Patuxent River estuary. The grades are based on the frequency that the river is able to meet six ecological targets. The results show the river is generally in poor condition despite a small improvement in the health in 2008 (compared to 2007). A narrative description of the non-tidal portion of the river based on the Patuxent Riverkeeper citizen water quality monitoring program is also provided.
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2006 Chesapeake Bay health report card (Presentation)
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.
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"Writing crystallizes thought and thought produces action." Paul J. Meyer
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