IAN 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.

2020 Status Report Scoring Methodology for Atlantic Jurisdictions (Page 1)

2020 Status Report Scoring Methodology for Atlantic Jurisdictions

Donovan EC, Towle EK, Blondeau J, Eakin M, Edwards K, Edwards P, Enochs I, Fleming C, Formel N, Geiger E, Gorstein M, Grove J, Groves S, Johnson M, Kelsey RH, Manzello D, Miller N, and Viehman S ·
6 November 2020

The primary purpose of this document is to describe the scoring process used for all the Atlantic jurisdictions: Florida, the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), Puerto Rico, and the Flower Garden Banks.

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Lower Kafue River Basin Report Card (Page 1)

Lower Kafue River Basin 2019 Report Card

Simon Costanzo, Heath Kelsey, Annie Carew, Emily Nastase, Brianne Walsh ·
5 October 2020

The first-ever Lower Kafue River Basin Report Card examines the health of the Kafue River in Zambia. Sixteen indicators in five categories were assessed across seven regions within the basin. The basin received a moderate score of 49, a C, illustrating that some regions of the basin are in better condition than others. This report card includes a detailed summary of the process and indicators as well as proposed management interventions and strategic actions to improve basin and river health.

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Unfamiliar Territory: Emerging Themes for Ecological Drought Research and Management (Page 1)

Unfamiliar Territory: Emerging Themes for Ecological Drought Research and Management

Crausbay SD, Betancourt J, Bradford J, Cartwright J, Dennison WC, Dunham J, Enquist CAF, Frazier AG, Hall KR, Littell JS, Luce CH, Palmer R, Ramirez AR, Rangwala I, Thompson L, Walsh BM, Carter S ·
2020

Novel forms of drought are emerging globally, due to climate change, shifting teleconnection patterns, expanding human water use, and a history of human influence on the environment that increases the probability of transformational ecological impacts. These costly ecological impacts cascade to human communities, and understanding this changing drought landscape is one of today’s grand challenges.

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Western Lake Erie Report Card (Page 1)

Western Lake Erie 1st Report Card

Alexandra Fries, Brianne Walsh, Annie Carew ·
14 August 2020

About one-third of the total population of the Great Lakes Basin lives within the Lake Erie Watershed. The lake provides drinking water for 11 million residents and is home to one of the largest freshwater commercial and recreational fisheries in the world. The lake and surrounding areas provide many recreational opportunities, such as camping, kayaking, boating, hiking, birding, and fishing, and are vital to the economy of the region.

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Evaluating Transdisciplinary Approaches (Page 1)

Evaluating Transdisciplinary Approaches

Emily Nastase, Heath Kelsey, Bill Dennison, Max Hermanson, Katie May Laumann, Sky Swanson ·
28 July 2020

The Evaluating Transdisciplinary Approaches Workshop was convened by the Belmont Forum at the National Science Foundation and facilitated by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science in Alexandria, VA, USA on 26–28 June 2019. Participants of the workshop are part of a growing community of transdisciplinary research supporters and practitioners. Their efforts contribute to our fundamental and applied understanding of complex systems.

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Anthropogenic, Direct Pressures on Coastal Wetlands (Page 1)

Anthropogenic, Direct Pressures on Coastal Wetlands

Newton A, Icely J, Cristina S, Perillo GME, Turner RE, Ashan D, Cragg S, Luo Y, Tu C, Li Y, Zhang H, Ramesh R, Forbes DL, Solidoro C, Béjaoui B, Gao S, Pastres R, Kelsey RH, Taillie D, Nguyen Nhan N, Brito AC, Lima RD, Kuenzer C ·
2020

Coastal wetlands, such as saltmarshes and mangroves that fringe transitional waters, deliver important ecosystem services that support human development. Coastal … wetlands are complex social-ecological systems that occur at all latitudes, from polar … regions to the tropics. This overview covers wetlands in five continents. The wetlands … are of varying size, catchment size, human population and stages of economic … development.

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Quantifying the Response of Nitrogen Speciation to Hydrology in the Chesapeake Bay  Watershed Using a Multilevel Modeling Approach (Page 1)

Quantifying the Response of Nitrogen Speciation to Hydrology in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Using a Multilevel Modeling Approach

Bertani I, Bhatt G, Shenk GW, Linker LC ·
2020

Excessive nitrogen (N) inputs to coastal waters can lead to severe eutrophication and different chemical forms of N exhibit varying levels of effectiveness in fueling primary production. Efforts to mitigate N fluxes from coastal watersheds are often guided by models that predict changes in N loads as a function of changes in land use, management practices, and climate. However, relatively little is known on the impacts of such changes on the relative fractions of different N forms.

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Sediment dynamics and implications for management: State of the science from long-term research in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, USA (Page 1)

Sediment dynamics and implications for management: State of the science from long-term research in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, USA

Noe GB, Cashman MJ, Skalak K, Gellis A, Hopkins KG, Moyer D, Webber J, Benthem A, Maloney K, Brakebill J, Sekellick A, Langland M, Zhang Q, Shenk G, Keisman J, Hupp C ·
2020

This review aims to synthesize the current knowledge of sediment dynamics using insights from long-term research conducted in the watershed draining to the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the U.S., to inform management actions to restore the estuary and its watershed. The sediment dynamics of the Chesapeake are typical of many impaired watersheds and estuaries around the world, and this synthesis is intended to be relevant and transferable to other sediment-impaired systems.

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