The Sea Around Us, Rachel Carson … In seventh grade in Ohio, in the heartland of America and without ever actually seeing the ocean, I read Rachel Carson's The Sea Around Us. I had become very enamored in everything to do with water, but my experience was confined to freshwater in the streams, rivers and lakes of Ohio, Michigan and Canada.

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On May 16, Marine Estuarine and Environmental Sciences (MEES) students, faculty and alumni gathered in the newly renovated HJ Patterson Hall on the University of Maryland College Park campus in honor of Dr. Robert E. "Bob" Menzer. The occasion was the formal opening of the new Robert E. Menzer Classroom and Central Administration suite. Two state of the art electronic classrooms, offices, and conference room were unveiled.

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We had a great visit with Dr. Robert Twilley, Louisiana Sea Grant Director and a faculty member at Louisiana State University. Robert gave a wonderful seminar at Horn Point Laboratory, covering the history of coastal Louisiana wetland loss, Mississippi River diversions and provided the context for the 2012 Master Plan.

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As one of the outputs of the Australian Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis workshop on "Australian seagrass habitats: Condition and threats", I composed a song which Kieryn Kilminster from Western Australia Department of Water was able to convince her husband, Gary Cox, to set to music and then record.

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The steady rise in the number of people who have registered and downloaded the IAN symbol and image libraries has continued since they were first posted online in 2003. The number of users is currently in excess of 75,000 people, from all 50 U.S. states and virtually every country in the world.

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I participated in a week long seagrass working group meeting at the Moreton Bay Research Station on North Stradbroke Island. The working group meeting was sponsored by the Australian Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (ACEAS) modeled after the U.S.-based National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS). ACEAS is run by Associate Professor Alison Specht and is part of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN), chaired by Professor Andrew Campbell.

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Conceptual diagrams are 'thought drawings' that use symbols to convey meaningful ecological information. The IAN symbol library was created in order that more people would be able to produce conceptual diagrams. Between the Marine Botany Group at the University of Queensland and the IAN team, the Science Communicators have produced over a thousand conceptual diagrams that have been used in scientific papers, books, newsletters, fact sheets, posters, and websites.

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New ways of looking at data promise to give a clearer picture of the effects of restoration in the ecosystem. People have worked hard to bring the Chesapeake Bay back to health. Yet, why is it so difficult to see the results? The IAN program’s Chesapeake Bay Report Card for 2011 gives the bay a D+.

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This is the sixth and final blog post in a series which celebrates the IAN symbol library by highlighting some of the most interesting symbols. Previous blog posts have focused on marine flora and fauna, birds, trees and animals. This blog post focuses on human aspects, with human structures and people themselves. 1. The symbol of a teacher reflects one of the developments of the IAN symbol library.

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This is the fifth blog post in a series of blog posts which celebrate the IAN symbol library by highlighting some of the most interesting symbols. Previous blog posts have focused on marine flora and fauna, birds and trees. This blog post focuses on terrestrial animals, from small (e.g., butterflies) to large (e.g., whales). 1. The Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) was the first butterfly that I learned growing up in Ohio. We had milkweed plants in our yard, which attracted Monarchs.

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