Blog posts for the Science for Environmental Management course
Figure 1: As depicted by NOAA, there are many scales at which a management plan can attempt to regulate a fishery and many factors to consider. Management is made even more challenging due to the unpredictable and dynamic nature of fisheries as complex systems. Image from NOAA

The future of managing fisheries: what can we expect?

Adriane Michaelis, Sabrina Klick, Rebecca Peters ·
5 May 2015
| Science Communication | Applying Science |     3 comments

Adriane Michaelis, Sabrina Klick, and Rebecca Peters … As students in the Science for Environmental Management course offered by the University of Maryland, we had the opportunity to discuss past, current, and future aspects of science and fisheries management with Dr. Mike Wilberg of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and Eric Schwaab, Chief Conservation Officer at the National Aquarium…

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Figure 1: Screen grab of each students' presentation

Fifteen students, Ten minutes: One humbling education

Rebecca Peters, Aimee Hoover, Emily Russ ·
1 May 2015
| Science Communication | Applying Science |     1 comments

Rebecca Peters, Aimee Hoover, Emily Russ … The birds are chirping, the grass is green, the tourists are out walking the streets, and students are indoors on a Saturday signaling the coming end of another eventful school year: Spring is in the air in Annapolis. On Saturday April 25, 2015 graduate students in the Science for Environmental Management Class offered by the University of Maryland came together to put into practice the communication techniques we learned these past few months.

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Figure 1: Environmental report cards can assess different scales, such as a national region, regional watershed and local watershed. The watershed image represents the size of the watershed of interest, along with the number of complexities involved in creating a report card. Adapted from Williams et al.

A report card to tell your mom about: Environmental report cards provide transparent assessments of our aquatic ecosystems

Melanie Jackson, Chih-Hsien (Michelle) Lin, Detbra Rosales ·
28 April 2015
| Environmental Report Cards | Science Communication |     3 comments

Melanie Jackson, Chih-Hsien (Michelle) Lin, Detbra Rosales … Students in grammar school and all the way to college have anxiety about receiving report cards, and often times devise plans for the best time to tell their parents about their not so stellar grades. Explaining poor grades to parents can involve tactics such as blaming the teacher for “just not liking you”; in contrast, this sort of bias is not involved in any step of creating the environmental report cards.

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Table 1 The media information chain (modified from Herbert O. Funsten, 2003)

Scientists in Media: “Give me a microphone, and I shall waken the world”

Wenfei Ni, Martina Gonzalez Mateur, Stephanie Siemek ·
21 April 2015
| Science Communication |     4 comments

Wenfei Ni, Martina Gonzalez Mateu, Stephanie Siemek … Taking a last glance of the materials on the table, Rona Kobell from the Bay Journal adjusted her glasses, and asked clearly, “ Why is anyone still fishing in the Anacostia River anyway if it is very polluted? “It is because lots of urban families nearby just go fishing there for relaxation.

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Fig.1 Expert witness are needed to translate scientific jargons into understandable concepts for the judge. Figure by Fan Zhang.

Do’s and Don’ts: How scientists and the law can exist in tandem

Fan Zhang, Emily Russ, Whitney Hoot ·
14 April 2015
| Science Communication | Applying Science |     4 comments

Fan Zhang, Emily Russ, Whitney Hoot … When we talk about scientists, we envision someone wearing a lab coat and exploring nature’s mysteries, a professor passing knowledge to the next generation or a group of people who enjoy debating and discussing abstruse topics. We know that these are important professional activities for scientists, in academia and beyond. But sometimes scientists have more challenging jobs: dealing with the law, and it can be a nightmare if it goes wrong.

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Figure 1 The six segments of the American public based on climate change beliefs, attitudes, policy preferences, and behaviors identified by Yale/ George Mason University (2014). [[i]]

Climate change: teaching the public these are not dirty words

Stephanie Siemek, Wenfei Ni, Sabrina Klick ·
1 April 2015
| Science Communication | Applying Science |     3 comments

Stephanie Siemek, Wenfei Ni, Sabrina Klick … The words climate change are not dirty words, nevertheless, in some cases it is controversial to even mention it. Climate change has an immense amount of support from scientific data, models, research, as well as current day observation. Yet, many people refuse to believe it. Websites have even been developed to combat skepticism such as SkepticalScience.com and realclimate.org.

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Figure 1. Diagram shows how factors influencing environmental science and management vary along the maturity gradient, in the context of the four case studies described in this blog.

How the past influences the future: Understanding the maturity gradient in environmental science and management

Whitney Hoot, Adriane Michaelis, Martina Gonzalez Mateur ·
25 March 2015
| Science Communication |     5 comments

Whitney Hoot, Adrianne Michaelis, Martina Gonzalez Mateur … Coastal and marine management systems vary along gradients; this semester, we’ve discussed gradients of size (in terms of physical area) and human population. Less obvious is the maturity gradient - how recent is the environmental management and the science informing the management of an ecosystem? How does this gradient correlate with other environmental management continuums? And why does the maturity gradient matter?

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Image 1. Graduate students and professors from across the state came together at the UMCES IAN office in Annapolis on March 7th to learn about effective science communication. It was a great opportunity for the class to come together, rather than meeting through our normal means of video conferencing. (Google Maps, 2015).

How many scientists does it take to make a good story? Learning the art of communicating science

Aimee Hoover, Cara Schweitzer, Suzi Spitzer ·
17 March 2015
| Science Communication |     3 comments

Aimee Hoover, Cara Schweitzer, Suzi Spitzer … The words ‘science’ and ‘communication’ are too often disjointed in the eyes of academic scientists. Science involves building and organizing knowledge through testable explanations and predictions, while communication describes the exchange of information and meaning across time and space using various means. Scientists are often guilty of providing subpar explanations of their work.

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Figure 1. EPA's plan in order to ensure Chesapeake Bay restoration goals are met by 2025 (EPA 2015).

Chesapeake Bay Science and Management: A need for more effective scientific communication and adaptive management

Sabrina Klick, Stephanie Siemek, Wenfei Ni ·
11 March 2015
| Science Communication | Applying Science |     3 comments

Sabrina Klick, Stephanie Siemek, Wenfei Ni … The Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) was established in 1983 and started the partnership between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the state of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the District of Columbia (NRC 2011). The partnership expanded in 2002 with the addition of Delaware, New York, and West Virginia under the Memorandum of Understanding.

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