Yellow Waters Billabong, Kakadu National Park. Photo credit: Heath Kelsey

Water, food webs, and production on the Kakadu floodplains

Heath Kelsey ·
2 June 2015
Science Communication | Applying Science | Learning Science | 

As part of our synthesis of research findings related to National Environment Research Programme (NERP) work on Kakadu National Park floodplains, I am interviewing scientists to begin distilling the key messages for the synthesis story. These researchers are contributing to the developing picture of the connections between the floodplains, water movement, and important natural and cultural resources. Yellow Waters Billabong, Kakadu National Park. Photo credit:

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Science for Environmental Management 2015 poem

Bill Dennison ·
10 May 2015
Science Communication | Applying Science | Learning Science | 

Fifteen students from four campuses met each week … After watching YouTube lectures and reading a lot … Our class time flew by, did it not … Facilitators led the discussion, insights they did seek. And the rapporteur provided the discussion summary … So that the author could draft up a synthesis blog … Clarifying the topic by avoiding intellectual fog … And posting as many blogs as the Internet could carry.

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The US Constitution (top) and map of Chesapeake Bay Watershed (bottom). Images from Flickr and the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement 2014.

Developing a constitution for Chesapeake Bay

Bill Dennison ·
17 April 2015
Science Communication | Applying Science | 

At a recent roundtable discussion of approaches for accelerating Chesapeake Bay restoration, one of the participants used the phrase "We the people..." which provoked me to think of the preamble to the United States Constitution, the beginning of an amazingly robust document that still resonates today. I hope that the 2014 Chesapeake Bay and Watershed Agreement will also have longevity and resonance, so I adapted the agreement into constitutional language as follows:

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Professor Jay Zieman (1943-2015). Photo from http://www.evsc.virginia.edu/

In memory of Jay Zieman, University of Virginia seagrass ecologist

Bill Dennison ·
10 April 2015
Applying Science | Learning Science |     1 comments

Joseph "Jay" C. Zieman (1943-2015), my seagrass ecology colleague, died recently. I first met Jay in Biloxi, Mississippi in 1980 when my Master's thesis advisor C. Peter McRoy organized a workshop associated with the Seagrass Ecosystem Study, funded by the National Science Foundation as part of the International Decade of Ocean Exploration.

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Reginald V. Truitt (1890-1991)

Reginald V. Truitt in his own words: A visit to the Maryland Room archives

Bill Dennison ·
6 April 2015
Learning Science | 

Celebrating 90 years of UMCES series … Reginald V. Truitt (1890-1991) was the founder of Chesapeake Biological Laboratory in 1925, the forerunner of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES). As part of the 90th anniversary of UMCES, I have been learning about Reginald Truitt and made a visit to the Maryland Room in Hornbake Library to peruse his archived papers.

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Webstock 2015 meeting notepad and view of Chesapeake Bay from the meeting venue in Chesapeake Beach.

Webstock 2015: One day of Peace & the Internet

Bill Dennison ·
3 April 2015
Science Communication |     1 comments

I spent an enjoyable day in Chesapeake Beach overlooking the Bay in a workshop entitled 'Webstock 2015: One day of Peace & the Internet". Guy Stephens, one of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science at the Chesapeake Bay Program (UMCES @ CBP) staff organized this amazing event. I knew something was different when I heard strains of rock music as I approached the workshop site.

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