Photo credit: SERC … This blog post is the second of a two-post series examining cownose ray (Rhinoptera bonasus) history and ecology in the Chesapeake Bay. Hauled aboard a fishing vessel on the Chesapeake Bay, most of the creatures caught in the net would never return to the sea. But one supple parallelogram with a kind smile was afforded a less adverse fate.

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This blog post is the first of a two-post series examining cownose ray (Rhinoptera bonasus) history and ecology in the Chesapeake Bay. In 2007, an article appeared in the reputable scientific journal Science asserting that declines in large shark populations along the eastern coast of the United States had led to an “explosion” of rays and skates due to lack of predation.

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Satellite image of mangroves in the Sundarbans, Bangladesh, and India. Darker hues represent higher levels of mangrove canopy cover per-pixel. Photo credit: Dr. Stuart Hamilton. “The web of life ….” “The evolutionary tree ….” These are phrases used so often they approach cliché, but they also capture, in living metaphor, a fundamental truth: that all life exists in relationship.

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Oyster populations in the Northeastern United States have reached historic lows as a function of overharvesting, disease, and habitat degradation. Considered a keystone species, oysters provide critical ecosystem services. They clean the water, allowing sunlight to reach underwater plants. They support wildlife as food and shelter. Oyster reefs moderate wave action and prevent shoreline erosion.

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Dice clatter on a plain table in a quiet room. The truncated, cacophonous collision of plastic and faux wood laminate foretells the destiny of a densely populated urban area. The game master considers the exposed numbers reflected in the light of a computer screen before inputting the next fated event: Power station 3, grid section 6 fails. Pump 617 offline.

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I’m new to IAN, Horn Point Laboratory, and the East Coast. I came here from the west. The other day my co-worker, Emily, and I took a break to walk around outside a bit. She was telling me a little about what folks do here on campus, which includes “recycling” oyster shells. I didn’t ask follow-up questions and thought she meant that you could take oyster shells and put a new oyster baby in them and the baby would grow up and use those shells as its own shells.

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