Long term trends in Submersed Aquatic Vegetation (SAV) in Chesapeake Bay, USA, related to water quality

SAV communities in Chesapeake Bay IAN and UMCES staff worked with a team led by Bob Orth from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) to produce this Estuaries and Coasts article, synthesizing trends in SAV abundance in Chesapeake Bay over the past 20 years. While abundance in low salinity areas has continually increased, mid salinity areas have shown increasing fluctuations and the high salinity areas of the lower bay have been declining for the past 15 years. Strong negative correlations suggested that high water column nitrogen is a major influence in declines of SAV abundance throughout Chesapeake Bay and can also be linked to some areas of recovery.