Human activities and climate change are making tidal rivers and estuaries saltier. These salinity changes threaten drinking water supply, coastal infrastructure, agriculture, industry, and ecosystems. Currently, most people do not have the information they need to plan for and mitigate these potential impacts.

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This project is aimed toward better understanding nutrient limitation of phytoplankton in Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries. Leveraging novel statistical approaches and long-term monitoring data sets from the Chesapeake Bay Program Partnership, this project helps understand whether nutrient limitation patterns have changed in response to decades of nutrient reduction efforts.

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Ecosystem based management (EBM) is a holistic and adaptive approach to developing effective policies for ensuring ecosystem sustainability, food and water security, and improved human health outcomes for future generations. Informed by science, it incorporates the entire ecosystem, including humans, into resource management decisions. Importantly, EBM explicitly considers tradeoffs in resource uses while protecting and sustaining diverse and productive ecosystems and the services they provide.

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University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science has been awarded a grant from Exelon Corporation through the Department of Natural Resources to study the affect that particulates from Conowingo Reservoir have on water quality in regions affected by high flow events. This is a two-year research project that began in October of 2014, the results are highly anticipated and will play a huge roll in future management of the sediment in Conowingo Reservoir.

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The goal of OysterFutures is to develop recommendations for oyster policies and management that meet the needs of industry, citizen, and government stakeholders in the Choptank and Little Choptank Rivers. Cover photo by Chesapeake Bay Program/Willl Parson.

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Native to the Gulf of Mexico, Karenia brevis is a toxic dinoflagellate that blooms almost annually off the west coast of Florida. K. brevis blooms are not a new phenomenon on the west Florida shelf, and ships' logs suggest bloom-related events (fish kills) dating back to the 1500s. Coastal regions of Florida have experienced some of the most rapid population growth and development in the United States.

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COSEE Coastal Trends increases public awareness about ocean science, empowers educators by developing interactive online modules, and fosters partnerships between researchers and educators in order to make current scientific knowledge and data available in the classroom.

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Chesapeake Bay has historically supported extensive bay grass (underwater grasses) meadows (>75,000 ha). However, water quality degradation from increased sediment and nutrient inputs has reduced the areal coverage and depth penetration of bay grasses, with one third of historical distributions remaining (21,648 ha; 1985-2004 mean). Chesapeake Bay underwater grasses are comprised of a variety of freshwater, brackish, and marine species.

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A keystone of the Integration and Application Network is effectively communicating science to a broad audience. This one- to three-day course provides participants with a science communication toolbox for effectively communicating their data.

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