Publications about Chesapeake Bay

IAN is committed to producing practical, user-centered communications that foster a better understanding of science and enable readers to pursue new opportunities in research, education, and environmental problem-solving. Our publications synthesize scientific findings using effective science communication techniques.

Invasive blue catfish in the Chesapeake Bay: A risk to realizing Bay restoration investments (Page 1)

Invasive blue catfish in the Chesapeake Bay: A risk to realizing Bay restoration investments

Robertson E, Malpass J, Ottinger C, Griffin J, Densmore C, and Hyer K ·
22 August 2024

The partners of the Chesapeake Bay are investing billions of dollars in the restoration of critical habitats to improve conditions for people and living resources throughout the Bay and its watershed. However, the recent proliferation of invasive Ictalurus furcatus (blue catfish) in the Chesapeake Bay’s major rivers has the potential to disrupt these restoration efforts and limit the full potential improvement of the ecosystem.

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Connecting Conservation Practices to Local Stream Health in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed (Page 1)

Connecting Conservation Practices to Local Stream Health in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

Noe G, Angermeier PL, Barber LB, Buckwalter J, Cashman MJ, Devereux O, Doody TR, Entrekin S, Fanelli RM, Hitt N, Huber ME, Jasmann JR, Maloney KO, Mohs TG, Sabat-Bonilla S, Smalling K, Wagner T, Wolf JC, Hyer KE ·
22 July 2024

The Chesapeake Bay Partnership is implementing conservation practices (CPs) throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed to reduce nutrient and sediment delivery to the Bay. This study intends to provide an integrated and detailed understanding of how local streams respond to these CP-driven management efforts. The publication can also be found on the USGS website here.

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2023/2024 Chesapeake Bay & Watershed Report Card (Page 1)

2023/2024 Chesapeake Bay & Watershed Report Card

Vanessa Vargas-Nguyen, Joe Edgerton, Roshni Nair, Sidney Anderson, Lili Badri, Veronica Lucchese, Anikka Fife, Heath Kelsey, Bill Dennison ·
9 July 2024

This report card provides a transparent, timely, and geographically detailed assessment of Chesapeake Bay and its Watershed. Since 2016, UMCES has engaged stakeholders throughout the watershed to transform the report card into an evaluation of the Chesapeake Watershed health. Watershed health includes traditional ecological indicators, but also economic and societal indicators.

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Charting the Chesapeake: Uncovering the Mysteries of Microdebris (Page 1)

Charting the Chesapeake: Uncovering the Mysteries of Microdebris

Trenholm N, Knauss C ·
9 July 2024

Man-made debris is found throughout the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed, but its status is largely unknown due to the lack of a monitoring framework. Recent research has aimed to collect data on this debris and develop methods for long-term monitoring. The goal is to use this data as an indicator in a future Chesapeake Bay & Watershed Report Card.

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Evaluating water-quality trends in agricultural watersheds prioritized for management-practice implementation (Page 1)

Evaluating water-quality trends in agricultural watersheds prioritized for management-practice implementation

Webber J, Chanat J, Clune J, Devereux O, Hall N, Sabo RD, Zhang Q ·
2024

Many agricultural watersheds rely on the voluntary use of management practices (MPs) to reduce nonpoint source nutrient and sediment loads; however, the water-quality effects of MPs are uncertain. We interpreted water-quality responses from as early as 1985 through 2020 in three agricultural Chesapeake Bay watersheds that were prioritized for MP implementation, namely, the Smith Creek (Virginia), Upper Chester River (Maryland), and Conewago Creek (Pennsylvania) watersheds.

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Your Land, Your Water: Using Research to Guide Conservation Practices on Local Farms in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed (Page 1)

Your Land, Your Water: Using Research to Guide Conservation Practices on Local Farms in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

Webber JS, Clune JW, Soroka AM, and Hyer KE ·
19 December 2023

Agricultural lands are an important part of the economy and heritage of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and are a focus of conservation activities. Streams and rivers around farms provide communities with drinking water and recreational opportunities, but these local benefits can be impaired by elevated nutrient and sediment concentrations.

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Effects of point and nonpoint source controls on total phosphorus load trends across the Chesapeake Bay watershed, USA (Page 1)

Effects of point and nonpoint source controls on total phosphorus load trends across the Chesapeake Bay watershed, USA

Zhang Q, Bostic JT, Sabo RD ·
2024

Reduction of total phosphorus (TP) loads has long been a management focus of Chesapeake Bay restoration, but riverine monitoring stations have shown mixed temporal trends. To better understand the regional patterns and drivers of TP trends across the Bay watershed, we compiled and analyzed TP load data from 90 Non-Tidal Network stations using clustering and random forest (RF) approaches.

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Socio-ecological analysis of the eutrophication in Chesapeake Bay, USA (Page 1)

Socio-ecological analysis of the eutrophication in Chesapeake Bay, USA

Ollivier MEL, Newton A, Kelsey RH ·
2023

This study is a social-ecological analysis of eutrophication in the Chesapeake Bay, United States of America (USA). It uses an expanded DPSIR framework (Drivers/Pressures/State/ Impacts/Responses) methodology to analyze the issue. In addition, a typology of the social actors and stakeholders in the socio-economic part of the system is identified.

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