This poster details the importance of developing a scientifically rigorous, spatially explicit ecosystem health report card on Chesapeake Bay and its watershed to facilitate coordination and feedback between monitoring, management and research. A pilot study was conducted in July 2003 on the Patuxent and Choptank Rivers using a novel stable isotope technique (see "Assessing Nutrient Sources" newsletter below) together with more traditional water quality monitoring techniques.

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Management of coastal systems is becoming increasingly important, however understanding the process of effective management often remains elusive. This chapter contrasts examples of environmental problems and associated management in Moreton Bay, Australia, and Chesapeake Bay, USA. Targeted research in Moreton Bay identified specific issues which led to changed practices, while intense management and research in Chesapeake Bay has been unable to keep pace with increasing anthropogenic stress.

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This newsletter details the importance of developing a scientifically rigorous, spatially explicit ecosystem health report card on Chesapeake Bay and its watershed to facilitate coordination and feedback between monitoring, management and research. A pilot study was conducted in July 2003 on the Patuxent and Choptank Rivers using a novel stable isotope technique (see "Assessing Nutrient Sources" newsletter below) together with more traditional water quality monitoring techniques.

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This science newsletter focuses on the role of the Integration and Application Network (IAN) in achieving healthy Chesapeake waterways. This is the first in a series of IAN newsletters on topical issues and is directed towards the scientific and technical audience. This newsletter identifies IAN's vision for Healthy Chesapeake Waterways and includes an overview of environmental problem solving, through transfer of data into information into knowledge and ultimately into problem solving.

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The Optical Plankton Counter (OPC) has been used in oceanic and fresh waters to estimate zooplankton abundance and biovolume. However, it is not clear whether the OPC can produce accurate estimates of zooplankton abundance and biovolume in waters with high detritus.

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Scientists from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science have evaluated the scientific understanding and uncertainty related to five issues regarding the environmental effects of placement of dredged sediments at Site 104, at the head of the deep, natural channel of the Chesapeake Bay. This assessment was based on reviews of relevant studies and impact statements as well as on the scientists’ extensive knowledge and experience concerning the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem.

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Outbreaks of jellyfish are reported worldwide, yet the environmental factors that control the sizes of jellyfish populations are not well understood. The scyphomedusan Chrysaora quinquecirrha occurs in the mesohaline portion of Chesapeake Bay each summer. Population sizes of the medusae show dramatic annual variations that are correlated with salinity and temperature.

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We measured predation on bay anchovy Anchoa mitchilli eggs and larvae by abundant scyphomedusae Chrysaora quinquecirrha and ctenophores Mnemiopsis leidyi from gut contents, digestion rates, and densities of predators and prey during 9 d in July 1991 at 4 stations in Chesapeake Bay, USA, These predation rates were compared to egg and larval mortality rates measured concurrently in ichthyoplankton surveys.

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Ammonium excretion rates of recently collected specimens of gelatinous zooplankton. the scyphomedusan Chrysaora quinquecirrha DeSor and the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi A. Agassiz, were correlated with body mass and water temperature in measurements made from April to October 1989 and 1990. Rates ranged between 3.5 and 5.0 mug atoms NH4+-N (g dry wt)-1 h-1 for C. quinquecirrha and 3.0 to 4.9 mug atoms NH4-N (g dry wt) -1 h-1 for M. leidyi.

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Assessing Water-Quality with Submersed Aquatic Vegetation

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