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Eutrophication has been a major environmental issue in many coastal and inland ecosystems, which is primarily attributed to excessive anthropogenic inputs of nutrients. Restoration efforts have therefore focused on the reduction of watershed nutrient loads, including in the Chesapeake Bay (USA).
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.
UMCES and America's Watershed Initiative held two workshops in Oklahoma City to examine Transportation and Flow Management in the Arkansas-Red River Basin. This document summarizes the results of the workshops and addresses next steps in the Mississippi River watershed.
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.
Changlin Xu, Brian R. Silliman, Jianshe Chen, Xincheng Li, Mads S. Thomsen, Qun Zhang, Juhyung Lee, Jonathan S.
Lefcheck, Pedro Daleo, Brent B. Hughes, Holly P. Jones, Rong Wang, Shaopeng Wang, Carter S. Smith, Xinqiang Xi,
Andrew H. Altieri, Johan van de Koppel, Todd M. Palmer, Lingli Liu, Jihua Wu, Bo Li, and Qiang He ·
Restoring vegetation in degraded ecosystems is an increasingly common practice for promoting biodiversity and ecological function, but successful implementation is hampered by an incomplete understanding of the processes that limit restoration success. By synthesizing terrestrial and aquatic studies globally (2594 experimental tests from 610 articles), we reveal substantial herbivore control of vegetation under restoration.
Sullivan B, Gootman K, Gunnerson A, Johnson C, Mason C, Perry E, Bhatt G, Keisman J, Webber J, Harcum J, Lane M, Devereux O, Zhang Q, Murphy R, Karrh R, Butler T, Van Note V, Wei Z ·
The James Tributary Summary outlines change over time for a suite of monitored tidal water quality parameters and associated potential drivers of those trends for the period 1985 – 2021 and provides a brief description of the current state of knowledge explaining these observed changes.
Bhatt G, Linker L, Shenk G, Bertani I, Tian R, Rigelman J, Hinson K, Claggett P ·
The 2010 Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load was established for the water quality and ecological restoration of the Chesapeake Bay. In 2017, the latest science, data, and modeling tools were used to develop revised Watershed Implementation Plans (WIPs).
The aim of this report card is to provide a transparent, timely, and geographically detailed assessment of 2022 Coastal Bays health. Coastal Bays health is defined as the progress of four water quality indicators (total nitrogen, total phosphorus, chlorophyll a, dissolved oxygen) and two biotic indicators (seagrass, hard clams) toward scientifically derived ecological thresholds or goals.
Sandifera PA, Brooksb BW, Canonicoc G, Chassignetd EP, Kirkpatricke B, Porterf DE, Schwackeg LH,
Geoffrey SI, and Kelsey RH ·
From time immemorial, humankind has looked to the ocean for food and other useful products, for warnings of impending danger (e.g., storms and invaders), for inspi- ration, wonder, and beauty, and as a broad avenue for exploration, adventure, and commerce (see Chapters 1 and 3). Today, we watch the ocean more closely and care- fully than ever before. Globally, the ocean and its coasts affect human health and well-being in many ways, some positive, others negative (Sandifer et al., 2021a).
The first-ever Fiji Report Card was developed at a stakeholder workshop in Suva, Fiji, in February 2023. This workshop brought together stakeholders from across Fiji and beyond to create a shared vision of coastal and ocean sustainability, and to identify actions to fight the impacts of climate change on the ocean and coastal livelihoods.
