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.

2013 Pipe Creek Report Card (Page 1)

2013 Pipe Creek Report Card

20 March 2014

Pipe Creek is a small tributary to Sandusky Bay on the south-central shore of Lake Erie. The Pipe Creek watershed is largely developed by a combination of urban and agricultural land uses. Pipe Creek is best known for its 97 acre State Wildlife Area located at the mouth of Pipe Creek, which was constructed in the early 1990s as a mitigation site for wetlands destroyed by development elsewhere.

Read more

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park Natural Resource Condition Assessment (Page 1)

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park Natural Resource Condition Assessment

Thomas JE, Campbell JP, Costanzo SD, Dennison WC, Lehman M, Nisbet D, Nortrup M, and Parsons M ·
7 February 2014

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park provides a wealth of natural resource values, including riparian habitats, floodplains, agricultural fields, geologic exposures, rare limestone glades, developed areas, and upland forests. These resources were assessed using the Vital Signs framework. Overall, the natural resoures in Harpers Ferry National Historical Park are in degraded condition and are under threat from surrounding land use, regionally poor air quality, and overpopulation of deer.

Read more

Catoctin Mountain Park Natural Resource Condition Assessment (Page 1)

Catoctin Mountain Park Natural Resource Condition Assessment

Thomas JE, Bell PS, Campbell JP, Costanzo SD, Dennison WC, Donaldson L, Lehman M, Loncosky R, and Nortrup M ·
6 February 2014

Catoctin Mountain Park provides a wealth of natural resource values, largely resulting from the maintenance of forest and wetland habitats. These resources were assessed using the Vital Signs framework. Overall, the natural resoures in Catoctin Mountain Park are in moderate condition but are under threat from surrounding land use, regionally poor air quality, and overpopulation of deer.

Read more

Dancing with dugongs (Page 1)

Dancing with dugongs

Oliver PE and Dennison WC ·
6 February 2014

This book is for environmental managers. Physically, our environment gives us everything we need, but then there are things that we just 'want', so as our wants grow, the demands we place on our environment increase even more rapidly. As awareness of these environmental pressures grow, so too do the numbers of people working in environmental fields. People can burn out trying to balance their desire to protect the environment with a wide variety of demands. This book tells the story of Prof.

Read more

Ohio River Basin report card workshop newsletter (Page 1)

Ohio River Basin report card workshop newsletter

Bill Dennison, Heath Kelsey, Jane Thomas, Caroline Donovan, Brianne Walsh, Bill Nuttle ·
4 February 2014

The America's Watershed Initiative Report Card project continued with a regional workshop for the Ohio River Basin, held near Cincinnati, Ohio, on December 12–13, 2013. At the workshop, stakeholders and experts from social, economic, and environmental sectors identified easily understood and transparent ways to measure status and trends for the Ohio River Basin in relation to six broad goals.

Read more

Oyster delta N-15 as a Bioindicator of Potential Wastewater and Poultry Farming Impacts and Degraded Water Quality in a Subestuary of Chesapeake Bay (Page 1)

Oyster delta N-15 as a Bioindicator of Potential Wastewater and Poultry Farming Impacts and Degraded Water Quality in a Subestuary of Chesapeake Bay

Fertig B, Carruthers TJB, and Dennison WC ·
2014

Anthropogenic nitrogen contributes to water quality degradation, but it is difficult to distinguish sources once they are mixed in coastal ecosystems. Natural abundances of stable nitrogen isotopes (delta N-15) were measured in oyster (Crassostrea virginica) tissues (muscle, gills, and mantle) during summer 2006 to summer 2008 to identify nitrogen sources in Monie Bay (a subestuary of Chesapeake Bay) receiving freshwater inputs from three tributary creeks. The creeks (estimated flushing times:

Read more

Using the integrated ecosystem assessment framework to build consensus and transfer information to managers (Page 1)

Using the integrated ecosystem assessment framework to build consensus and transfer information to managers

Fletcher PJ, Kelble CR, Nuttle WK, and Kiker GA ·
2014

Ecosystem-based management is widely regarded as a method to improve the way we manage our coastal marine resources and ecosystems. Effective ecosystem-based management relies upon synthesizing our scientific knowledge and transferring this knowledge into management actions. Integrated ecosystem assessment is a framework to conduct this scientific synthesis and transfer information to resource managers.

Read more