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.

2008 Chester River report card (Page 1)

2008 Chester River report card

Ben Longstaff, Emily Nauman, Caroline Donovan, Michael Williams, Katie Foreman, Bill Dennison ·
26 March 2009

This newsletter describes the second annual Chester River report card. The Chester River Estuary received an overall grade of D and the Chester River creeks received an overall grade of C+. In addition to the grades, the newsletter includes information on increased monitoring, provides a comparison of a healthy and unhealthy Chester River, and suggests actions that citizens can take to improve the health of the Chester River.

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2008 Patuxent River Report Card (Page 1)

2008 Patuxent River Report Card

Ben Longstaff, Michael Williams, Emily Nauman, Caroline Donovan, Bill Dennison ·
25 March 2009

This newsletter is the second annual Patuxent River ecosystem health report card. The report card provides grades for the three tidal regions of the Patuxent River estuary. The grades are based on the frequency that the river is able to meet six ecological targets. The results show the river is generally in poor condition despite a small improvement in the health in 2008 (compared to 2007).

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Enclosed Experimental Ecosystems and Scale: Tools for Understanding and Managing Coastal Ecosystems

Petersen JE, Kennedy VS, Dennison WC and Kemp WM (Eds.) ·
2 March 2009

The environmental challenges now facing humanity are particularly acute in the coastal zone. Research in this region and in other aquatic ecosystems is complicated by interactions that occur over broad scales of time, space, and ecological complexity. Enclosed experimental ecosystems have become critical research tools because they provide a degree of control not achievable through field experiments.

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Northern Great Plains Network: Using conceptual diagrams to aid communication (Page 1)

Northern Great Plains Network: Using conceptual diagrams to aid communication

Jane Hawkey, Ben Longstaff, Bill Dennison ·
27 January 2009

Conceptual diagrams are effective tools in identifying resource condition trends and for communicating inventory and monitoring data back to national park management and the general public. This newsletter presents the project results from an IAN collaboration with four National Park Service (NPS) Northern Great Plains Network (NGPN) park units and the NGPN Inventory & Monitoring (I&M) Program.

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Altered ecological flows blur boundaries in urbanizing watersheds (Page 1)

Altered ecological flows blur boundaries in urbanizing watersheds

Lookingbill TR, Kaushal SS, Elmore AJ, Gardner R, Eshleman KN, Hilderbrand RH, Morgan RP, Boynton WR, Palmer MA, and Dennison WC ·
2009

The relevance of the boundary concept to ecological processes has been recently questioned. Humans in the post-industrial era have created novel lateral transport fluxes that have not been sufficiently considered in watershed studies. We describe patterns of land-use change within the Potomac River basin and demonstrate how these changes have blurred traditional ecosystem boundaries by increasing the movement of people, materials, and energy into and within the basin.

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Development and evaluation of a spatially-explicit index of Chesapeake Bay health (Page 1)

Development and evaluation of a spatially-explicit index of Chesapeake Bay health

Williams MR, Longstaff BJ, Buchanan C, Llanso R, Dennison WC ·
2009

In an effort to better portray changing health conditions in Chesapeake Bay and support restoration efforts, a Bay Health Index (BHI) was developed to assess the ecological effects of nutrient and sediment loading on 15 regions of the estuary. Three water quality and three biological measures were combined to formulate the BHI.

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Global patterns of foliar nitrogen isotopes and their relationships with climate, mycorrhizal fungi, foliar nutrient concentrations, and nitrogen availability

Craine JM, Elmore AJ, Aidar MPM, Bustamante M, Dawson TE, Hobbie EA, Kahmen A, Mack MC, McLauchlan KK, Michelsen A, Nardoto GB, Pardo LH, Penuelas J, Reich PB, Schuur EAG, Stock WD, Templer PH, Virginia RA, Welker JM, and Wright IJ ·
2009

Ratios of nitrogen (N) isotopes in leaves could elucidate underlying patterns of N cycling across ecological gradients. To better understand global-scale patterns of N cycling, we compiled data on foliar N isotope ratios (delta N-15), foliar N concentrations, mycorrhizal type and climate for over 11 000 plants worldwide.

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Multiple-pattern parameter identification and uncertainty analysis approach for water quality modeling (Page 1)

Multiple-pattern parameter identification and uncertainty analysis approach for water quality modeling

Zou R, Lung WS, and Wu J ·
2009

This paper presents a multiple-pattern parameter identification and uncertainty analysis approach for robust water quality modeling using a neural network (NN) embedded genetic algorithm (GA). The modeling approach uses an adaptive NN-GA framework to inversely solve the governing equations in a water quality model for multiple parameter patterns. along with an alternating fitness method to maintain solution diversity.

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Seagrasses: biology, ecology and conservation (Page 1)

Seagrasses: biology, ecology and conservation

Dennison WC ·
2009

Seagrasses: biology, ecology and conservation, edited by Tony Larkum, Bob Orth and Carlos Duarte, and authored by 79 active seagrass researchers is the most comprehensive book about these unique flowering plants ever written. It is long, 691 pp, with an excess of 100 pages devoted to references, and it includes 26 chapters on evolution, anatomy, biology, physiology, biogeochemistry, remote sensing, grazing and predation, ecology, and management.

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The occurrence of antibiotics in an urban watershed: From wastewater to drinking water

Watkinson AJ, Murby EJ, Kolpin DW, and Costanzo SD ·
2009

The presence of 28 antibiotics in three hospital effluents, five wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), six rivers and a drinking water storage catchment were investigated within watersheds of South-East Queensland, Australia. All antibiotics were detected at least once, with the exception of the polypeptide bacitracin which was not detected at all. Antibiotics were found in hospital effluent ranging from 0.01-14.5 [mu]g L(-1), dominated by the beta-lactam, quinolone and sulphonamide groups.

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