Increases in contaminants associated with urban sprawl are a particular concern in the rapidly developing coastal areas of the southeastern United States. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are contaminants associated with vehicle emissions and runofff from impervious surfaces. Increased vehicular traffic and more impervious surfaces lead to an increased loading of PAHs into coastal estuarine systems.

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The abundance and productivity of benthic microalgae in coral reef sediments are poorly known compared with other, more conspicuous (e.g. coral zooxanthellae, macroalgae) primary producers of coral reef habitats.

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While the remote-sensing community attempts to find measures of reef ‘‘health’’ able to be detected and mapped using satellite image data, internationally recognized field assessments are already in place to document benthic cover, among other parameters, as an indicator of coral reef status. Reef Check is one such program, designed in 1996 as a globally applicable, rapid, field-survey protocol for coral reef health monitoring by volunteer divers (Hodgson 1999).

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A time-series analysis of airborne photographs and Landsat thematic mapper (TM and ETM+) images and hydrochemical data were used to examine the effects of land-use change from 1930 to 2001 on solute inputs to Lake Calado, a floodplain lake in the central Amazon. Deforestation from slash-and-burn agricultural activities has dramatically decreased the amount of primary growth upland and flooded forests in the basin.

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Coral cays form part of the Australian Great Barrier Reef. Coral cays with high densities of seabirds are areas of extreme nitrogen (N) enrichment with deposition rates of up to 1000 kg N ha(-1) y(-1). The ways in which N sources are utilised by coral cay plants, N is distributed within the cay, and whether or not seabird-derived N moves from cay to surrounding marine environments were investigated.

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An assessment of nitrogen sources to the Choptank and Patuxent River (including Island Creek), was conducted during the summer of 2003. Results demonstrated that both rivers were compromised with sewage derived nutrients. An Ecosystem Health Index for defined reporting regions was calculated from a variety of ecosystem heath parameters and then converted to a report card grade from A+ to D- and F for fail (Table 1).

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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 newsletter describes the historical distributions of both native and introduced Phragmites. It details the invasion of the introduced type in North America (determined through genetic analysis), and morphological differences between the native and introduced types, as well as some commonly used control methods and their associated problems. Phragmites is thought to be one of the most widespread plants on earth.

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This newsletter discusses the effects of sea level rise, land subsidence and ground water extraction on the flooding and damage caused by Hurricane Isabel.

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