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.

Data synthesis for environmental management: A case study of Chesapeake Bay (Page 1)

Data synthesis for environmental management: A case study of Chesapeake Bay

Orth RJ, Dennison WC, Wilcox DJ, Batiuk RA, Landry JB, Gurbisz C, Keisman J, Hannam M, Lefcheck JS, Murphy RR, Moore KA, Patrick CJ, Testa JM, Weller DE, Merrittj MF, Hobaugh P ·
2022

Synthesizing large, complex data sets to inform resource managers towards effective environmental stewardship is a universal challenge. In Chesapeake Bay, a well-studied and intensively monitored estuary in North America, the challenge of synthesizing data on water quality and land use as factors related to a key habitat, submerged aquatic vegetation, was tackled by a team of scientists and resource managers operating at multiple levels of governance (state, federal).

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A water quality barometer for Chesapeake Bay: Assessing spatial and temporal patterns using long-term monitoring data (Page 1)

A water quality barometer for Chesapeake Bay: Assessing spatial and temporal patterns using long-term monitoring data

Zahran AR, Zhang Q, Tango P, Smith EP ·
2022

This paper develops a barometer that indexes water quality in the Chesapeake Bay and summarizes quality over spatial regions and temporal periods. The barometer has a basis in risk assessment and hydrology, and is a function of three different metrics of water quality relative to numerical criteria: relative frequency of criterion attainment; magnitude of deviation from a numerical criterion; and duration of criterion attainment.

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Chesapeake Bay and Watershed 2021 Report Card (Page 1)

2021 Chesapeake Bay and Watershed Report Card

Vanessa Vargas-Nguyen, Sky Swanson, Annie Carew, Joe Edgerton, Heath Kelsey, Lili Badri, Lorena Villanueva-Almanza ·
6 June 2022

This report card provides a transparent, timely, and geographically detailed assessment of Chesapeake Bay and its Watershed. Since 2016, UMCES has engaged stakeholders throughout the watershed to transform the report card into an evaluation of the Chesapeake Watershed health. Watershed health includes traditional ecological indicators, but also economic and societal indicators. This is the third year the watershed has been scored, and four new economic indicators have been added.

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Cuando River Basin 2021 Report Card (Page 1)

Cuando River Basin 2021 Report Card

Heath Kelsey, Simon Costanzo, Annie Carew ·
3 June 2022

The first-ever Cuando River Basin Report Card aims to assist in decision making to expand protected lands, increase biodiversity, maintain migration routes, and draw more tourists to the area. Inclusive conservation, which centers conservation actions on the needs of local communities, is at the heart of this approach.

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Major point and nonpoint sources of nutrient pollution to surface water have declined throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed (Page 1)

Major point and nonpoint sources of nutrient pollution to surface water have declined throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed

Sabo RD, Sullivan B, Wu C, Trentacoste E, Zhang Q, Shenk GW, Bhat G and Linker LC ·
2022

Understanding drivers of water quality in local watersheds is the first step for implementing targeted restoration practices. Nutrient inventories can inform water quality management decisions by identifying shifts in nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) balances over space and time while also keeping track of the likely urban and agricultural point and nonpoint sources of pollution.

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Selecting Indicators for Basin Health (Page 1)

Selecting Indicators for Basin Health Report Cards

Canny A, Shahbol N, Thieme M, Fries A, Kelsey H, Costanzo S ·
1 May 2022

This Guide is developed to supplement the Practitioner’s Guide to Developing River Basin Report Cards, which was developed in partner with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as part of the Healthy Rivers for All initiative. It is intended for those developing indicators that can help understand the health of a basin report card or those who are developing a basin report card.

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