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.

Spatial distribution of agricultural residue from rice for potential biofuel production in China

Elmore AJ, Shi X, Gorence NJ, Li X, Jin H, Wang F, and Zhang X ·
2008

In China, agricultural residues (particularly from rice) are widely used for energy and other applications, albeit on a localized scale and often at poor rates of efficiency. if some portion of this biomass were to be reallocated and transported to central biomass energy facilities, an initial component of the design process would be to gain an understanding of the spatial distribution of biomass production.

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The charisma of coastal ecosystems: addressing the imbalance (Page 1)

The charisma of coastal ecosystems: addressing the imbalance

Duarte CM, Dennison WC, Orth RJ, and Carruthers TJB ·
2008

Coastal ecosystems including coral reefs, mangrove forests, seagrass meadows, and salt marshes are being lost at alarming rates, and increased scientific understanding of causes has failed to stem these losses. Coastal habitats receive contrasting research effort, with 60% of all of the published research carried out on coral reefs, compared to 11–14% of the records for each of salt marshes, mangrove forests, and seagrass meadows.

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Trophic Transfers from Seagrass Meadows Subsidize Diverse Marine and Terrestrial Consumers (Page 1)

Trophic Transfers from Seagrass Meadows Subsidize Diverse Marine and Terrestrial Consumers

Heck KL, Carruthers TJB, Duarte CM, Hughes AR, Kendrick G, Orth RJ, and Williams SW ·
2008

In many coastal locations, seagrass meadows are part of a greater seascape that includes both marine and terrestrial elements, each linked to the other via the foraging patterns of consumers (both predators and herbivores), and the passive drift of seagrass propagules, leaves, roots and rhizomes, and seagrass-associated macroalgal detritus. With seagrasses declining in many regions, the linkages between seagrass meadows and other habitats are being altered and diminished.

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Using the aquatic macrophyte Vallisneria americana (wild celery) as a nutrient bioindicator (Page 1)

Using the aquatic macrophyte Vallisneria americana (wild celery) as a nutrient bioindicator

Benson ER, O'Neil JM, and Dennison WC ·
2008

Human sewage and septic waste are significant sources of nutrient loading to many aquatic ecosystems. Ecologically relevant nitrogen sources can be traced by analyzing nitrogen stable isotope ratios (δ15N signatures) in aquatic plants. Elevated δ15N signatures can suggest increased uptake of nitrogen derived from human and/or animal waste. In the current study, Vallisneria americana, a freshwater angiosperm, was collected from several locations in Upper Saranac Lake, NY, USA.

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Accurately measuring the abundance of benthic microalgae in spatially variable habitats (Page 1)

Accurately measuring the abundance of benthic microalgae in spatially variable habitats

Grinham AR, Carruthers TJB, Fisher PL, Udy JW, and Dennison WC ·
2007

Although many studies measure the abundance of benthic microalgae (BMA), at the meters squared scale, comparing these studies is difficult due to the variety of sampling, extraction, and analysis techniques. This difficulty is exacerbated by the fact that BMA abundance has high spatial and temporal variability, at all spatial scales.

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An adaptive neural network embedded genetic algorithm approach for inverse water quality modeling (Page 1)

An adaptive neural network embedded genetic algorithm approach for inverse water quality modeling

Zou R, Lung WS, and Wu J ·
2007

This paper proposes a neural network (NN)-embedded genetic algorithm (GA) approach for solving inverse water quality modeling problems to overcome the computational bottleneck of inverse modeling by replacing a water quality model with an efficient NN functional evaluator. An existing one-step, NN-embedded GA approach is found incapable of solving an inverse water quality modeling problem because it tends to fail in guiding the global search process to converge toward the near optima.

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An eye-opening approach to developing and communicating integrated environmental assessments (Page 1)

An eye-opening approach to developing and communicating integrated environmental assessments

Dennison WC, Lookingbill TR, Carruthers TJB, Hawkey JM, and Carter SM ·
2007

Communication among managers, the public, and scientists is the key to successful ecosystem management; however, the varied perspectives and interests of these groups can make such communication difficult. One way to achieve effective communication is to develop a common knowledge base by combining syntheses of key scientific results with information-rich visual elements.

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Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor Estuary: Case study of a highly eutrophic coastal bay system (Page 1)

Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor Estuary: Case study of a highly eutrophic coastal bay system

Kennish MJ, Bricker SB, Dennison WC, Glibert PM, Livingston RJ, Moore KA, Noble RT, Paerl HW, Ramstack JM, Seitzinger S, Tomasko DA, and Valiela I ·
2007

The Barnegat Bay–Little Egg Harbor Estuary is classified here as a highly eutrophic estuary based on application of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Estuarine Eutrophication Assessment model. Because it is shallow, poorly flushed, and bordered by highly developed watershed areas, the estuary is particularly susceptible to the effects of nutrient loading.

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Building EDENs: The rise of environmentally distributed ecological networks (Page 1)

Building EDENs: The rise of environmentally distributed ecological networks

Craine JM, Battersby J, Elmore AJ, and Jones AW ·
2007

Environmentally distributed ecological networks (EDENs) are growing increasingly important in ecology, coordinating research in more disciplines and over larger areas than ever before, while supplanting post hoc syntheses of uncoordinated research. With the rise of multiple broadly focused, continental-scale EDENs, these networks will be directing an increasingly large proportion of resources in ecology, which warrants a review of their use.

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Detecting open vegetation in a forested landscape: pollen and remote sensing data from New England, USA (Page 1)

Detecting open vegetation in a forested landscape: pollen and remote sensing data from New England, USA

McLauchlan KK, Elmore AJ, Oswald WW, and Sugita S ·
2007

The proportional cover of forest and grassland vegetation, known as landscape openness, has been particularly difficult to reconstruct because of differences in pollen productivity and transport between the two vegetation types. To begin to calibrate landscape openness in eastern North America, we collected 2 1 samples of surface sediments front small ponds (less than 60 ha) in the Upper Connecticut River Valley of New England, USA.

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