To achieve desired environmental outcomes, environmental condition and trends need to be rigorously measured and communicated to resource managers, scientists, and a broader general audience. However, there is often a disconnect between responsive ecosystem monitoring and decision making for strategic long-term management. This project demonstrates how historical monitoring data can be synthesized and used for future planning and decision making, thereby closing the management feedback cycle.

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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 (deltaN-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:

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Between them, the authors of this paper have over sixty years experience in water education working in primary and secondary schools, universities, field study centres, professional development programs; and with community, industry, and government groups, focusing on coastal zones and catchments. Over the last three years, they have undertaken a systematic process of personal and dialogic reflection and deliberation on this experience, particularly in the area of popular education.

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The term immersive education is currently used in two educational areas – language education, which involves students being totally immersed in a language and its culture; and virtual education, where teachers use computers and simulation games to immerse learners in a virtual, computer-generated environment that mimics a real-world environment and allows learners to interact with it.

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The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation established a Hurricane Sandy Wildlife Response Fund to conduct a rapid assessment of the ecological impacts of Hurricane Sandy from North Carolina to Rhode Island, with emphasis on habitats and associated wildlife.

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The aim of this report card is to provide a transparent, timely, and geographically detailed assessment of 2011 Coastal Bays health. Coastal Bays health is defined as the progress of four water quality indicators (total nitrogen, total phoshorus, Chlorophyll a, dissolved oxygen) and two biotic indicators (seagrass, hard clams) toward scientifically derived ecological thresholds or goals.

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The Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund was created in 2007 in an effort to reduce nutrient and sediment pollution to these bays. The Trust Fund has focused its financial resources on the implementation of effective non-point source pollution control projects using best management practices (BMPs) in high priority watersheds. Examples of projects supported by the Trust Fund include stream channel restorations, stormwater retrofits, and cover crops.

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Report cards can be part of a tiered approach to communicating results with varying technical detail. Our vision for this report card framework is based on goals identified in America’s Great Watershed Initiative and derived from principles of Integrated River Basin Management. The framework includes balanced information from Social, Economic, and Environmental sectors, and is intended to be transparent and clear.

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The burden of global, regional, and project reporting has been a longstanding concern of Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs), particularly on Smaller Island States (SIS). This newsletter uses an environmental case study to showcase how a simple, targeted, and strategic monitoring and reporting framework can facilitate streamlined reporting by allowing data and information to be used for multiple reporting requirements.

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This book summarizes information on the south Florida marine ecosystem in a manner that is easy to read and understand. The book covers physical and biological oceanography, ecology, human impacts, and climate change. This book is unique in that it consists of fact pages that were prepared by 162 experts in their scientific disciplines. Filled with rich graphics and photos, it is appropriate for students, educators, scientists, and stakeholders.

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