This report was published by the Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ) project with the support of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). It provides new assessment tools for coastal management programs and discusses the key science outputs of the project. Science communicators at IAN worked with authors and designers to create nine figures for the 40-page report.

Read more

Monitoring water quality and determining nutrient inputs is essential to assess ecosystem health. Partnering with the Maryland Coastal Bays Program and the Department of Natural Resources, this study focused on four regions in Maryland's Coastal Bays. These regions, St Martins River, Public Landing, Johnson's Bay, and Chincoteague Island, were found to be nitrogen 'hotspots' by the 2004 water quality assessment study.

Read more

Knowing the condition of natural resources in national parks is fundamental to the National Park Service's (NPS) mission to maintain park resources "unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." Most parks are open systems vulnerable to threats such as air and water pollution and invasive species, which originate outside of the park's boundaries.

Read more

This report was prepared by a working group of scientists & engineers as a rapid response to the national imperative to develop & execute a strategy for reducing hurricane risks in New Orleans & along the Louisiana coast, while sustaining the wetland-dominated landscapes that surround those population centers.

Read more

Scientists with expertise in oyster biology, restoration, and management within the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science met to discuss their diverse perspectives on bar cleaning and power dredging. They developed this consensus statement to offer the Center's best scientific advice to decision makers, managers, stakeholders and partners in oyster restoration.

Read more

This document describes the rationale and methods for determining the summer ecological forecasts for dissolved oxygen, harmful algal blooms and submerged aquatic vegetation for 2005.

Read more

The Indicator Redesign Taskforce was assembled to provide a vision for the Chesapeake Bay Program indicators and the manner in which they are communicated. In doing so, the Indicator Redesign Taskforce is initiating and steering the necessary changes through the Monitoring and Analysis Subcommittee. This document describes the goals, approach and methods used to redesign the ecological indicators and outlines the communication strategy used to convey these changes to the public.

Read more

This data report details the results of an intensive sampling effort by the Integration and Application Network in the Maryland Coastal Bays. A spatially explicit Water Quality Index was developed from standard water quality analyses and a relatively new stable isotope technique.

Read more

This report summarizes monitoring data collected over the past several years for water quality, aquatic living resources, and habitat categories. It utilizes conceptual diagrams for each reporting region to highlight the key ecosystem processes, biota and estuarine health problems.

Read more

The National Fisheries Conservation Center convened the meeting (chaired by Dr. Don Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science) to bring together modelers, ecologists, fishermen, stock assessment scientists and other analysts to try to produce a more integrated theoretical basis for designing, managing and monitoring marine reserves as part of the fishery management system.

Read more