SERC Biological Technician Gabriella Marafino collecting a water sample for eDNA analysis. Credit: SERC. Two types of river herring, alewife and blueback herring, used to be abundant in tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay . These days, however, herring are threatened by habitat loss, overfishing, and dams that block the route to their spawning locations. [...]
Virginia Sea Grant has several new fellowship and professional development opportunities. The goal of these programs is to help develop professional skills and new leaders. Applications must be submitted through their web portal and will open in late August. To learn more about each opportunity, please visit the VASG fellowship page. Graduate Research Fellowships VASG Graduate [...]
The 2018 Chesapeake Community Research and Modeling Symposium (ChesRMS18) was convened June 12-14 at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Annapolis, MD. By all accounts the meeting was an overwhelming success with the number of participants more than doubled compared to the 2016 meeting. This increase was the result of the CCMP and CRC decision to expand [...]
The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences (UMCES) invites applications for the position of nonpoint source modeling analyst at the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) office in Annapolis in support of the CBP partnership to inform state, regional, and local decision-making on the implementation of the most cost-effective, efficient, and targeted nutrient and sediment reduction actions. [...]
Data from the 2017-18 annual Winter Dredge Survey collected by Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MD DNR) and Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) were analyzed by the Chesapeake Bay Stock Assessment Committee (CBSAC) and compiled in the 2018 Blue Crab Advisory Report. CBSAC reported that based on current estimates of abundance (below) and exploitation, the blue [...]
A researcher at Penn State University (PSU) is investigating how forests respond to elevated atmospheric nitrogen which can result from pollution. Jason Kaye, a biogeochemistry professor, has discovered that nitrogen entering forests through rainfall is leaving as a gas, helping his team understand how forests respond to pollution in the atmosphere. Previous research has shown up to 90% of [...]
The CRC’s new program of Student Recruitment, Early Advisement, and Mentoring (a.k.a. “Chesapeake StREAM” or “C-StREAM”) got off to a great start in 2018, thanks to early funding from the US EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program Office (CBPO) and the CRC member institutions, as well as promises of additional future funding from a renewal of our cooperative agreement with NOAA's Chesapeake [...]
A team of geoscientists traveled to the Gulf of Mexico to investigate the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The team, including Penn State doctoral student in biogeochemistry Uyen Nguyen, wanted to quantify the time that it takes for oil to break down at various depths. Source: Penn State Bacteria and microbes consume [...]
A faculty member at Penn State University (PSU) has won a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award to create special statistical models of extreme weather. Benjamin Shaby, assistant professor of statistics and Penn State Institute for CyberScience faculty co-hire, will be looking at how to build infrastructure and prepare for events like forest fires and heavy [...]
Late season replenishment of oxygen associated with declining nutrient loads Jeremy Testa (Source: UMCES) Scientists from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) have published results showing that dead zones in the lower Chesapeake Bay are beginning to break up earlier in the fall, which may be an indication that efforts to [...]
