Researchers at Penn State University have created an inexpensive, eco-friendly alternative to plastic coatings. Jeffrey Catchmark, a professor of agricultural and biological engineering in Pennsylvania State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences, has found a way to combine cellulose from trees and chitosan derived from the exoskeletons of crustaceans to make a plastic-like coating. Prof. Catchmark pictured [...]
A Masters student in hydrogeology at Pennsylvania State University is studying how nutrients like nitrates move from agricultural lands into local watersheds. Callum Wayman wanted to add an agricultural site to a group of constantly monitored sites run by the Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory. He started field work in fall of 2016 by deploying [...]
A team at Johns Hopkins University led by Principle Investigator Frank Curriero investigates a bacteria that could be affecting seafood in the Chesapeake Bay. The project, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, wants to understand the underlying cause of seafood-associated illnesses leading to an estimated 80,000 illnesses in the US every year. [...]
Sunrise over Kirkpatrick Marsh Researchers at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES), the University of Delaware, and Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) are investigating how ocean acidification could potentially compound existing problems in the Bay. A major problem already plaguing the Bay is caused by nutrient pollution. When fertilizer run off enters [...]
This year, we launched the Chesapeake Bay Expertise Database. This is a database built into our website with hundreds of scientists and managers who focus their work on the Chesapeake Bay. We currently have 244 participants, and we hope to reach 300 by the end of the year. Any one can search the database by name, [...]
From November 5th to November 9th, scientists, managers, students, and professionals from across disciplines will come together in Providence, RI to discuss marine and coastal issues. The biennial conference hosted by the Coastal & Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) is called "Coastal Science at the Inflection Point: Celebrating Successes & Learning from Challenges." This year marks the [...]
Please join the CRC in its efforts to help maintain strong support for the Bay Journal as part of the Chesapeake Bay Program partnersip's commitment to transparency, science literacy and provision of information to the public. The CRC has itself worked in close cooperation with the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office (NCBO) to provide roughly $20,000 of annual support for [...]
The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office (NCBO) has released its annual update on research under way as part of its Oyster Reef Ecosystem Services (ORES) project. ORES includes NCBO field work on fish utilization of restored reefs, NCBO-funded research by partner institutions on Bay species’ use of restored reef areas as well as denitrification carried out by [...]
The Severn River Association has started a volunteer group called the Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Navy to help assist an aerial monitoring program at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. So far, 25 volunteers have signed up to hunt down underwater grass and mark its location using GPS through August. This image was taken through one [...]
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration funded the Virginia Institute of Marine Science $835,000 to help the coastal Virginia to be more resilient to flood events. The money is part of a program that helps vulnerable communities protect themselves from extreme weather events. Funds will be used to support "nature-based infrastructure," like tidal wetlands and living shorelines, that help [...]
