Major Climate Change Research Synthesis Kicks Off in the Chesapeake Climate change continues to complicate how models of the Chesapeake Bay predict the future. The Chesapeake Bay Program’s Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) recently began a program to support scientists grappling with these uncertainties by funding short scientific syntheses around climate change issues in [...]
Timothy Canty Named Director of UMD’s Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences Graduate Program The University System of Maryland’s interdisciplinary Marine Estuarine Environmental Science (MEES) Graduate Program has found a new director in Timothy Canty, who began this role in August 2019. Timothy Canty. Credit: Lisa Helfert Canty is an associate research professor in the [...]
Small Coastal Birds Can Weather Major Storms People often use shorebirds as the quintessential example of birds affected by hurricanes, oil spills, and other major disturbances. But a research team led by a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Maryland’s National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) found that shorebird populations are actually quite resistant to these [...]
Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs) are opportunities for students to spend a summer pursuing a research project at a hosting institution. These opportunities are funded by the National Science Foundation, and students spend usually 10 weeks working closely with an academic mentor, presenting their findings, and even going on field trips. All 7 of CRC's member [...]
UMBC Researcher Leads Landmark Study on Contaminants in the Chesapeake While many studies have looked at particular contaminants of emerging concern in local rivers and small watersheds, few researchers have looked at multiple contaminants in the larger Chesapeake Bay watershed. Dr. Lee Blaney of the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) led a team of [...]
Climate change and the Spread of Diseases in the Bay Rita Colwell. Credit: University of Maryland College Park Scientists have long predicted that warmer temperatures caused by climate change will create optimal conditions for disease-causing bacteria to spread, even in the Chesapeake Bay. Long-time University of Maryland researcher and Johns Hopkins lecturer Rita [...]
Understanding the Dynamics of the Chesapeake Bay's Dead Zone It seems like everyone this year is talking about the record rainfall and enormous dead zone predicted in the Chesapeake Bay. The story has been all over the news (e.g., The Bay Journal, Baltimore Sun, and ScienceDaily, to name a few). Jeremy Testa holding a sediment [...]
Scientists applying the bioamended AC to research plots. Credit: Kevin Sowers. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were used extensively in building materials and electronic transformers until their ban in 1979. PCBs are persistent carcinogenic compounds that bioaccumulate in aquatic and terrestrial environments and are frequently cause for fish consumption advisories across the US. Managing these compounds has [...]
Two new books bring together than 40 years of expertise on Chesapeake Bay Ecologist Vic Kennedy offers baselines for abundance in Chesapeake Bay and a survey of the diamond-backed terrapin Original press release written by Amy Pelinsky for the UMCES website Once described as an immense protein factory, the Chesapeake Bay—along with its fisheries and [...]
Sea ice in the Arctic is retreating earlier each year, leaving more open water and changing the community of phytoplankton living in the water. Phytoplankton sit at the base of the food chain and are an important component of all marine ecosystems. In order to understand the changing communities of phytoplankton in the Arctic, Aimee Neeley, [...]
