Robert Reynolds, a USGS scientist, is touring the Smithsonian Institution’s amphibian and reptile collection housed in an annex in Suitland, Maryland. Well over half a million animals make up this collection, with specimens from the 1800s to the present — a testament to North America's rich biodiversity. But in the wilds of Maryland many of these same creatures are vanishing at an alarming rate. more . . .
Even tiny animals living in bay-grass beds play an important role in the health of the Chesapeake, says Emmett Duffy, a marine scientist at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. Is their diversity also a factor? more . . .
Just like people, wild celery plants aren’t all alike. Each plant carries a unique combination of genes. The variety within a species of bay grass could play a key role in its restoration and survival, researchers say. more . . .
In 1919, a self-confident and single-minded man, better known in his youth for his charm and his lacrosse than for his science, carried a borrowed microscope to a fish shack on a creek north of Solomons, Maryland. By 1929, Reginal Truitt had persuaded the Maryland governor and legislature to approve the first marine lab in Maryland, the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory in Solomons. more . . .
Does forest biodiversity matter? And can diverse forests improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay? A Smithsonian Environmental Research Center study, one of the largest biodiversity experiments of its kind, aims to answer these questions. more . . .
Douglas Lipton, director of Maryland Sea Grant’s Extension team, has stepped down to pursue a new opportunity. He is now the senior research economist at the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service. more . . .
As erosion threatens treasured places around the Chesapeake Bay, communities are turning to nature-based solutions. Explore how living shorelines are helping to protect coasts and heritage on opposite shores of the Bay.
Living shoreline plants have a tough job: they must hold down the sandy shoreline with their roots and ease waves with their stems, all while surviving salty water.
Researchers are on a mission to determine which key components make a living shoreline successful at preventing erosion—but first they must gather crucial data.
Oyster biology is both an obstacle and an opportunity when it comes to living shorelines. Learn how and why oysters are sometimes included in living shoreline projects.
A living shoreline is under construction in Baltimore City—part of a sweeping project that aims to restore more than 50 acres of habitat along 11 miles of shoreline.
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