Chesapeake Quarterly Volume 3, Number 3: On the Road to Restoration? The State of the Bay

2004

Volume 3, Number 3

Table of Contents

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On the Road
to Restoration?

Buffers: Wetlands are major buffers filtering out large quantities of sediment, pollutants and nutrients before they reach streams, rivers and bays. Maryland marsh photo by Sandy Rodgers.

Contents

Recovering Resilience

The Language of Resilience

Towards Adaptive Management

Identifying Thresholds

A Meeting of Minds

More About Resilience

A new Bay for the Oyster?

Et Cetera

Knauss Policy Fellowships

Coastal Management Fellowship

This Issue's Videos:

Down on the
Oyster Reefs

Rebuilding the
Bay's Reefs

A Chinese Oyster for
the Chesapeake?

The State of the Bay. A Maryland marsh showing a dock, water and spartina - by Sandy Rodgers

For most of us, the concept of resilience can be grasped intuitively when we think of our body's ability to fend off a cold or make a speedy and full recovery from illness. More complex, however, is the concept of ecological resilience — the ability of organisms and natural communities to absorb stress, either natural or human-induced, without significant alterations in the structure or function of the ecosystem.

Ecosystems are elastic within the boundaries set by physics, geology, and climate. But over time, as pressures mount and key components of these interconnected systems are altered or removed, buffering capacity (the ability to return to sustainable stable states) can also decline. The result can be a transition to a new, potentially undesirable condition that may be extremely difficult to alter — one that is resilient in its own right. For those dedicated to restoration and for those who rely on the Bay for recreation or livelihood, the implications of these shifting states are profound.

In this issue of Chesapeake Quarterly, Erica Goldman explores the concept of ecological resilience from the vantage point of scientists actively engaged in studying the ecology and potential for restoration of this Bay and also from that of experts confronting similar issues nationwide. The conceptual maps these individuals have drawn are starting to move resilience from the theoretical to the practical — a step that may be critical to developing strategies that bring Chesapeake Bay to a healthier state. Read more . . .

Jonathan Kramer
Director, Maryland Sea Grant

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