On the Bay

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A blog from Chesapeake Quarterly magazine

Heron and hawk along the shore of the Chesapeake Bay

 

Teaching Science on TV: A Search for Salamanders

Adam Frederick •

When Maryland Sea Grant's education leader Adam Frederick appeared in a recent episode of the “Aqua Kids” TV show, he highlighted an unusual outdoor teaching tool — the yellow-spotted salamander. Changes in the abundance of this "indicator species" can signal declines in water quality. 

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The Woman Who Launched Maryland Sea Grant

Michael W. Fincham •

Rita Colwell likes to say that Sea Grant helped launch her career in marine microbiology. It's more accurate, however, to say she launched Sea Grant's career in Maryland.

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New Clues to How Crab Babies Make It Back to the Bay

Daniel Pendick •

Every spring, female crabs near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay spawn their young. Nearly all of the hatched larvae are swept into the open ocean to feed and develop. But then the tiny paddlers need to get back into the Bay to grow into adults. On an oceangoing expedition, researchers learned more about how larval crabs get home — information that might someday help to fine-tune crab harvests.

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Well-Flushed Oyster Farms Pose Little Risk to Bay’s Marine Life

Meg Wickless •

When thousands of oysters are farmed in acres of floating cages in shallow water, organic wastes that collect on the sand and mud below can trigger chemical changes that are potentially harmful to plants and animals that live on the bottom. A new case study looks at the effects of these wastes.

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Helping Local Planners Improve the Quality of Coastal Bays

Jeffrey Brainard •

The coastal bays along the Delmarva Peninsula need help. Excess nitrogen from human activities is harming their fragile ecosystems. Scientists worked closely with municipal and county planners to develop easy-to-use methods that could help them better manage these effects.

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The Blue Crab: Callinectes Sapidus

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pile of cooked crabs