Science Serving Maryland's Coasts

On the Bay

crab megalopa on a transparent ruler

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

Daniel Pendick • February 29, 2016
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.  Read more . . .
 
rafts of oyster floats on the water

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

Meg Wickless • January 29, 2016
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.  Read more . . .
 
aerial view of Newport Bay, a Delmarva coastal bay

Helping Local Planners Improve the Quality of Coastal Bays

Jeffrey Brainard • January 21, 2016
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.  Read more . . .
 
researcher Laura Lapham uses device to collect Chesapeake Bay water

Scientists Study Effects of Fall Storms and Wind on Bay’s “Metabolism”

Jeffrey Brainard • December 16, 2015
Big storms can impair the Chesapeake Bay’s water quality by dumping rain that washes pulses of nutrients and sediments into the estuary. But as twin storms hit the region in October, University of Maryland scientists traveled out out on stormy waters to study another effect: how storm-driven winds stir up nutrients from the Bay’s bottom zone.  Read more . . .
 
photo of students at aquaponics lab, Baltimore Poly

These High School Students Built a Fish Farm in a Classroom

Jeffrey Brainard • December 10, 2015
The assignment: build an "aquaponics" laboratory. The educational goal: teach students to apply science and engineering to solve practical problems. And have fun doing it.   Read more . . .
 

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