Chesapeake Bay

Issue: Climate change is warming streams and rivers of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and this is a critical concern for fisheries management and conservation. To address this issue, the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) recently identified four actions: • address the threats of climate change in all aspects of the partnership’s work; • prioritize communities, working lands, and most vulnerable habitats...

There is a growing and urgent need to develop and implement innovative strategies to research, monitor, and manage freshwater resources as societal demands escalate simultaneously with climate-driven changes in water availability.

Issue The USGS has a long-term research effort that identified endocrine disruption in smallmouth bass (SMB) in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Endocrine disruption can cause many changes in fish, including intersex characteristics where fish develop characteristics of the other sex, such as immature eggs forming in males. An overview by USGS of endocrine disruption in fish found the condition...

Issue Partners in the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) are implementing best management practices (BMPs) to prevent nutrient and sediment from entering waterways across the Chesapeake watershed and reduce loads to the Bay. In addition to reducing nutrients, CBP partners want to better understand how BMPs can provide additional benefits for addressing toxic contaminants, such as pesticides, hormones...

Eastern Ecological Science Center research ecologists are working with state and local partners to develop multiple biological assessments of non-tidal stream and river conditions in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Dietary analyses, health, and reproduction of blue catfish in tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay inform ecosystem impacts and mitigation strategies for this aquatic nuisance species.

Issue: The Chesapeake Bay Program partners are striving to improve habitat conditions for recreational fisheries and other native fishes in the Bay and its watershed. While national fish habitat assessments have been conducted, resource managers need more local information to focus restoration and protection efforts in Chesapeake Bay watershed. Conducting the fish-habitat assessments are...

Issue : Stream ecosystems are affected by a complex set of interacting terrestrial and aquatic stressors. With many streams experiencing degraded conditions that often correspond with increased anthropogenic activities, an important outcome of the Chesapeake Bay Program is to improve stream health. The USGS is conducting research to better understand the complex factors affecting stream health...

This project focuses on understanding the prevalence and strains of avian influenza viruses in the aquatic environment and how this compares to those circulating within wild birds in the same area.

This project aims to understand the factors driving breeding success of multiple waterbird species, with special emphasis on Least and Common Terns (two species of concern) on Poplar Island Environmental Restoration Project.

Streams and rivers provide habitat for a diverse array of aquatic and semi-aquatic species. However, human alteration to landscapes and riverscapes has affected this habitat resulting in its degradation and thus loss of habitat and associated sensitive aquatic species. While this relationship has been known for many years, only recently has the availability of data and analytical capabilities...

Widespread shale oil and gas (unconventional oil and gas, UOG) has only recently begun and many gaps in our knowledge of its potential effects to freshwaters exist.