This report details the results of the 22nd year of the western snowy plover (Charadriusalexandrinus nivosus) monitoring program within Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County, California (PRNS). The goal of the 2011 monitoring effort was to determine abundance, distribution, and breeding success of snowy plovers nesting on federal lands within PRNS. The report provides an overview of the 2011 snowy plover monitoring program on federal lands and summarizes the results of the data collected during the field season.

This annual report details the status of key stream channel characteristics and riparian attributes obtained from the first season of monitoring in the John Day River within the Sheep Rock unit of John Day Fossil Beds National Monument (JODA). This report is intended as a release of basic data sets and data summaries. Care has been taken to assure accuracy of raw data values, but thorough analysis and interpretation of the data has not been completed. More extensive analysis and discussion of stream channel characteristics and riparian will occur as part of the trend analysis, which will be available after 3 years of monitoring data become available.

This annual report details the status of key indicators of water quality obtained from the first season of monitoring in Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve (CRMO), 2010.

This annual report details the status of key indicators of water quality obtained from the first season of monitoring in City of Rocks National Reserve (CIRO) and Castle Rock's State Park (CRSP) 2009. Note that several of the appendices in this report are primarily intended for UCBN internal reference.

This annual report details the status of key indicators of water quality obtained from the first season of monitoring in Big Hole National Battlefield (BIHO), 2009.

The benthic marine community in the Pacific Island Network (PACN) is a complex ecologic system and a diverse taxonomic environment, including algae and corals and other invertebrates. Reef-building corals are the primary architectural organism and are sensitive to environmental degradation; therefore, they are a good indicator of overall health for nearshore park's marine ecosystems. The benthic marine protocol will be implemented initially in four parks: Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park (KAHO), Kalaupapa National Historical Park (KALA), National Park of American Samoa (NPSA), and War in the Pacific National Historical Park (WAPA). The protocol addresses two monitoring questions: 1) what are the changes over time in the composition (e.g., species or assemblage) and physical structure (rugosity) of the coral reef benthos? And, 2) what are the changes over time in settlement, growth, survival, and health of target coral assemblages, species, or individuals? The first monitoring question has two objectives.

An autobiographical story of growing up with lobsters in a small New England town. Everything you've always wanted to know about the American Lobster. Filled with 170 unique high-resolution photo images of native New England marine sea life and lobsters in all stages of life & death. Includes detailed accounts of topwater lobstering procedures and the many things that could go wrong. Also underwater SCUBA diving observations of lobsters, down on the bottom where they live. Dive into the murky New England seawater at night, and look through a divers' mask to see a priceless gift, a lobster. The story of the first ill-fated attempt to transport New England lobsters overland to California in 1873. The year after, it was tried again, a bust Instructional views of the lobster; boy or girl? What a lobster eats, how he selects a mate, shell disease, epimorphic regeneration of new parts, and everything else they do when we aren't looking. A section on the Florida spiny vs the New England clawed lobster; which tastes better? Photos comparing each, side by side. And a no-nonsense blind taste test conducted on exactly which tastes more "lobstery." Take a stop on Route #1 in Wiscasset Maine at Red's Eats. It tells a story of the best lobster roll around, in the writers' opinion, and photos of the reasons why The Maine Lobster Festival, an expose of an affair that's everything LOBSTER. Included are photos of the largest lobster cooker in the world, the fair grounds, and a personal story from the 2011 Lobster Festival Cooking Contest. Photos and a story of the winning recipe is included described as, "The best seafood I ever ate" Have you ever wondered if it were possible to setup a lobster aquarium in your own home? Well it is possible, and this book shows you exactly how to do it, from one who's done it for years. Includes his notes, photos, observations, setbacks, and triumphs. You'll also find little known historical facts including insightful details about the 1999 Long Island Sound lobster die-off mortality event. What caused it, and can it happen again? Also a futuristic view of the lobsters in days to come. This book details many interesting personal accounts and encounters with lobsters at the bottom, where they live. A Connecticut Yankee who'd spent over 50 years with New England lobsters in some form or another tells this story. Where they came from 511 million years ago, up until today, and where they might be tomorrow. Lastly, read about Noofie, an 8-pound American lobster from the deep waters of the Canadian Maritimes. He lived with the author for about a year. In that time, he showed the author things that he could never have imagined. You'll read about this incredible story, one that has a surprise ending. One reader's quote: "Wow I'm not the best with words but after reading your book, this is what comes to mind: Entertaining and fun while being educational and making you reflect on life. Awesome job, Thank you "

A stunning glimpse of some of Britain's finest coastline, from the granite columns of the Giant's Causeway on the Northern Irish coast and the rocky cliffs of Wales and South West England to the great open horizons of the East Anglian shore. A stunning glimpse of some of Britain's finest coastline, from the granite columns of the Giant's Causeway on the Northern Irish coast and the rocky cliffs of Wales and South West England to the great open horizons of the East Anglian shore. However, this is not just a celebration of Britain's beauty, but an investigation into the preservation and maintenance of the UK's coastline. The Trust owns a remarkable amount of coastline, looking after it not only as a landlord and at times a harbourmaster, but caring for natural habitats, archaeological sites and historic buildings. Here is a chance to view some of the most unforgettable images of, and discover less-known truths about, our extraordinary coastline.

Inspired by the Arkansas Review’s “What Is the Delta?” series of articles,Defining the Delta collects fifteen essays from scholars in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities to describe and define this important region. Here are essays examining the Delta’s physical properties, boundaries, and climate from a geologist, archeologist, and environmental historian. The Delta is also viewed through the lens of the social sciences and humanities—historians, folklorists, and others studying the connection between the land and its people, in particular the importance of agriculture and the culture of the area, especially music, literature, and food. Every turn of the page reveals another way of seeing the seven-state region that is bisected by and dependent on the Mississippi River, suggesting ultimately that there are myriad ways of looking at, and defining, the Delta.

The maritime holly forest is a unique assemblage of species dominated by the broadleaf evergreen, Ilex opaca (American holly). Due to the highly restricted occurrence of this forest community to only two locations on barrier islands in New York and New Jersey, it has been classified as a critically imperiled community (global conservation status rank of G1; NatureServe 2004) because of extreme rarity or very few remaining acres. The only two examples known of the maritime holly forest include: the Sunken Forest (SF; 16 ha) occurring on Fire Island National Seashore, a barrier island protecting Long Island, NY; and the Sandy Hook (SH) holly forest (30 ha) occurring on a barrier spit on the NJ shore that is a unit of Gateway National Recreation Area (GNRA). This project was born from the uncertainty surrounding key conservation issues, and in 2004 was listed as the primary research priority for Fire Island National Seashore due to the uniqueness of the SF among maritime forests of the Atlantic coast, its prominence in the park's enabling legislation and Resource Stewardship Plan, and its interpretive value to the visiting public. An important objective of the research was to assist the park in developing reasonable conservation goals for sustaining the essential characteristics of the SF. This research investigated whether canopy constituents of this maritime holly forest are maintaining themselves under the current levels of herbivory and other disturbances. The authors present this report in executive summary format through a series of questions that probe different aspects of vegetation dynamics of the SF. The authors do this for two reasons. First, the scope of the work is broad and includes research approaches and methods that are somewhat disparate and unrelated, making the presentation of the full work awkward. Second, the research on which the report is based already appears in the peer-reviewed scientific literature as discrete units with specific objectives and methodologies. We refer the reader directly to those published accounts for the methodological details.

The effects of off-road vehicles (ORVs) on invertebrates inhabiting macrophyte debris (wrack) and supratidal sands on energetic beaches in the northeastern United States were studied at Cape Cod (MA) and Fire Island (NY) National Seashores. the authors focus on the effects of off-road vehicles on the supratidal invertebrates. First, they compare four different wrack-laden beaches in the northeastern U.S. (three within Cape Cod National Seashore, one within Fire Island National Seashore) that have neighboring sections of ORV-traveled and ORV-free beach and second, the authors perform a controlled direct-impact study, in which we drive over colonized, experimental wrack clumps near Ballston Beach, MA, to assess the effects. By replicating their sampling at four beaches and using several sampling methods, the authors strove to maximize the chances that observed differences between treatment (traffic) and control (non-traffic) sites were due to ORV activity. In the manipulative experiment, the authors controlled the level and timing of the traffic that the wrack-associated species received. In addition, the authors compared accompanying environmental variables that may be good indicators of the effect of traffic on invertebrate habitat.

Coastal areas across the United States are beginning to incorporate sea level rise adaptation into their community planning. One of the most challenging aspects of adapting to sea level rise is understanding the economic implications of future inundation risk, and the costs and benefits of different adaptation options. Communities are already grappling with difficult decisions about how to locate, maintain, and protect expensive community infrastructure such as roads, hospitals, and wastewater treatment plants. This book provides a framework that community leaders and planners can use to make more economically informed decisions about adapting to sea level rise and storm flooding. The four-step framework can be used to perform a holistic assessment of costs and benefits of different adaptation approaches across a community, or to focus in on select infrastructure. The book also discusses the expertise needed at each step in the process.

Public attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs can strongly influence coastal management decision-making. Officials use surveys and other social science tools to identify the relationship between a community and its natural resources. Managing coastal resources often means making hard decisions about the best way to use those resources-especially when there are competing demands. Although there is no simple way to do this, economic methods can help coastal resource managers make better-informed decisions about managing the resource. This book provides insight into the various types and methods of survey research; discusses some of the most important considerations; offers a guide to the most common techniques; provides information about how economics can be applied to coastal resource management; provides some simple strategies for facilitators leading a participatory mapping process; introduces key elements and practices that will increase the success of a focus group effort; explains the role of a facilitator; describes how to plan and execute meetings that deliver results; discusses powerful photorealistic visualization; introduces key concepts surrounding visualization; and briefly describes a process for planning for an internally or externally conducted evaluation of a project or program.

This report details the results of the 21st year of the Western Snowy Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus nivosus) monitoring program within Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County, California (PRNS). The goal of the 2010 monitoring effort was to determine abundance, distribution, and breeding success of snowy plovers nesting on federal lands within PRNS. The intended audience of this report includes appropriate agencies at the county, state, and federal levels. The report provides an overview of the 2010 snowy plover monitoring program on federal lands and summarizes the results of the data collected during the field season.

This title is written to expand K-12 Biology classes and bring a specialist's ecological study to the front of a student's midterm or final science project. Ecology is a very fascinating field to enter.The book intends to introduce the student to real inductive reasoning as used by present day ecologists. They can prepare and begin a study of their own based on the principles introduced by "gross Production and Evolution."

Coastal zones have always been chosen by humans as a good place to live. Over the last forty years, human pressure has caused a strong variation of land use and wild areas have been consumed by agriculture, roads and settlements. The main causes of ecosystem loss are the coastal erosion, and the sprawl of infrastructures and economic sites. This book discusses several topics, some of which include the coral reef environment; the land cover change as a tool to support the preservation of naturalness at the Sele coastal plain in Italy; principles of dredging eco-monitoring in the Eastern Gulf of Finland; and others.

Written by the Georgia Geologic Survey, this is a guide to landforms and natural features you will see on Cumberland Island. Black and white pictures with maps and diagrams illustrate the topics discussed. This book includes a walking route with stops at many of the important features on Cumberland Island.

Global and regional changes to the marine environment associated with climate change may have significant consequences for coral reef ecosystems, coastal communities, and maritime heritage resources relevant to the Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary (FBNMS). Regional physical changes to the marine environment include climate variability, sea level rise, ocean circulation patterns, and ocean acidification. These changes combined with anthropogenic stressors may produce cumulative impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem health including changes in physiology, phenology, and population connectivity, and species range shift. This paper identifies and synthesizes potential climate change impacts in American Samoa and the region over the next fifty years. This information will help inform priority management actions for the Sanctuary to take to respond to the impacts of climate change on natural systems and human activities within American Samoa.

This report presents data that estimate the extent (status) of Texas coastal wetlands in the early 1990s and the changes in areal extent (trends) that have taken place since the mid-1950s. These data may indicate the impact of existing policies and programs intended to conserve the state's valuable coastal wetlands resources, and identify which wetland habitats are experiencing change.

A collection of first-person stories and essays about living on Pine Island, a barrier island off the West Coast of Florida. The author and his wife have lived on Pine Island for 18 years and have met just about every kind of animal, insect, amphibian, reptile and person that inhabits small, sub-tropical mangrove islands in this part of Florida. Often humorous, the stories share the lives of creatures often unseen by other people. Also shared are weather patterns, including a category 5 hurricane, and the many "transplants," non-native species that have made Florida their permanent home.