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  Effective governance of social-ecological systems (SES) is an enduring challenge, especially in coastal environments where accelerating impacts of climate change are increasing pressure on already stressed systems. While resilience is often proposed as a suitable f...

Anthropogenic disturbances have increased the frequency, area, and intensity of eutrophic events in coastal ecosystems, harming seagrass and macrofauna. The Pawcatuck River and Little Narragansett Bay (CT/RI) is a small, shallow estuary with zones of hypoxia due to algal growth. ...

Continued large-scale public investment in declining ecosystems depends on demonstrations of &ldquo;success&rdquo;. While the public conception of &ldquo;success&rdquo; often focuses on restoration to a pre-disturbance condition, the scientific community is more likely to measure...

The Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) convened a Pellston workshop in 2022 to examine how information on climate change could be better incorporated into the ecological risk assessment (ERA) process for chemicals as well as other environmental stressors. A...

The development of ecological benchmark values for major ions in fresh water is challenging and a site-specific method based on laboratory tests of synthetic ion mixtures has recently been published by Brent et al. (2022). &nbsp;Although the method has some appealing attributes, ...

The relative role of natural and anthropogenic drivers on freshwater biodiversity across different aquatic ecosystem types is not well understood. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency&rsquo;s National Aquatic Surveys (NARS) offers a unique opportunity to compare lentic and lo...

Plastic particles are now found ubiquitously in the environment. As the abundance of plastic increases in marine systems, the magnitude of adverse biological and ecological effects of plastics of various size classes (macro-, micro-, nano-) need to be evaluated for potential risk...

Atmospheric nitrate is a key atmosphere component with implications for air quality, nutrient deposition, and climate.&nbsp; However, accurately representing atmospheric nitrate concentrations within atmospheric chemistry models is a persistent challenge.&nbsp; A contributing fac...

This is a public presentation on the potential effects of nutrients in smoke on downwind cyanobacteria blooms. Wildfire activity is increasing in the continental U.S. and can be linked to climate change effects, including rising temperatures and more frequent drought conditions. ...

Cyanobacterial overgrowth impacts and can harm aquatic ecosystems, human, animal and plant health. I provide an overview of recent reports and events that illustrate the breadth of the issue.

This presentation on ORD's Wildland Fire Smoke Research is part of a session titled &quot;Tackling the Climate Crisis: Highlighting EPA's Multi-pronged approach to Climate Change and Health&quot; at the 1st Annual CAFE Climate and Health Conference. This presentation will highlig...

Benthic diatoms are highly responsive to changes in environmental conditions associated with human activities. Their changes in assemblage structure can be used to develop stressor-response relationships, metrics, and indices that can help identify effects of pollution and inform...

Wildfire frequency and intensity are expected to increase in many forested regions. Aquatic biota face multiple wildfire-induced changes in physical, chemical, and biological conditions, and these can vary with burn severity, post-fire weather, geomorphic events, stream features,...

We reviewed the available social-ecological, hydrological, and geochemical literature for the ecological systems of the San Juan Bay Estuary (SJBE), a site in the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Estuarine Program. The objective of the review is to gather in one place a...

&nbsp;Increased nutrient loading to coastal ecosystems has fueled a series of intertwined water quality processes that leads to low dissolved oxygen (DO) or hypoxia (DO &le; 2 mg L-1) and reduced pH, which is also known as nutrient enhanced acidification. While the cumulative imp...

Phosphorus causes nutrient pollution in lentic water systems, which act as a reservoir of phosphorus since it is stored within the sediments of these waterbodies. The effects of phosphorus pollution include harmful algal bloom events, hypoxia of waterbodies, and impairment of dri...

Harmful cyanobacterial blooms (HCBs) are of growing global concern due to their production of toxic compounds, which threaten ecosystems and human health. Saxitoxins (STXs), commonly known as paralytic shellfish poison, are a neurotoxic alkaloid produced by some cyanobacteria. Al...

Low dissolved oxygen (DO) and hypoxia (DO&lt;2 mg l-1) in estuarine ecosystems presents unique challenges to marine species which are worsened by coincident low pH or acidification resulting from eutrophication. Few studies have documented spatiotemporal gradients of hypoxia and ...

High-level overview of the types of nature-based strategies suggested for Crisfield based on matching known success criteria for storm surge and erosion prevention from the literature with conditions in different parts of Crisfield's offshore ecosystems and marshlands. Includes g...

EPA is working with the town of Crisfield, Maryland to explore potential natural infrastructure strategies, such as marsh restoration, sand dunes, living shorelines, artificial reefs, and living breakwaters that Crisfield could consider to address storm resilience or other commun...

The dynamics of any given environmental decision-making context are complicated, including how to consider social-ecological systems connections. Decision support tools designed with a user in mind make it simpler and more natural to integrate science into the decision-making pro...

Air quality regulations decreased nitrogen (N) and sulfur deposition across the conterminous United States (CONUS) during the last several decades. But it is unclear if declining deposition has also altered stream N at large scales. We compared watershed N inputs with N chemistry...

Globally, wildfires are increasing in extent, frequency, and severity. Although global climate change is a major driver and large-scale governance interventions are essential, focusing on governance at smaller scales is of great importance for fostering resilience to wildfires. I...

If a water body in the United States is not as healthy as we&rsquo;ve decided it should be, the most likely cause is nutrient pollution &lt;span style='mso-element:field-begin'&gt;&lt;span style='mso-spacerun:yes'&gt;&nbsp;ADDIN EN.CITE &lt;EndNote&gt;&lt;Cite&gt;&lt;Author&gt;US...

EPA&rsquo;s Report on the Environment (ROE) brings together the most reliable and readily available indicators to create a comprehensive view of the nation&rsquo;s environmental and human health status and trends. The indicators provide an objective basis for Agency decision maki...