Each year, low oxygen levels, known as hypoxia, strike the deep waters of Chesapeake Bay. Arising from a combination of human-induced and natural factors, low oxygen levels have profound effects on fish and other important ecosystem players. Writing in BioScience, Jeremy Testa of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory (at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science) and his colleagues describe the phenomenon in detail—and the ongoing efforts to better predict the yearly occurrence.

            For this episode of BioScience Talks, Dr. Testa shares more details about hypoxia, its causes, and perhaps most important, the ways in which forecasting it can help us understand and plan for the future of the bay.

 

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