Baltimore Ecosystem Study

25th Anniversary Annual BES Science Meeting
2023-10-12 09:00 - 2023-10-13 12:00 (America/New_York) | William H. Thumel Sr. Business Center at the University of Baltimore, 11 West Mount Royal Ave, Baltimore, MD, 21201
25th Baltimore Ecosystem Study Annual Meeting
Click HERE to register!
Please click the following links to download event materials:
Summary Agenda
Agenda with Abstracts
The BES Annual meeting brings together researchers, practitioners, and students from the Baltimore community and beyond who are interested in Baltimore as a social-ecological system and its sustainability, equity, and resilience.
The meeting will occur over two days:
Thursday, October 12th, 9:00 am – 3:30 pm;
and reception 5:00 pm hosted by Pastor Mark Montgomery and Terris King II
Union Baptist Church, 1219 Druid Hill Avenue, Baltimore.
Friday, October 13th, 9:00 am – Noon
There will be a one-hour break for lunch on Thursday.
The meeting will occur at the University of Baltimore’s Merrick School of Business, 11 W Mt Royal Ave, Baltimore, MD 21201. There is street and garage parking nearby, including a lot at 80 W Oliver St, Baltimore, MD 21217.
The meeting consists of a keynote address; presentations and a poster session on current research findings, science applications, and science-based practitioner projects from Baltimore, with opportunities for questions and answers.
We look forward to seeing everyone there!

Summer Quarterly Meeting: Urban Flooding
2023-06-07 09:00 - 12:00 | UMBC Techology Research Center, 5200 Westland Blvd., Room 206, Arbutus, Maryland, 21227, United States
The Summer Quarterly Meeting of the BES will focus on Urban Flooding.
The meeting will take place on June 7th from 9am to 12pm.
It will be held in person at the Technology Research Center (TRC), Room 206 on UMBC’s campus.
A virtual option will also be available.
Parking Instructions for in-person attendees:

TRC (Technology Research Center) Room 206, UMBC Campus
Attendees can park anywhere in Lot 25 at UMBC, which surrounds the TRC.
Meeting attendees need to sign-in to park with Trish Smith at the front desk of the TRC.
Info required for sign in: Attendee name, Vehicle Info (color, make, model, year, license plate #)
Please note that propping the front door is not allowed due to campus security policy

DOWNLOAD Agenda PDF or scroll down to read.
Agenda

9:00 Welcome, intro, announcements
Icebreaker: what is your definition of a flood or flood event?

Theme 1: Flood Data/experiences/information

9:15 Presentation 1: Kim Grove, Baltimore City Dept of Public Works
9:25 Presentation 2: Andy Miller, UMBC
9:35 Presentation 3: Patrick McMahon, Bluewater Baltimore
9:45 Questions
10:00 Break

Theme 2: the Future of flooding

10:15 Presentation 1: Dave Guignet, Maryland
10:25 Presentation 2: Larry Band, University of Virginia
10:35 Questions
11:00 Breakout groups: discuss data needs and future
11:30 Report back/group discussion
12:00 Adjourn to lunch to keep talking about this!

Please join us for a community-focused event at Stillmeadow Peace Park from 2:30 to 4:30, featuring community discussions, talks by Terris King II, Temple X Schools, Dr. Tonya Sanders, and Pastor Micheal Martin, and a water quality testing demonstration by Baltimore Department of Public Works!

Spring Quarterly Meeting: Wildlife/Organismal Biology & Baltimore Communities
2023-04-12 09:00 - 12:00 | UMBC Techology Research Center, 5200 Westland Blvd., Room 206, Arbutus, Maryland, 21227, United States
The Spring Quarterly Meeting of the BES focused on Wildlife/Organismal Biology & Baltimore Communities
It was held in person at the Technology Research Center (TRC), Room 206 on UMBC’s campus.
DOWNLOAD Agenda PDF or scroll down to read.
DOWNLOAD Presentation Slides.
Watch a recording of the meeting below:

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BES Quarterly Science Meeting Agenda: Wildlife/Organismal Biology & Baltimore Communities

8:30 Coffee, Snacks, and Hellos
9:00 Introductions
Christopher M. Swan – Dept. of Geography & Environmental Systems, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
9:10 Intersection of social systems, research, and ecological health
Land cover and socio-economic patterns together explain urban mammal occupancy
Colin Studds – Associate Prof. UMBC – Population Ecologist
Mammal habitat occupancy is often explained by land cover patterns. We found that occurrence of five of six mammals species in Baltimore forests was best predicted by models that had a combination of land cover and Socio-economic variables.
Less volunteered biodiversity sampling occurs in formerly redlined areas
Dexter Locke – Research Geographer. USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station – Baltimore Field Station
This talk shows how ~12 million volunteer-collected bird data points (in Baltimore and 194 other metropolitan areas) are distributed with respect to redlining, and how those patterns have changed over time. Citizen science data has rapidly gained influence in urban ecology and conservation planning, but with limited understanding of how such data reflects social, economic, and political conditions and legacies. At the same time, it has been proposed that race-based zoning policies and practices plausibly have a legacy of creating entirely different food webs and interactions among organisms in urban areas. In order to harness the power of vast quantities of spatially-explicit citizen science data, to address issues of segregation and its link to biodiversity today, it is important to first understand how spatial sampling bias co-occurs along socioeconomic gradients.
(Re)connecting people to nature via wildlife monitoring
Ela Carpenter, Urban Wildlife Biologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Ela will present on her work as US Fish and Wildlife Service urban wildlife biologist merging wildlife research with community engagement. She will discuss how she ties conservation work to people’s lives, demonstrating how conservation can be a tool to help improve people’s lives, and how a recent course on Co-designing conservation is helping her re-frame her work as a biologist. Ela will share some current projects where public participation is welcome (gathering wildlife data using trail cameras, a new urban bird banding station, Ask a Bumblebee, the upcoming City Nature Challenge), and the value of apps like iNaturalist, eBird, EchoMeter Touch Pro bat detectors.
Discussion 1
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9:55 Human effects on ecosystem health
Loss of Phylogenetic Diversity under Landscape Change
Christopher M. Swan – Dept. of Geography & Environmental Systems University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Habitat alteration and destruction are primary drivers of biodiversity loss. However, the evolutionary dimensions of biodiversity loss remain largely unexplored in many systems. Using a long-term dataset of a globally, ecologically important guild of invertebrate consumers, stream leaf “shredders,” we created a phylogenetic tree of the taxa in the regional species pool, calculated mean phylogenetic distinctiveness for >1000 communities spanning >10 year period, and related species richness, phylogenetic diversity, and distinctiveness to watershed-scale impervious cover. Using a combination of changepoint and compositional analyses, we learned that increasing impervious cover produced marked reductions in all three measures of diversity.
Autumn leaf litter removal reduces moth emergence in suburban yards
Max Ferlauto PhD Candidate , Karin Burghardt Assistant Professor – University of Maryland
This study examines the effects of suburban leaf litter removal on overwintering Lepidoptera and parasitic wasp populations. We used emergence traps to compare litter maintenance techniques within areas of different yard care intensities in suburban Maryland homes.
Using Mussels and Barnacles to Reduce Algae Blooms in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor
Ally Kido PhD Candidate University of Maryland
Phytoplankton filtering capabilities of sessile organisms in urban waterways around Baltimore have untapped potential for ecosystem services. Species such as the dark false mussel and the bay barnacle readily grow on hard surfaces in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and hold promise as providers of beneficial ecosystem services. Understanding the natural diets and filtering capabilities of these sessile suspension feeders is crucial in determining the extent of the ecosystem services and for supporting best management practices to mitigate urban runoff in these areas
Discussion 2

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10:40 Break
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10:55 Connecting Science, People, Stewardship
Baltimore City – Cities Connecting Children to Nature Program
Abby Cocke – City Planner II Baltimore City Office of Sustainability
Spending time in nature is incredibly beneficial to the mental, physical, and emotional health of children, however too many of our children have little to no access to nature and the outdoors. In 2018, Baltimore joined a cohort of 18 cities participating in the Cities Connecting Children to Nature (CCCN) initiative with support from the National League of Cities and the Children & Nature Network. Abby will provide an overview of the City of Baltimore’s vision and strategies, major partnerships, and resources for increasing equitable access to nature for Baltimore’s youth and families
Birds of Baltimore Forest Patches
Eric Fishel, Forest Program Manager – Baltimore Green Space
Ericl will discuss how Baltimore’s forest patches support the diverse bird communities found throughout the city.
Bird-Friendly Baltimore & Latine Community Partnerships
Susie Creamer, Center Director at Patterson Park Audubon Center
Susie will share her decades-long collaboration with Baltimore’s Latine communities around bird conservation, how partnerships were created, why they are successful, and how they meet our shared goals.
Ask A Bumblebee Community Science Project
Jenan El-Hifnawi – Ask A Bumble Bee coordinator /Lab Manager/rising grad student in Anahi Espinola’s lab at College Park
AABB is a highly-accessible community science project seeking to determine the best bumblebee food plants in the Northeast US. While many people presume that we already know this, most existing studies only consider flowers that are visited and ignore ones that are not visited, presenting an incomplete perspective on floral preference. In this study, participants “ask” bumblebees what flowers they prefer by wandering in any location of their choosing for 30 minutes while photographing all blooming flower species they pass, and tallying bumble and carpenter bee visitation.

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11:35 Final Discussion
12:00 Wrap Up

January Quarterly Meeting: Environmental Justice
2023-01-25 08:30 - 13:00 | UMBC Techology Research Center, 5200 Westland Blvd., Room 206, Arbutus, Maryland, 21227, United States
The January Quarterly Meeting of the BES focused on Environmental Justice.
The meeting was held in person at the Technology Research Center (TRC), Room 206 on UMBC’s campus.
STREAM a recorded video of the meeting.
DOWNLOAD a recorded video of the meeting.
DOWNLOAD Meeting Notes and Discussion
Full details and agenda below.
Printable PDF version HERE
BES Quarterly Science Meeting: Environmental Justice Practice and Research
TIME: 8:30am – 1pm, Wednesday, January 25th
LOCATION
Physical:
Room 206
UMBC Technology Research Center (TRC)
5200 Westland Blvd
Arbutus, MD 21227
Parking:
UMBC parking lot #25 surrounds the Technology Research Center. If you park in this lot and would like to have free parking, you will need to provide the following vehicle information to the TRC building manager (Patricia Smith) on a sign-in sheet upon entering the building:
Tag Number and State; Make and Model; Color

AGENDA
8:30 Coffee, Snacks, and Hellos
9:00 Goals and Introductions
Moderator, Tanaira Cullens, Environmental Scientist, Biohabitats

Become familiar with

Topic
Practices, findings, and data
Needs and opportunities
Organizations and individuals

Identify actions: Let’s not let this meeting be “one and done”
Be comfortable with being uncomfortable

9:15 Brief Orientation to Topic
Morgan Grove, USDA Forest Service

Disamenities / Amenities // Distributional (Patterns) / Procedural (Processes)

Linking Distributional and Procedural over Time

EJ as a resilient system: an expanded set of “parts”, feedbacks, and long-term understanding (how did it come to be)

Housing, zoning, employment, education, policing, wealth creation, and so on?

Other perspectives / ideas?

9:35 Practice:
What is the current state of EJ practice in Baltimore that could include policy, planning, and management perspectives and from government and civic society sectors?

Meghan Hazer Alvarez, Watershed Planning + Partnerships (DPW)
Tree Equity, MD DNR Forest Service
Mark Montgomery, Pastor, Union Baptist Church

10:05 Break
10:15 Research:
What is the current state of EJ research in Baltimore?

Long term EJ dynamics in Baltimore, Morgan Grove
Street Tree Diversity and Redlining in Baltimore, Karin Burghardt, University of Maryland, College Park
Mosquitos and Community Engagement, Dawn Biehler, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

11:05 Engaging / Sharing Practice / Research:
What are the needs and opportunities for better engaging EJ practices and research from community to municipal levels: listening and sharing in Baltimore?

The problem of “Us” talking to “Us”

People who are experiencing the injustices

Are there other opportunities to expand who is in the conversation?

Hosted by other groups such as BUILD / ACT Now

Times that are more accessible: weekends / evenings
Institutional barriers to connecting Practice, Research, and Education

11:35 Production:
What are the needs and opportunities for the production of EJ research in Baltimore, including students at different “stages” of life, academics, and academic institutions in Baltimore?

Landscape of Fear
Policy and the “community meeting” requirement for projects
Intergenerational/socioeconomic barriers
Mentorship Opportunities

University programs such as iCARE
Parks & People BRANCHES program
Temple X school

12:05 Mutual Aid and Next steps:
Ideas for future activities for partnership

What’s the network?

Who’s involved and who’s missing

Where can we be helpful?
How can we be helpful?

BES website: Synthesis research documents with links to publications and data
Overall city synthesis of practice and research

Calendar of events

1:00 Adjourn

2022 BES Annual Science Meeting
2022-10-13 - 2022-10-14 | William H. Thumel Sr. Business Center at the University of Baltimore, 11 West Mount Royal Ave, Baltimore, MD, 21201
The 2022 Annual BES Science Meeting was held on Thursday October 13th and Friday October 14th.
Please click the following links to download event materials:
Day 1 Presentation Slides
Day 2 Presentation Slides
Posters
Summary Agenda
Agenda w/ Abstracts
