Environment in Focus

Freakish weather events this summer--droughts, wild fires, record-breaking heat, and the "derecho" storms across the East--have inflicted economic damage on millions of American voters. But an eerie silence on climate-related subjects is the reaction from the U.S. presidential candidates, and public opinion on global warming has eroded because of the economic downturn.

Coyotes, which are native to the West and Midwest, over the last three decades have been moving into Maryland and the East and multiplying in suburban and even urban environments like Baltimore and Washington, DC. Genetic testing of some of the animals in the Chesapeake Bay region suggest they are mixed-breed "coywolves" -- larger coyotes that are the product of the animals breeding with their mortal enemies: wolves. (Photo of coyote from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

In a shallow bay of the Potomac River an hour south of Washington, D.C., lie the remains of 214 wooden cargo ships from World War I, some of which have sprouted trees and become islands. The so-called "Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay" is a reminder of the waste of war, and also of nature's resilience and ability to transform even a junkyard into an insurgency of life. (Originally aired 7/15/11.)

Wetlands are supposed to be protected because of their value as pollution filters and habitat for fish and birds. But federal and state agencies routinely approve permits for developers to destroy wetlands under the condition that they pay for the construction of artificial wetlands as replacements. These replacements, however, are not as productive biologically as real wetlands.  (Originally aired 2/8/12.)

The eastern United States just experienced the warmest spring on record, shattering previous highs.  On land, warm temperatures caused cherry and apple trees to bloom prematurely. In the Chesapeake Bay, algae bloomed earlier than normal, fed by runoff pollution from last fall's major storms.  Photo of algal bloom by Chesapeake Bay Program.

Several species of shorebirds that migrate along the Atlantic Coast are in decline, including whimbrels, whose numbers have plummeted by half over the last two decades. Scientists are trying to discover the causes--which could range from climate change to hunting--by attaching satellite transmitters to whimbrels and following them to their nesting grounds in Canada and Alaska.

Although many people think of Maryland as the blue crab capital of the world, more than 90 percent of the crab meat sold here is not from the Chesapeake Bay. To encourage more truth in advertising and jobs in local crab-related industries, Maryland officials are launching a "True Blue" program to certify which restaurants (including VIN 909 in Annapolis, shown above with co-owner Justin Moore) sell real Chesapeake crab.

Photo of Atlantic killifish from Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources

An ancient arms race on the ocean's bottom pits shell crushers, such as blue crabs, against shell builders, such as clams and oysters.  Research by Justin Ries of the University of North Carolina (above) concludes that carbon dioxide pollution creates acidic conditions that accelerate shell growth for the predators but slows down the building of shell defenses by their prey.