The Estuarine Research Center
focusses its research efforts on estuaries, the partially enclosed bodies of water that are formed where freshwater from rivers and streams meets saltwater from the sea. Estuaries like the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays are very important ecosystems that support a great variety of life, from plants and birds to the fish, molluscs, and crusaceans that people count on for food.

Because of its location on the Patuxent River, 23,000 square foot state-of-the-art laboratory facilities, and fleet of marine research vessels, the Estuarine Research Center (ERC) is able to offer exposure to ongoing, cutting-edge interdisciplinary scientific research through a variety of education and outreach experiences. ERC education program participants have the opportunity to observe first-hand what the Center's scientists do, learn why it is important, and experience how it is done.

Every Lesson
includes a lab-based portion, while some involve a trip on board a research vessel or to a nearby salt marsh. Watershed concepts are used throughout, with a key theme being the effects of upstream activities (a.k.a. 'urban' areas such as Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, MD) on downstream (a.k.a. Calvert County) and Bay areas.

Click on the image below to hear about the ERC education experience and see what students do when they visit the lab.

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Participants use scientific equipment to examine water quality parameters such as dissolved oxygen, salinity, and turbidity. They also collect living organisms by seining, dredging, plankton tows, fish trawls, and benthic sampling. Students learn why they are collecting and how their data relates to specific ERC research projects.

In fact, classes often become directly involved in ERC research, and have been helpful to scientists working on projects such as population surveys of the eastern oyster and long-term studies of blue crab populations in the Patuxent River and Chesapeake Bay. For information about one of these research projects, visit the Oyster Disease story in the section of this site dedicated to the Academy's environmental research.

For more on educational opportunities at the ERC, call the Education Coordinator at 410.586.9722 or visit ERC's Education and Outreach site on the web.

It's Important to Remember That
Every Upstream Action has a Downstream Effect!