Environmental data is more than a bunch of numbers. Meaningful information about the natural world is embedded in those numbers as patterns, cycles, trends, changes, and events. Arranging your data in different ways can highlight different features of the phenomena captured by your data set. This dual aspect of a data set is its power: data is quantifiable information. You can describe the key features of your data set using words, but you can also quantify, or characterize, critical information using numbers, mathematical equations, or statistical concepts.

We have used the Mauna Loa monthly CO2 data set to isolate and characterize changes in the anthropogenic and biological contributions to atmospheric CO2 concentrations between 1960 and 2017. We have also studied variability in the seasonal cycle, driven by changes in photosynthesis and respiration from year to year. But is the CO2 record from Mauna Loa, a mountain in Hawaii, representative of the global variability in atmospheric CO2?

The management and conservation of the world’s oceans require synthesis of spatial data on the distribution and intensity of human activities and the overlap of their impacts on marine ecosystems. We developed an ecosystem-specific, multiscale spatial model to synthesize 17 global data sets of anthropogenic drivers of ecological change for 20 marine ecosystems. Our analysis indicates that no area is unaffected by human influence and that a large fraction (41%) is strongly affected by multiple drivers. However, large areas of relatively little human impact remain, particularly near the poles. The analytical process and resulting maps provide flexible tools for regional and global efforts to allocate conservation resources; to implement ecosystem-based management; and to inform marine spatial planning, education, and basic research.

Large environmental changes are occurring all around us. As the human population has grown, the demand for food, energy, water, living space, and amenities has also grown, as has the production of industrial wastes, sewage, agricultural run-off, and carbon dioxide – the monster of all waste products. These changes are not always obvious to the naked eye, and the lack of a clear understanding is often a major barrier to taking appropriate action. This is where the environmental scientist is needed: to shed light on the what, where, when, why, and how of environmental change.

This book is both a resource and a practical guide to thinking about, doing, and communicating science. After you work through concrete examples of how to develop a scientific question, how to consider the complexity of natural phenomena, and how to align questions with data analysis, a scientific research proposal is used to demonstrate the degree to which critical environmental science concepts have been absorbed and applied. As an assignment, a research proposal is an effective way to integrate core concepts of scientific thinking while allowing students to engage with a topic of particular personal interest.

Communicating science is difficult. The challenge is to effectively summarize scientific results in a clear and informative way. Science is based on collecting empirical data (usually numbers) and often uses very long lists of numbers or spreadsheets with multiple columns and rows called “tables.” Though it is extremely important to make the raw data (the original lists of numbers) publicly available, raw data presented as such is not easy to absorb or understand.

Once you have a preliminary research question, it is time to investigate the existing data that could be used to address the question. To find existing data, start by searching the published peer-reviewed literature. Google Scholar or an open web search will not necessarily limit your search to peer-reviewed publications and can therefore be a waste of time or cause you to rely on inappropriate work, or both. The easiest way to find peer-reviewed science is to use a database at your institutional library that curates peer-reviewed publications. There are many databases that are useful. Web of Science is one of the most general useful databases, but you can also use databases that are more discipline specific like Georef or BioMed. Ask your librarians for advice to ensure that you are accessing the right papers for your purpose.

The way scientists work is not linear. A scientist does not think quietly to herself “I am following the scientific method” as she observes, hypothesizes, tests, and concludes. In fact, the process of science is much more iterative, circular, and creative than is implied by a linear model of the scientific method.

Fill in the following spreadsheet with an appropriate timescale (seconds, minutes, days, years, decades, centuries, millennia … billions of years) and spatial scale (micrometres, metres, kilometres, 100s kilometres, 1000s kilometres …) for each word or phrase on the list. You do not have to be exact but try to capture the scales within an order of magnitude.

Imagine that you have found a new planet and you are able to measure the temperature of the planet at various locations on the surface of the planet: 10 in the northern half of the planet and 10 in the southern half of the planet. The northern data and the southern data show opposite patterns. You have now been asked to characterize the temperature of the planet over one year.

Writing a proposal is the first step to getting a project approved and funded. In many cases, a call for proposals is like a competition where the most persuasive proposal will get approved and others will not. In science, persuasive writing is not hyperbolic or purposefully evasive. Taking a narrow view of a topic to elevate its importance is not an effective way to write a persuasive science proposal. A persuasive science proposal clearly and accurately articulates the motivating problem and outlines the methodology chosen to address the problem in a logical and systematic way. Scientists use references as supporting documents to authenticate statements. Effective referencing increases the quality of the proposal.

Tidal wetlands including salt marshes and mangroves tend to move inland with sea level rise as they have done in the past. In North America geological records from salt marsh deposits showed early evidence of marsh inland migration as far back as 3,000 years ago when rates of eustatic sea levels decreased (Lambeck and Bard 2000). Where this decrease was accompanied by a slow in isostatic adjustments, marsh vegetation was able to establish and enhance sediment deposition as described by FitzGerald et al. (2008). As the elevation of marshes increased, they migrated seaward and inland (Redfield 1972). At these historically low rates of sea-level rise and stable sediment supply, the rate of marsh migration inland is controlled by the slope of the hinterland. Brinson et al. (1995) noted that, if bordered by steeply sloping hinterlands, marsh migration would be “stalled.” In the Gulf Coast of Florida, Raabe and Stumpf (2016) used historical maps and satellite imagery to show that, despite retreat of marsh seaward edge with increased rates of sea level rise, the low slopes of the hinterland allowed extensive inland migration that compensated for that loss. In Chesapeake Bay, Hussein (2009) found that in low-relief submerging areas, coastal marshes accrete vertically and migrate laterally over adjacent forest soils to keep pace with sea-level rise. We are unaware of any studies that have determined the maximum slope required to prevent stalling of marsh migration under any scenario of sediment supply or sea level rise.

Salt marshes are common globally in low-lying coastal environments. Their geological settings and ecosystems vary widely by latitude and climatic settings (Chapman, 1960). Allen (2000) provides a comprehensive sketch of European salt marshes, while Rogers and Woodroffe (2014) give a recent summary of the subject. Woodwell et al. (1973) suggest that there are more than 38 million hectares (380,000 km2) of salt marshes worldwide, but specific delineation of distributions is incomplete, particularly in Asia, Africa, and South America. That area is greater than the total area of coastal American states from New Jersey to South Carolina. This chapter concentrates on the east coast of North America as containing examples of well-studied environments, with a few additional examples.

The analysis presented here was motivated by an objective of describing the interactions between the physical and biological processes governing the responses of tidal wetlands to rising sea level and the ensuing equilibrium elevation. We define equilibrium here as meaning that the elevation of the vegetated surface relative to mean sea level (MSL) remains within the vertical range of tolerance of the vegetation on decadal time scales or longer. The equilibrium is dynamic, and constantly responding to short-term changes in hydrodynamics, sediment supply, and primary productivity. For equilibrium to occur, the magnitude of vertical accretion must be great enough to compensate for change in the rate of sea-level rise (SLR). SLR is defined here as meaning the local rate relative to a benchmark, typically a gauge. Equilibrium is not a given, and SLR can exceed the capacity of a wetland to accrete vertically.