Chesapeake Bay’s Changing Ecosystem

The change in water temperatures in the Chesapeake Bay over the last three decades (an increase of about 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), according to Rom Lipcius, a professor of marine science at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, means that “populations of many native sea creatures in the Chesapeake have moved or expanded north in search of cooler water temperatures,” reports Sarah Fearing at the Williamsburg Yorktown Daily online. Virginia’s blue crab will be one of the beneficiaries of this warming trend.