The South Carolina (SC) Water Monitoring Portal is an ArcGIS-based, geospatial application that incorporates water quality data from a variety of sources and projects them onto an interactive map. This application will provide those interested in accessing and retrieving South Carolina water quality data with a free and easyto- use tool that allows for spatial visualization, interaction with, and direct download of data. At the time of this publication, the application accesses roughly four million water quality data records collected by seventeen different organizations. To allow users to seamlessly find and access the data they need, filters are available to query the data to match the user's needs. Once users find the data applicable to them, they can download and export it into various formats. The application also allows groups and organizations to indirectly upload their own water quality data to have it incorporated into the application. With these capabilities in a spatial format, this application has the potential to provide many benefits. For example, in academia it could be utilized in both classroom and research settings, and regulatory agencies could use this application to communicate water quality from a spatial viewpoint, potentially fostering a better understanding of water quality to stakeholders. The management and protection of our state’s waters are difficult to achieve when the data pertaining to water quality isn’t easily accessible or available in a user-friendly format. The SC Water Monitoring Portal has the potential to aid in the protection and management of our state’s waters as it makes water quality data more accessible and the retrieval of data more user-friendly. The SC Water Monitoring Portal is hosted on the South Carolina (SC) Sea Grant Consortium and the College of Charleston’s Lowcountry Hazards Center websites, making it available to anyone interested in water quality data in the State of South Carolina (available online: www.scseagrant.org/SCWMP).

Body condition is a measure of an animal's energy reserves relative to its body structure that provides important information about individual- and population-level health. Monitoring the body condition of free-ranging cetaceans has historically been difficult, but in recent years, the unmanned aerial system (UAS, or "drone") has facilitated noninvasive ways of estimating the cetacean body condition. The Charleston Estuarine System (CES) includes the estuarine and coastal ecosystems surrounding Charleston, South Carolina, and is utilized by Tamanend's bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops erebennus) throughout the year. The main goals of this study were (1) to test UASs are suitable for monitoring body condition of dolphins in an estuarine environment, and (2) to determine if site, season, and age class influence the body condition of dolphins in CES. Land-based UAS surveys were conducted four sites throughout the CES between September 2022 and May 2023. The body condition of each dolphin was evaluated using images of the individual positioned flat with a straight body at surface, and a linear mixed effects model was constructed to determine which effects were associated with significant differences in dolphin body condition. After filtering images for quality, 428 images of 174 unique dolphins were included the final analysis, with repeated body condition estimates of 24 dolphins from multiple seasons. Both season and age class were significant predictors of dolphin body condition, but site was not. In addition, individual dolphins were catalogued in a Drone Dolphin ID database, which allowed some dolphins' unique body condition changes to be tracked over time. These findings provide an important baseline for dolphin body condition in the CES that can be built upon in future studies better understand how body condition changes response to environmental and anthropogenic stressors or for different age classes.

The Charleston Estuarine System Stock (CESS) of Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops erebennus) exhibit long-term site fidelity to the Charleston Harbor, and the Ashley, Cooper, and Wando Rivers in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. In the Cooper River, dolphins have been irregularly sighted in upper regions where salinity levels are below what is considered preferred dolphin habitat. We conducted unoccupied aerial system (UAS) surveys in high-salinity (>15 parts per thousand) and low-salinity (<15 parts per thousand) regions (n = 8 sites) of the Cooper River and surrounding waters to assess dolphin distribution in terms presence/absence, detection rate, abundance, and density. We also assessed the influence of ecological factors (salinity, water temperature, season, and prey availability) on dolphin distribution. Dolphins were detected at five sites, with higher salinity and water temperature being significant predictors of presence and abundance. Dolphins were detected year-round across high-salinity sites, and were infrequently detected in low-salinity sites during months with warmer water temperatures. The results from this study contribute to the overall understanding of dolphin distribution across various habitats within the Charleston Estuary System and the potential drivers for their movement into low-salinity waters.

Oberlin Cemetery, located near downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, was founded in 1873 following the American Civil War (1861-1865). This 3.2 ac (similar to 1.29 ha) parcel of land served as the main cemetery for the people of Oberlin Village-the largest freedmen's community in Wake County. Today, descendants of the village founders and other neighbourhood residents, organized as the Friends of Oberlin Village (FOV), are preserving this community landmark and working to have its historical significance recognized. In support of these efforts, terrestrial laser scanning, global-positioning-system-enabled pedestrian and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys were conducted during the winter and summer of 2016. We inventoried 276 formal grave markers identifying 221 individuals, 296 elongate depressions without a formal marker interpreted as sunken graves, and 130 fieldstones interpreted as burial markers, resulting in an estimate of 517-to-660 persons interred within the cemetery. The GPR survey supported the interpretation of topographic depressions as sunken graves; however, the undulating topography, as well as the density of trees and shrubs, limited this survey to similar to 12% of the site. Based on the birth dates listed on monuments, similar to 23% of these persons were born before the end of the Civil War. Death dates show the community's continued use of the cemetery throughout the early 1970s and less frequent use after that, with the most recent burials in 2009. A comparison with a 2012 inventory of monuments within Oberlin Cemetery suggests that similar to 3% of the markers were lost or displaced in 4 years, highlighting the importance of survey and preservation efforts. This work contributed to the FOV's successful nomination of the cemetery to the US National Register of Historic Places and was used to support several grants received for its preservation.

ABSTRACT The Charleston Estuarine System Stock (CESS) of common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) has been the focus of population monitoring for the past 20 years. Photo-id studies have determined abundance and survival estimates for this population, which exhibits high site fidelity in this area. However, fine-scale distribution, utilization patterns, and the driving forces behind these patterns are lacking. Using historical photo-id data and a novel application of geographic information system (GIS) analysis, the present study identified core use areas within Charleston Harbor, as well as patterns specific to sexes and seasons. Photo-id data of 319 dolphins sighted 11 times or more during 2004–2009 were analyzed. Heat maps were developed to examine spatial distributions using kernel density estimates (KDE) and were compared between sexes and seasons. Multiple high-density core use areas were identified for this population, with the most noteworthy near the mouth of the harbor toward the Atlantic Ocean. Fine-scale distribution varied across sexes, as well as seasons. Some areas were identified as more specifically inhabited by one sex, while other areas overlapped between sexes. Females were more tightly concentrated within their distribution while males were more dispersed. Although population distribution varied across seasons, sex distributions remained.