The geochemical condition of surface sediments in a tropical estuary and adjoining shelf region is presented for their elemental interactions using statistical methods. Principal component analysis separated two clusters comprising of (i) heavy metals possessing significant correlation with texture (organic carbon, clay and silt), which belong to sediments in the shelf region and (ii) heavy met...

 An analysis of eight microsatellite loci in 90 individuals was performed to define the genetic structure and variability of three estuarine populations of Coilia mystus: 30 individuals each  collected from ChangJiang River (Yangtze River) estuary-CJ, MinJiang River estuary-MJ, and ZhuJiang River (Pearl River) estuary-ZJ. The results showed polymorphic information contents (PIC) of 0.7...

STOCK DEFINITION AND GEOGRAPHIC RANGE The coastal morphotype of bottlenose dolphin is continuously distributed along the Atlantic coast south of Long Island, New York, to the Florida peninsula, including inshore waters of the bays, sounds and estuaries. Except for animals residing within the Southern North Carolina and Northern North Carolina Estuarine Systems (e.g., Waring et al. 2007), estuar...

Meaningful evaluation of the ecological stresses imposed by man's release of heavy metals or radioisotopes into estuaries requires an improved understanding of the interactions between the waste materials and the functional components of the ecosystem. In this paper, we review and discuss the types of information required for the development of useful models for the cycling of contaminant metal...

This paper looks at coastal and estuarine ecosystems in terms of their unique biodiversity characteristics and the implications of these characteristics for management. With the exception of coral and other reef communities, coastal and estuarine systems are generally low in species diversity. But estuaries are typically dominated by strong aperiodic physical forces (e.g. salinity changes due t...

The purpose of this study was to document existing benthic organisms of the lower West River in New Haven and West Haven, Connecticut, in order to enable monitoring of salt marsh restoration. Seventeen sites were sampled between the Chapel Street Bridge and the mouth of the West River during the month of July 1995. All sites contained polychaete worms and other organisms typical of estuarine sy...

The dynamics of aquatic systems (e.g. estuarine systems) are known to facilitate the formation of particle aggregates. These nutrient-rich particulate matter provide suitable substrate for bacteria colonization. Although bacteria-aggregate association is known to result in the degradation of particulate organic matter (POM) in aquatic systems, it has never been attributed to the production of m...

Title of Dissertation: CRYPTIC DIVERSITY, ECOLOGICAL DIFFERENTIATION AND POPULATION GENETICS OF AN ESTUARINE COPEPOD, ACARTIA TONSA DANA 1849 (COPEPODA: CALANOIDA) Gang Chen, Doctor of Philosophy, 2009 Dissertation directed by: Dr. Matthew P. Hare Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park Associate Professor, Department of Natural Resources, Cornell Univer...

Estuarine ecosystems are becoming increasingly altered by the concentration of human populations near the coastline, however a robust indicator of this change is lacking. We developed an index of waterbird community integrity (IWCI) and tested its sensitivity to anthropogenic activities within 28 watersheds and associated subestuaries of Chesapeake Bay, USA. The IWCI was used as a tool to gain ...

This article provides an overview on the status of remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) applications in developing landscapelevel environmental indicators for estuarine ecosystem assessment. These broadscape indicators are related to near-shore water quality, submergent aquatic vegetation, coastal wetlands, as well as watershed landscape structure and pattern. Slightly diffe...