Beneath the Surface : : Understanding Nature in the Mullica Valley Estuary / / Kenneth W. Able.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2020 English
• VerfasserIn: Able, Kenneth W.,
• Place / Publishing House: New Brunswick, NJ : : Rutgers University Press, , [2020]; ©2020
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (304 p.) :; 140 color images, 69 b&w images, 2 tables

The Mullica Valley estuary and its watershed, formed over the last 10,000 years, are among the cleanest estuaries along the east coast of the United States. This 365,000-acre ecosystem benefits from a combination of protected watershed, low human population density, and general lack of extensive development. In Beneath the Surface, marine scientist Ken Able helps the reader penetrate the surface and gain insights into the kinds of habitats, animals, and plants that live there. Readers will gain a better understanding of the importance of these shallow waters; how the amount of salt in the water determines where animals and plants are found in estuaries; the day-night, seasonal, and annual variation in their occurrence; and how change is occurring as the result of climate variation. Throughout the book are insightful sidebars telling intimate stories of where various animals came from and where they are going as they travel through the estuary on their way to and from other portions of the east coast. Beneath the Surface emphasizes the kinds and importance of the animals and plants that live beneath the surface of this unique ecosystem.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- Introduction -- CHAPTER 1. Penetrating the Surface -- CHAPTER 2. Mapping the Mullica Valley: Natural History Landscapes -- CHAPTER 3. Impacts and Invasions -- CHAPTER 4. Too Much Salt or Not Enough? -- CHAPTER 5. Seasons and Other Cycles -- CHAPTER 6. Sources: Both Near and Far -- CHAPTER 7. Marshes: Food Factories for the Mullica Valley -- CHAPTER 8. Hidden Habitats -- CHAPTER 9. Life and Mostly Death -- CHAPTER 10. Insights from Fisheries -- CHAPTER 11. Insights from Other Estuaries -- CHAPTER 12. Climate Change Underwater -- CHAPTER 13. Sea Level Rise -- CHAPTER 14. Underwater Calendar -- CHAPTER 15. Fishe Stories -- Appendix -- Acknowledgments -- References -- Index -- ABOUT THE AUTHOR