Beneath the Surface: Understanding Nature in the Mullica Valley Estuary

Description

2021 winner of Non-fiction popular category: New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance 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. 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 Diamondback Terrapins and the Lost Years Horseshoe Crabs: Ancient Migrators Marine Mammals: Summer and Winter Visitors A Valley Full of Blue Crabs Tales of the Talons River Herring: South Jersey’s Salmon White Perch and Hogchoker: Estuarine Migrators Fish and Shrimp Are Important Forage Summer Flounder Mysteries Sharks and Their Relatives Striped Bass: The Migratory Wizard Appendix Acknowledgments References Index