Benthic Macrofaunal Community Structure along a Well-Defined Salinity Gradient in the Mullica River–Great Bay Estuary**

Habitat dynamics of summer flounder Paralichthys dentatus within a shallow USA estuary, based on multiple approaches using acoustic telemetry

“…The Mullica River-Great Bay portion of the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve (JCNERR) (Fig. 1), in southern New Jersey, USA, was chosen for this research because: (1) the estuary is relatively unaltered (Kennish & O'Donnell 2002), (2) the JCNERR provides continuous measures of environmental variables using dataloggers (Kennish et al 2004), (3) the infrastructure for passive ultrasonic telemetry is in place (Grothues et al 2005), and (4) Paralichthys dentatus are seasonally abundant and many aspects of their life history are relatively well known (Able et al 1990, Szedlmayer & Able 1993, Able & Kaiser 1994. This estuarine system includes more than 27 000 ha of open water consisting of Great Bay, Little Egg Harbor, the Mullica River, a few back bays and 2 smaller rivers (Bass River, Wading River).…”

“…This estuarine system includes more than 27 000 ha of open water consisting of Great Bay, Little Egg Harbor, the Mullica River, a few back bays and 2 smaller rivers (Bass River, Wading River). These waters are typical of a MAB estuary in that they experience a wide annual temperature range (-2 to 28°C) and moderate tidal range (< 0.7 to 1.1 m) (Kennish et al 2004). The Pinelands National Reserve includes 450 000 ha of forested area that surrounds and protects the watershed of the Mullica River-Great Bay estuary from anthropogenic sources of pollution and contributes to the relatively unaltered nature of the estuary (Good & Good 1984, Kennish & O'Donnell 2002.…”

“…Great Bay, approximately 41.6 km 2 , averages < 2 m depth. The Mullica River averages approximately 6 m deep (Kennish et al 2004). Morphological features and currents near the inlet are complex, with sharp changes from shallow to deep water due to strong tidal flows (2 m s -1 ).…”

“…Four System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP) dataloggers set along the salinity gradient in the study estuary ( Fig. 1) recorded temperature, salinity, DO, and pH continuously (Kennish & O'Donnell 2002, Kennish et al 2004. Two were set in the Mullica River (near hydrophone gates at Lower Bank and Chestnut Neck) and 2 were set in Great Bay, near the entrance to Little Bay (near hydrophone gates at Intracoastal Waterway marker buoy 139) and close to Little Egg Inlet (near hydrophone gates at marker buoy 126).…”

Atmospheric nitrogen deposition to the Mullica River-Great Bay Estuary

“…Nitrate deposition accounts for ~61% of the total inorganic nitrogen deposition to this estuary (Table 3). The surface area of the Mullica River-Great Bay Estuary is 4,160 ha (41.6 km 2 ) (Kennish et al, 2004).…”