Support for Integrated Ecosystem Assessments of NOAA’s National Estuarine Research Reserves System (NERRS), Volume I: The Impacts of Coastal Development on the Ecology and Human Well-being of Tidal Creek Ecosystems of the U.S. Southeast.

Sanger, D., A. Blair, G. DiDonato, T. Washburn, S. Jones, R. Chapman, D. Bergquist, G. Riekerk, E. Wirth, J. Stewart, D. White, L. Vandiver, S. White, D. Whitall.

North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserves and S.C. Sea Grant Consortium

The primary objective of this work was to clearly define the relationships between coastal development with its concomitant land use changes and non-point source pollution loading and the ecological and human health and well-being status of tidal creek ecosystems. For many indicators, the intertidally-dominated or headwater portions of tidal creeks were found to respond differently than the subtidally-dominated or larger and deeper portions of tidal creeks.