PREFACE 



This paoer represents a synthesis of 

 knowledqe concerninq the Apalachicola 

 drainage system, which is located in 

 Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. The 

 Apalachicola Bay complex is only one part 

 of a ma.ior drainage area that includes the 

 Apalachicola, Chattahoochee, and Flint 

 River systems on one side and the 

 northeastern Gulf of Mexico on the other. 

 The boundaries that separate various 

 components (i.e., the river and its 

 associated wetlands, the bay system, and 

 the open gulf) are artificial in an 

 ecological sense. Likewise, the 

 traditional boundaries that have separated 

 various scientific discipl ines--such as 

 physics, chemistry, meteorology, and 

 biology--are somewhat arbitrary when a 

 systems approach is used to determine the 

 functional interactions among interacting 

 subsystems. Thus various boundaries must 

 be crossed when the investigator attempts 

 to understand an entire aquatic ecosvstem. 



Over the past 12 years, researchers 

 in the Apalachicola system have carried 

 out a series of multidisciplinary and 

 interdisciplinary studies to determine the 

 response of the Aoalachicola estuary to a 

 series of environmental variables. Such 

 an effort can be likened to the growth of 

 concentric layers of a snowball as it 

 rolls down a hill. The solution of each 

 problem forms the foundation for a new 

 guestion, which, in turn, serves as the 

 template for new hypotheses and tests. 

 The combination of background field 

 analyses and experiments in the laboratory 

 and the field have been used as the basis 

 of this effort. Eventually, we can view 

 the overall picture by cutting through the 

 snowball of ideas, hypotheses, and 

 resolutions to form models of how the 

 ecosystem works. As of this writing, 12 

 years of continuous field and experimental 



data have been transformed into 

 computerized files, which are now being 

 used to develop models of how the 

 Aoalachicola Ray system works in 

 comparison with other such systems in the 

 southeastern United States. 



The scientific work on the 

 Apalachicola estuary is only the first 

 step in our understanding of system 

 functions. Increasingly, humans are 

 having an important influence on natural 

 aquatic systems. Urbanization, 

 industrialization, and agricultural 

 activities can lead to habitat 

 destruction, pollution, and severe 

 restrictions on productivity, which, in 

 turn, can be translated into very real 

 socioeconomic problems. The Apalachicola 

 area is a multiple-use system. 

 Accordingly, sound land planning and 

 progressive resource management are best 

 carried out with a comprehensive base of 

 objective scientific and economic 

 information. With the recent 

 establishment of the Apalachicola River 

 and Bay National Estuarine Sanctuary--the 

 largest such sanctuary in the nation--the 

 Apalachicola drainage system has been 

 designated by law as a special area, a 

 place of refuge and shelter for important 

 aquatic species as well as humans as 

 integral parts of the ecosystem. As one 

 of the last relatively natural biq river 

 areas in the United States, the highly 

 productive Apalachicola system is small 

 enough to analyze in a comprehensive 

 scientific fashion while being extensive 

 enough to be used as a natural model for 

 other such areas. The Apalachicola valley 

 is currently part of a major experiment to 

 determine whether scientific data can be 

 translated into a comprehensive resource 

 management program that will accommodate 

 economic development while perpetuating 

 the natural resources of the region. 



m 



