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SECTION 4. ECOLOGY 



Ecology is the science of the interrelationships between living 

 organisms and their environment. As such, it encompasses all of the 

 natural biological, physical, and chemical aspects of the estuarine 

 and coastal zones. The overall complex formed by the community of 

 organisms and its environment is called an ecosystem. The discussion 

 below deals with certain aspects of the ecosystem, why these are 

 especially important in a program of technical and comprehensive 

 program of estuarine management, and the most urgent knowledge gaps 

 concerning these ecosystems. The various kinds of ecological research 

 needed lie in the categories of baseline studies to provide basic 

 data, broad ecological studies to determine mechanisms and ecosystem 

 interrelationships, biological studies to elucidate purely biological 

 phenomena, water quality studies to understand the physico-chemical 

 environment, natural variations to differentiate against man-made 

 changes, and interface factors to account for exchanges between the 

 estuarine ecosystem and its bordering influences. 



BASELINE STUDIES 



Purpose 



The most important gaps to be filled by a baseline study are a 

 knowledge of the physical and chemical characteristics, identifica- 

 tion, distribution, diversity, and abundance of resident and 

 non-resident organisms, exhaustive studies of their interactions. 



