ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



I wish to thank a number of people 

 for valuable assistance with this project. 

 Robert DeGoursey and Peter Auster helped 

 to collate much of the fish literature and 

 served as sounding boards and reviewers of 

 Chapter 4. Steven Malinowski gathered 

 information on coastal birds and wrote the 

 lion's share of Chapter 5. Members of the 

 Manomet Bird Observatory, Manomet, Massa- 

 chusetts, were instrumental in identifying 

 pertinent references and in providing 

 access to unpublished reports of their 

 work. An informative conversation with 

 Les Watling helped to clarify questions 

 regarding the mud flats of Maine. Barry 

 Lyons supplied information about mud flat 

 chemistry. Steven Edwards and Barbara 

 Welsh provided access to unpublished 

 data on tidal flat macrophytes. Sarah 

 Malinowski expertly drew all the figures 

 from sketches and verbal descriptions of 

 what benthic invertebrates, fish, and bird 

 communities "really" look like. I appre- 

 ciate the thoughtful and extensive reviews 

 of Ralph Andrews, Bill Drury, Eric Mills, 



Don Rhoads, and Peter Larsen. Martha 

 Young initiated the project, provided 

 editorial assistance and logistic support, 

 and most importantly, allowed (relatively) 

 unimpeded time to think and write. Joyce 

 Lorensen typed portions of an early draft 

 and Ann Whitlatch expertly typed, edited, 

 and quietly suffered through the final 

 draft. Preparation and publication of 

 this report were supported by the U.S. 

 Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife 

 Service, National Coastal Ecosystems Team. 

 To all , I am grateful . 



This report is dedicated to A.C. 

 Redfield and H.L. Sanders. Dr. Redfield's 

 pioneering studies provided the initial 

 stimulus for my working in the most 

 beautiful salt marsh-tidal flat system 

 in New England. Howard Sanders not only 

 provided the opportunity to undertake 

 this project, but his encouragement and 

 insightful and provocative outlook on 

 marine ecology have been a constant source 

 of professional stimulation. 



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