IV-488 



SECTION 3. TRENDS IN ESTUARINE ECOLOGY ASSOCIATED 

 WITH MAN'S ACTIVITIES 



The future character of estuarine ecological systems in the United 

 States will be determined by present and future pressures affecting 

 the estuarine zone, public decisions, and by the actions resulting 

 from public policy. Thus, the future nature and operation of the 

 total biophysical environment will be shaped primarily by the 

 socioeconomic and institutional environments discussed in this 

 report. 



Existing estuarine ecological systems will continue to operate 

 either in long-established dynamic patterns of chemical cycling, 

 water circulation and species behavior, or these activities will be 

 increasingly dominated by man's activities. Man's activities 

 generally result in great stresses on established plant, animal 

 and chemical processes, if not total system modification. These 

 activities may be controlled by decisions made in the socioeconomic 

 and institutional environments to minimize impacts on the existing 

 estuarine systems, thus retaining their structure and operation; 

 or, the energy sources and stresses associated with man's 

 activities may be allowed to dominate estuarine processes and, in 

 effect, create wholly or partially different systems. 



