system model which will link physical inputs, o^eoi^raphical setting, 

 and biolojrical productivity, with emphasis on exchanges of energy 

 and nutrients between the physical and biological components of 

 the system. 



Seagrass Ecosystem Study (SES) 



Seagrass meadows are found in shallow water along the nearshore 

 areas of every ocean except those in polar regions, and play a 

 major role in the ecology of coastal waters. They are among the 

 most productive systems in the ocean, and they play a significant 

 role in stabilizing coastal sediments, yet relatively little is known 

 about them. SES, which began in 1974, includes studies of the 

 contribution of seagrass ecosystems to other food webs, especially 

 those of direct importance to people, studies of the global distri- 

 bution of seagrasses, and studies of their life cycles, their environ- 

 mental tolerance limits, and their suitability for transplantation. 



International Aspects 



There is some degree of international involvement in all of the above 

 i)rojects; this takes a variety of forms and it is hard to say what is 

 'typical". All projects have one or more scientists from other nations 

 participating; more extensive involvement of foreign governments and 

 institutions is difficult to c|uantify due to different methods used in cate- 

 gorizing expenditures. CEPEX is being carried out at a field site in 

 Canada with the participation of a few Canadian scientists, and the 

 British are setting up a similar experiment on a smaller scale in Scottish 

 waters, but the project is fundamentally a U.S. funded and planned 

 activity. POLYMODE, on the other hand, is a jointly planned, funded 

 and managed program of the United States and the U.S.S.R. CUEA's 

 JOINT I field program of!" the west coast of Africa in 1974 saw France, 

 Spain, Mauretania and West Germany contributing more total ship time 

 than the U.S.; JOINT II, a study of coastal upwelling off the coast of 

 Peru which begins this year, is a cooperative effort of the United States 

 and the nations on the west coast of South America, with the latter 

 doing the major portion of the work. The Seagrass Ecosystem Study is 

 integrated with projects of other nations through an international com- 

 mittee representing the United States, Denmark, France, Japan and 

 the Netherlands. The Federal Republic of Germany, France, the United 

 Kingdom, India, Italy and Japan all participated in GEOSECS with 

 ships, personnel and laboratory facilities. Participants from fifteen other 

 nations joined with the U.S. in carrying out the Eastern South Atlantic 

 Continental Margins Survey, and Argentina and Brazil have been full 

 partners with the U.S. in the study of Southwest Atlantic Margins. 

 CLIMAP has j:)rovided an opportunity to integrate related work carried 



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