and their associated societal values or characteristics, such as economic value, charismatic value, 
stock status, and extent of coastal/estuarine dependency. Species will then be prioritized. 
Development of a final list from the top-priority populations will be used to select species from a 
range of life histories and ecological niches to best represent biological diversity and ecosystem 
flmction. The final list also will include information that will consider the scientific feasibility of 
studying populations, because species with certain life histories may be very difficult or 
impractical to study given the available research tools. For some species, researdi often will 
focus on the juvenile stages because Juveniles are typically more dependent on specific habitats 
and are not subject to direct fishing pressure, but adults will sometimes be the endpoint that best 
integrates over the suite of habitat elements being considered. Secondary species endpoints for 
each of the above areas are the key forage fishes and invertebrates upon which larger societally 
valuable species depend, and these will be considered as well. 
Project Title 1: Coastal Vegetated Habitat Research 
Project Coordination and Resources (11.15 FTEs: AED-5.05, GED-2.0, MED-1.0, WED-3.1) 
Objectives 
• To quantify the role of aquatic vegetated habitat in providing structure and life support 
functions (e.g., food and shelter) to selected and societally important fish, shellfish, and 
wildlife populations. 
• To identify those attributes of habitat within vegetated aquatic systems that are key to 
sustaining societally important species, and to further determine the functional 
relationships between those attributes and the utilization of that habitat by primary and 
secondary (e.g., forage organisms) assessment endpoints. 
• To integrate the results of habitat-specific research results with other NHEERL habitat 
research that focuses on larger scale questions that range from localized among-habitat 
differences to the landscape and regional scale. 
• To provide to other research teams within NHEERL the functional relationships between 
aquatic vegetation attributes found to be important to endpoints, and that are also 
impacted by stressors. 
• To transmit the results of this research to resource managers in a format appropriate for 
its application in policy and regulatory decisions. 
Scientific Approach 
The definition of "habitat” invariably combines two concepts: a geographic location; and the 
flora and fauna that are regarded as dependent upon, or otherwise functionally associated, in 
some way, with that location. Aquatic habitats can range in character from bare sand, sediment, 
or rock substrates to areas of submerged or emergent vegetation. This portion of the plan focuses 
on aquatic vegetation - the areas of freshwater or estuarine wetlands, marshes, and sea grass beds 
19 
