COASTES was a multidisciplinary program, funded by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, designed to improve the understanding of the effects of multiple stressors in coastal systems and the role that the complexity of natural systems plays in influencing responses to anthropogenic stress.
COASTES focused on the Patuxent River, a subestuary of the Chesapeake Bay, as a model ecosystem.
Funded by NOAA-Coastal Ocean Program, the multi-year (1995 -- 2003), multi-investigator project had at its core an integrated team of watershed experts, ecologists, economists and managers who designed an integrated approach to the issue. By examining land use, ecology, fisheries, management issues, and economics in a coordinated effort, we insure that we will be able to integrate information generated to improve our scientific understanding and management of the estuary. Sanders served as co-Lead Investigator with Dr. Denise Breitburg (The Academy of Natural Sciences, Estuarine Research Center).
In one phase of the project, scientists working at a range of scales from small microcosms to 1m3 mesocosms to large outdoor field enclosures conducted experiments to:
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Determine the effects of multiple stressors on a representative estuarine system
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Examine how trophic complexity and temporal dynamics affect the way estuarine systems respond to stress
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Examine how redundancy and complementarity within trophic levels, and the complexity of feeding relationships, affect the way that estuarine systems respond to stress
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Determine how much of the complexity of ecological systems we need to incorporate in experimental systems and models in order to make sound management recommendations
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| Selected bibliography from the COASTES project:
Breitburg, D.L., J.G. Sanders, C.C. Gilmour, C.A. Hatfield, R.W. Osman, G.F. Riedel, S.P. Seitzinger, and K.G. Sellner. 1999. Variability in responses to nutrients and trace elements, and transmission of stressor effects through an estuarine food web. Limnol. Oceanogr. 44:837-863.
Riedel, G.F., S.A. Williams, G.S. Riedel, C.C. Gilmour and J.G. Sanders. 2000. Temporal and spatial patterns of trace elements in the Patuxent River: A whole watershed approach. Estuaries 23:521-535.
Laursen, A.E., S.P. Seitzinger, R. DeKorsey, J.G. Sanders, D.L. Breitburg, and R.W. Osman. 2002. Multiple stressors in an estuarine system: effects of nutrients, trace elements, and trophic complexity on benthic photosynthesis and respiration. Estuaries 25: 57-69.
D’Elia, C.F., W.R. Boynton and J.G. Sanders. 2003. A watershed perspective on nutrient enrichment, science and policy in the Patuxent River, Maryland: 1960-2000. Estuaries 26: 171-185.
Riedel, G.F. and J.G. Sanders. 2003. The interrelationships among trace element cycling, nutrient loading, and system complexity in estuaries: A mesocosm study. Estuaries 26: 339-351.
Riedel, G.F., J.G. Sanders, and D.L. Breitburg. 2003. Seasonal variability in response of estuarine phytoplankton communities to stress: Linkages between toxic trace elements and nutrient enrichment. Estuaries 26: 323-338.
Wiegener, T.N., S.P Seitzinger, D.L. Breitburg and J.G. Sanders. 2003. The effects of multiple stressors on the balance between autotrophic and heterotrophic processes in an estuarine system. Estuaries 26: 352-364. |
