The Northeast Shelf Ecosystem

Part 1 Ecosystem sustainability: marine ecosystem sustainability; the Northeast Shelf ecosystem - stress, migration and sustainability; ecological research for biosphere. Part 2 Physical and biological characteristics: physical oceanography of the Shelf and slope seas from Cape Hatteras to Georges Bank - a brief overview; meteorology of the Northeast Shelf; climate change and winter coastal marine circulation in the mid-Atlantic I region of the United States; the Continental Shelf ecosystem off the Northeast Coast of the United States. Part 3 Population assessments: zooplankton dynamics in the Northeast Shelf ecosystems; the state of groundfish resources of the Northeastern United States; shifts in Northeast Shelf cetacean distributions relative to trends on Gulf of Maine/Georges Bank finfish abundance; the state of marine bird populations from Cape Hatteras to the Gulf of Maine; zooplankton prey field variability during collapse and recovery of pelagic fish in the Northeast Shelf ecosystem. Part 4 Environmental stresses on the ecosystem: coastal contamination in the Northeast Shelf large marine ecosystem; metal concentrations in winter flounder; American lobster and bivalve mollusks from Boston Harbour, Salem Harbour and Coastal Massachusetts; riverine contributions to heavy metal inputs to the Northeast Shelf ecosystem; trends in nutrient loading and eutrophication; a comparison of the Chesapeake Bay and the Hudson River estuarine systems; preliminary estimates of the pollutant loads and fluxes into the Northeast shelf ecosystem. Part 5 Habitat degradation. Part 6 Stress migration - environmental and biological considerations. (Part contents)