The Mobile Link Organisms Project

The Mobile Link Organisms Project (LINKS) is a three year
research program that is being conducted by scientists
associated with
Coastal Carolina University
(CCU) and the
University of South
Carolina (USC). Dr. Richard Dame of
CCU is the lead principle investigator, along with co-principle
investigators Dr. Dennis Allen of USC and Dr. Robert Young of CCU. The project is funded by the National Science
Foundation through the Ecosystem Studies Program. The
LINKS project also provides research experience for students.
The goal of this project is to quantify the roles of mobile
animals, mainly fish and decapod crustaceans (collectively
called nekton), in processing and transporting materials within
and between marsh-estuarine systems and subsystems. At
short time scales, previous work indicates that mobile organisms
are probably a major source of dissolved nutrients. On longer time scales, they accumulate organic
biomass. Simultaneous observations of the fluxes of
materials and organisms in multiple intertidal creek-marsh
basins and between their major subsystems (salt marshes, mud
flats, tidal channels and oyster reefs) will provide estimates
of the relative importance of each of these components in
processing and transporting materials within and across
boundaries. A replicated Before-After Control-Impact (BACI)
approach will determine the statistical significance of these
fluxes. Hypothesized decreases in inorganic fluxes
following the exclusion of mobile link animals from flooded
intertidal creek basins, particularly under dark conditions,
will provide an empirical measure of the role of these animals
in material processing.
The project will take place in North Inlet Estuary, SC, which is
a relatively pristine salt marsh-estuarine ecosystem, and
also the site of the
North-Inlet Winyah Bay National Estuarine
Research Reserve System. Information from this study will
be useful to coastal resource agencies that make decisions that
affect the future condition of habitats, water quality,
economically important fisheries, and humans living in coastal
environments. Furthermore, these studies will provide an
attractive mechanism and opportunity for educating students,
teachers and laypersons in marine and wetland science.
A PowerPoint slideshow about the LINKS Project can be found
here.