USC Baruch Marine
Field Lab
 

Coastal Carolina University
 

CCU: Department of Marine Science
 

University of South Carolina

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   The Mobile Link Organisms Project (LINKS) was a three year research program conducted by scientists associated with Coastal Carolina University (CCU) and the University of South Carolina (USC). The goal of this project was 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 took 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.