Michael J. Kennish is an American marine scientist and a research professor in the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. [1] [2] He is best known for his work on the effects of human activities on estuarine and marine environments. [3]
Kennish has conducted biological and geological research on estuarine, coastal ocean, and deep-sea environments for more than 30 years. [1] [2] Much of this research has involved the development and application of innovative methods to determine the condition and health of coastal ecosystems. [3] He has served on environmental panels and workgroups assessing these problems in New Jersey, the mid-Atlantic region, and nationwide, while concomitantly collaborating extensively with state and federal government agencies to remediate degraded habitats. [2]
Most notably, Kennish has been heavily engaged in integrative ecosystem assessment, particularly investigations of the impairment and remediation of impacted estuarine and coastal marine waters. [4] These include studies of the natural and anthropogenic stressors that effect change in coastal ecosystems, and the dynamics of environmental forcing factors that generate imbalances in biotic community structure and ecosystem function. [5]
Kennish' research is multidisciplinary in scope, addressing a wide range of nationally significant problems. These include the effects of watershed development on coastal bays and near-shore ocean waters, wastewater discharges, habitat loss and alteration of aquatic systems, nutrient enrichment and eutrophication, hypoxia and anoxia, organic pollution, chemical contaminants, climate change, sea-level rise, overfishing, invasive species, watercraft effects, dredging and dredged material disposal, freshwater diversions, calefaction of estuarine waters, and entrainment and impingement of electric generating stations. [3] [5] He has also examined the effects of construction and operation of industrial facilities, maintenance of shorelines and waterways, and human use of coastal space and aquatic systems. [5]
As the co-chair of the Coastal Climate Change Group in the Climate and Environmental Change Initiative, Kennish is heavily involved in the study of long-term climate change impacts on the New Jersey coast. [1] [2]
Kennish is the author or editor of 13 scholarly books in marine science, [3] and he is the author or co-author of more than 160 research articles in science journals and books. [2] [3] In addition, he has edited 6 compendium science journal special issues on various topics in marine science. [6]
The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. The Earth has around 620,000 kilometres (390,000 mi) of coastline. Coasts are important zones in natural ecosystems, often home to a wide range of biodiversity. On land, they harbor important ecosystems such as freshwater or estuarine wetlands, which are important for bird populations and other terrestrial animals. In wave-protected areas they harbor saltmarshes, mangroves or seagrasses, all of which can provide nursery habitat for finfish, shellfish, and other aquatic species. Rocky shores are usually found along exposed coasts and provide habitat for a wide range of sessile animals and various kinds of seaweeds. Along tropical coasts with clear, nutrient-poor water, coral reefs can often be found between depths of 1–50 m.
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environments and are an example of an ecotone. Estuaries are subject both to marine influences such as tides, waves, and the influx of saline water and to fluvial influences such as flows of freshwater and sediment. The mixing of seawater and freshwater provides high levels of nutrients both in the water column and in sediment, making estuaries among the most productive natural habitats in the world.
Freshwater ecosystems are a subset of Earth's aquatic ecosystems. They include lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, springs, bogs, and wetlands. They can be contrasted with marine ecosystems, which have a larger salt content. Freshwater habitats can be classified by different factors, including temperature, light penetration, nutrients, and vegetation. There are three basic types of freshwater ecosystems: Lentic, lotic and wetlands. Freshwater ecosystems contain 41% of the world's known fish species.
Thermal pollution, sometimes called "thermal enrichment," is the degradation of water quality by any process that changes ambient water temperature. Thermal pollution is the rise or fall in the temperature of a natural body of water caused by human influence. Thermal pollution, unlike chemical pollution, results in a change in the physical properties of water. A common cause of thermal pollution is the use of water as a coolant by power plants and industrial manufacturers. Urban runoff—stormwater discharged to surface waters from rooftops, roads and parking lots—and reservoirs can also be a source of thermal pollution. Thermal pollution can also be caused by the release of very cold water from the base of reservoirs into warmer rivers.
An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem in and surrounding a body of water, in contrast to land-based terrestrial ecosystems. Aquatic ecosystems contain communities of organisms that are dependent on each other and on their environment. The two main types of aquatic ecosystems are marine ecosystems and freshwater ecosystems. Freshwater ecosystems may be lentic ; lotic ; and wetlands.
Aquatic biomonitoring is the science of inferring the ecological condition of rivers, lakes, streams, and wetlands by examining the organisms that live there. While aquatic biomonitoring is the most common form of biomonitoring, any ecosystem can be studied in this manner.
Marine ecosystems are the largest of Earth's aquatic ecosystems and exist in waters that have a high salt content. These systems contrast with freshwater ecosystems, which have a lower salt content. Marine waters cover more than 70% of the surface of the Earth and account for more than 97% of Earth's water supply and 90% of habitable space on Earth. Seawater has an average salinity of 35 parts per thousand of water. Actual salinity varies among different marine ecosystems. Marine ecosystems can be divided into many zones depending upon water depth and shoreline features. The oceanic zone is the vast open part of the ocean where animals such as whales, sharks, and tuna live. The benthic zone consists of substrates below water where many invertebrates live. The intertidal zone is the area between high and low tides. Other near-shore (neritic) zones can include mudflats, seagrass meadows, mangroves, rocky intertidal systems, salt marshes, coral reefs, lagoons. In the deep water, hydrothermal vents may occur where chemosynthetic sulfur bacteria form the base of the food web.
The Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve, located in southeastern New Jersey, encompasses over 110,000 acres (450 km2) of terrestrial, wetland and aquatic habitats within the Mullica River-Great Bay Ecosystem.
Macrobenthos consists of the organisms that live at the bottom of a water column and are visible to the naked eye. In some classification schemes, these organisms are larger than 1 mm; in another, the smallest dimension must be at least 0.5 mm. They include polychaete worms, pelecypods, anthozoans, echinoderms, sponges, ascidians, crustaceans.
Judith Shulman Weis is an American marine biologist. Her research and writing focuses on estuarine ecology and ecotoxicology, including the responses of salt marsh and brackish marsh organisms, populations and communities to stresses, particularly heavy metal contaminants, invasive species and parasites. She is also working to reduce the spread of microplastics in the environment and find solutions to protecting coastal marshes from sea level rise.
The Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) is a private, nonprofit organization that was created in 1971. At that time, the members of two regionally based organizations, the Atlantic Estuarine Research Society (AERS) and the New England Estuarine Research Society (NEERS) recognized the need for a third estuarine organization that would address national estuarine and coastal issues. Today, CERF is a multidisciplinary federation of members and seven regionally based affiliate societies dedicated to the understanding and wise stewardship of estuaries and coasts worldwide.
A wild fishery is a natural body of water with a sizeable free-ranging fish or other aquatic animal population that can be harvested for its commercial value. Wild fisheries can be marine (saltwater) or lacustrine/riverine (freshwater), and rely heavily on the carrying capacity of the local aquatic ecosystem.
Estuarine water circulation is controlled by the inflow of rivers, the tides, rainfall and evaporation, the wind, and other oceanic events such as an upwelling, an eddy, and storms. Estuarine water circulation patterns are influenced by vertical mixing and stratification, and can affect residence time and exposure time.
Outwelling is a hypothesized process by which coastal salt marshes and mangroves, “hot spots” of production, produce an excess amount of carbon each year and “outwell” these organic nutrients and detritus into the surrounding coastal embayment or ocean, thus increasing the productivity of local fisheries or other coastal plants. Outwelling also nourishes plankton communities and causes a spike in activity. The majority of outwelling is dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and some particulate organic carbon (POC) Outwelling expels salt, silicate (1.0 mmol/m2), orthophosphate (0.03 mmol/m2), and nitrate (0.04 mmol/m2) during each tidal cycle.
Mangrove ecosystems represent natural capital capable of producing a wide range of goods and services for coastal environments and communities and society as a whole. Some of these outputs, such as timber, are freely exchanged in formal markets. Value is determined in these markets through exchange and quantified in terms of price. Mangroves are important for aquatic life and home for many species of fish.
The Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) is a research institute focusing on the coastal ecosystems of Southern California from watersheds to the ocean. SCCWRP was created as a joint powers authority (JPA), which is an agency formed when multiple government agencies have a common mission that can be better achieved by pooling resources and knowledge. The purpose of SCCWRP is to gather the necessary scientific information to allow member agencies to effectively and cost-efficiently steward the Southern California coastal environment.
Estuary freshwater inflow is the freshwater that flows into an estuary. Other types of environmental flows include instream flow, the freshwater water flowing in rivers or streams, and estuary outflow, the outflow from an estuary to the ocean.
Parthasarathi Chakraborty is an Indian environmental geochemist, a former senior scientist at the CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography and an associate professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India. Chakraborty is known for his studies in the field of Environmental Chemistry. He made contributions to the field of Environmental Geochemistry which has facilitated our understanding of the metals-natural ligands interactions in natural and marine environments. He is a recipient of the National Geoscience Award-2015 and an elected fellow of the Indian Geophysical Union.The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences in 2018.
A marine coastal ecosystem is a marine ecosystem which occurs where the land meets the ocean. Marine coastal ecosystems include many different types of marine habitats, such as estuaries and lagoons, salt marshes and mangrove forests, seagrass meadows and coral reefs, kelp forests and backwaters. Directly and indirectly these provide a vast range of ecosystem services for humans, such as sequestering carbon, cycling nutrients and elements, providing nurseries and fishing grounds for commercial fisheries, preventing coastal erosion and moderating extreme events, as well as providing recreational services and supporting tourism.
Sivasankaran Bijoy Nandan is Professor at the Dept. of Marine Biology, Microbiology & Biochemistry, School of Marine Sciences, Cochin University of Science & Technology (CUSAT). He currently holds the office of the Dean, Faculty of Marine Sciences, Cochin University of Science and Technology. He was served as Head of the department, Department of Marine Biology, Microbiology and Biochemistry, CUSAT during 2019-2021 period. He has expertise in teaching, research, and development activities in the broad area of Aquatic Ecosystem Characterisation, Conservation, Restoration and Management, Carbon Dynamics & Community Ecology, Communities Ecology & Biology, Eco-toxicology and Biology of Polar Communities.