GCRC Program Summary |
Findings
Georgia Rivers Land Margin Ecosystem Research Program:
A comparative study of the transport and transformation of materials from rivers through the land-sea margin.
The Human Realm:
Anecdotal reports exist of historic changes in land and water use in coastal Georgia that have had an impact on the distribution of plants (e.g. wild rice) and animals (e.g. crabs), and there is concern regarding the impact that future surface water withdrawal will have on the estuaries. Historic data show significant decreases in discharge and significant increases in salinity in coastal Georgia over the 2-decade period from 1973 to 1992 (Alber & Sheldon 1999a). Supplemental funds from The Nature Conservancy and the Georgia CZM program were also used to look for historic changes in vegetation on the Georgia coast, to model the effects of land use changes on runoff (and, consequently, estuarine salinity), and to produce a model of estuarine residence time that incorporates the dynamics of river discharge (Sheldon and Alber, submitted).