Features and Patterns within and Across Northeast US Estuarine, Coastal, and Oceanic Ecosystems: An Empirical Analysis

There are a number of large estuaries, riverine systems, and coastal bays along the northeast coast of the United States.  Understanding the connectivity between these ecosystems and the oceanic waters is an important element in developing Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management in the region.   We explored synchronicity and connectivity by using a series of multivariate analyses between and among 10 riverine, estuarine, coastal, and oceanic ecosystems in the Northeast US Continental Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem.  These ecosystems ranged from Chesapeake Bay through the Gulf of Maine, including Narragansett Bay, Delaware Bay, the Connecticut shoreline, Long Island Sound, the Hudson River, Southern New England, Georges Bank, and the Middle Atlantic Bight.   A database which includes biomass, abundance, and landings of commercially and ecologically important species was developed to facilitate the analyses.  The database also incorporates environmental covariates, both large scale (e.g. Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, North Atlantic Oscillation, etc.), and local (e.g. temperature, salinity, etc.).  Using multivariate analyses, ecosystems with similar physical features (e.g. oceanic vs estuarine) exhibited the most similarity, but common patterns and features were present even across different ecosystem types.  Initial results also indicated higher connectivity and synchronicity between contiguous riverine, estuaries and oceanic ecosystems than non-contiguous ecosystems.