Estuaries are productive nurseries bordering the land and sea. Where freshwater meets saltwater, saltmarsh, seagrass and mangrove habitats support abundant species diversity, primary productivity and fisheries production. Estuaries now broadly suffer from water quality decline, habitat loss, and climate change impacts as mankind has over-developed the coast.

Further Research

• Boesch et al. 2001. Factors in the decline of coastal ecosystems.
• Bowen et al. 2004. Nitrogen loads to estuaries: Using loading models to assess the effectiveness of management options to restore estuarine water quality. 
• Fisher et al. 2006. Cultural eutrophication in the Choptank and Patuxnet estuaries of Chesapeake Bay. 
• Greening et al. 2014. Ecosystem responses to long-term nutrient management in an urban estuary: Tampa Bay, Florida, USA.
• Greening et al. 2006. Toward reversal of eutrophic conditions in a subtropical estuary: Water quality and seagrass response to nitrogen loading reductions in Tampa Bay, Florida, USA.pdf
• Mallin et al. 2005. Reversal of eutrophication following sewage treatment upgrades in the New River Estuary, North Carolina.pdf
• O’Shea et al. 2000. Trends in indicators of eutrophication in Western Long Island Sound and the Hudson-Raritan Estuary.pdf
• Schrope. 2001. Nature. Save our swamp.
• Tampa Bay Estuary Program. 2012. A Tampa Bay Estuary Program Progress Report.pdf
• Tomasko et al. 2005. Spatial and temporal variation in seagrass coverage in Southwest Florida: assessing the relative effects of anthropogenic nutrient load reductions and rainfall in four contiguous estuaries.pdf
• Willard et al. 2007. Paleoecology and ecosystem restoration: case studies from Chesapeake Bay and the Florida Everglades.