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Sustainable Biosphere Initiative Project Office Workshop Report Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition to Coastal Watersheds 1997

SUMMARY

This document reports the recommendations of a diverse group of eminent scientists, coastal managers, and national policymakers assembled to discuss a key emerging policy issue ­ the impacts of atmospheric nitrogen deposition to coastal waters and their watersheds. The gathering was convened by the Sustainable Biosphere Initiative Project Office of the Ecological Society of America from June 2-4, 1997 at the University of Rhode Island Coastal Institute. The report includes specific policy relevant conclusions based on current scientific knowledge, short to medium-term information needs for future policy and management actions, and long-term research needs to fully understand and address the issue.

What is the problem?

Normally in short supply, nitrogen plays an important role in controlling the productivity, dynamics, biodiversity, and nutrient cycling of estuarine and marine ecosystems. During the past century, human activities have doubled the amount of nitrogen available annually to living organisms. In many coastal waters, human sources of nitrogen now rival or exceed natural inputs of nitrogen. From 10-45% of the anthropogenic nitrogen reaching estuarine and coastal ecosystems is transported and deposited via the atmosphere.

Why is atmospheric nitrogen deposition a problem?

Increased supplies of nitrogen usable by plants and animals have resulted in ecological impacts with significant economic, political, social, and cultural consequences. One of the best documented and understood results of increased nitrogen is the eutrophication of estuaries and coastal waters. Eutrophication involves an increase in the rate of supply of organic matter to an ecosystem. Consequences of eutrophication include massive die-offs of estuarine and marine plants and animals; loss of biological diversity; growth of nuisance algae potentially toxic to humans and marine animals; loss of seagrass and other habitats important for healthy coastal ecosystems; and, negative effects on the sustainability of desired fisheries.

Where is atmospheric nitrogen deposition a problem?

The extent of nitrogen inputs from atmospheric sources varies locally and regionally throughout the coastal areas of the United States. The seriousness of the problem depends on vulnerability of coastal systems, the amount of atmospheric deposition, and the relative importance of other sources of nitrogen. Some regions of the United States do not have nitrogen overenrichment problems and for some regions experiencing such problems atmospheric sources may be relatively unimportant when compared with other sources.

What should be done about atmospheric nitrogen deposition?

The ecological and economic impacts of nitrogen deposition can only worsen if nothing is done. Many point and non-point nitrogen sources have been dealt with successfully in recent years. Addressing the sources and consequences of atmospheric nitrogen challenges existing regulatory programs and assessment efforts. However, atmospheric deposition of nitrogen must be included in policy and management actions to act successfully on coastal eutrophication issues.

How do we measure the effectiveness of policy and management actions?

Present monitoring methods and facilities must be improved on regional scales in order to successfully measure the status, trends, and effectiveness of controls on atmospheric sources of nitrogen. For example, present atmospheric monitoring networks should be supplemented by coastal sites currently conducting complementary monitoring. Environmental monitoring systems also must be better integrated and protected from the vagaries of the budget process.

If you have questions, or require more copies of this document, please contact the SBI Project Office at (202) 833-8773.

Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition to Coastal Watersheds Workshop Report
Conclusions and Recommendations

During the past century, human activities have doubled the annual amount of nitrogen available in a form usable by living organisms. In many coastal waters, human sources of nitrogen now rival or exceed natural inputs of nitrogen. The major human activities increasing supplies of usable nitrogen include production and use of nitrogen fertilizers; cultivation of crops that host symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria; land uses that release nitrogen stored in forests, grasslands, wetlands, and other ecosystems; and, combustion of fossil fuels. Of the nitrogen produced by these activities, from 10-45% of the nitrogen reaching estuarine and coastal ecosystems is transported and deposited via the atmosphere. By increasing supplies of nitrogen usable by plants and animals, human activities have resulted in ecological impacts with significant and far-reaching economic, political, social, and cultural consequences.

This document reports the results of a workshop convened by the Sustainable Biosphere Initiative Project Office of the Ecological Society of America with support from the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association's (NOAA) Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management. The workshop took place from June 2-4, 1997 at the University of Rhode Island Coastal Institute. Participants were concerned with one key piece of this broad issue: input of nitrogen to coastal waters and their watersheds via the atmosphere. A diverse group of scientists, managers, and policymakers gathered to consider several questions:

The conclusions and recommendations presented below attempt to answer these questions and suggest needs in the areas of policy, management, and research.

What is the problem?

Atmospheric deposition refers to the flux of nitrogen from the atmosphere to land and water surfaces. Nitrogen may be deposited directly to water surfaces and/or indirectly to land surfaces in the watershed, with subsequent runoff transporting nitrogen to waterbodies. Nitrogen may reach land and water surfaces through precipitation, referred to as "wet deposition," or as "dry deposition" in the absence of precipitation.

Atmospheric deposition is one of the most rapidly growing anthropogenic sources of fixed nitrogen in marine and coastal ecosystems, both in terms of amount and geographic scale. In many locations, atmospheric nitrogen is the single largest source of new nitrogen (as opposed to nitrogen recycled within aquatic systems) impacting the coastal zone. Depending upon the location, from 10% to more than 40% of new nitrogen inputs into coastal waters along the east coast are of atmospheric origin. Virtually all of this new nitrogen is attributable to growing fossil fuel emissions from power generation, transportation, and industrial sources, which are the primary sources of NOx emissions (nitrogen oxide plus nitrogen dioxide); and, agricultural practices such as volatization and airborne particles from animal waste and fertilizers, which are the primary sources of ammonia (NH3) and ammonium (NH4). The relative contribution of atmospheric sources to coastal nitrogen inputs is projected to increase substantially as we enter the next century, when nearly 70% of the United States population will reside within 50 km of coastal areas.

Atmospheric sources of nitrogen are difficult to address. They span broad geographical areas, cross environmental media and management authorities, and involve diverse scientific disciplines. For example, long range atmospheric transport of nitrogen from mid-continental regions is recognized as a significant source of nitrogen inputs to surface waters on the east coast. Moreover, few laws and policies regulating atmospheric sources of nitrogen specifically address water quality problems. Finally, action (reductions of emissions) and response (improvement of coastal water quality) relationships are not simple and straightforward.

Why is atmospheric nitrogen deposition a problem?

Nitrogen is one of the four most common chemical elements in living tissue, and is an essential component of key organic molecules; in short, all organisms require nitrogen in order to live. However, most plants and animals cannot utilize nitrogen directly from the air, which is composed of 78% dinitrogen gas (N2). Instead, they require nitrogen to be bonded to hydrogen molecules through a process called "fixation," creating biologically usable compounds such as ammonium and nitrate. Generally, this short supply of usable forms of nitrogen plays an important role in controlling the productivity, dynamics, biodiversity, and nutrient cycling of estuarine and marine ecosystems.

As nitrogen is normally a nutrient of limited availability, it is an important factor in regulating the rate at which biomass is produced in many estuarine and marine ecosystems. Greater amounts of available nitrogen have increased productivity in many ecosystems where nitrogen availability historically has been low (e.g., Chesapeake Bay, Waquoit Bay), leading to changes in species dynamics and losses in biological diversity. One of the best documented and understood results of increased nitrogen is the eutrophication of estuaries and coastal seas. Eutrophication involves an increase in the rate of supply of organic matter to an ecosystem, often with many undesirable consequences:

Where is atmospheric nitrogen deposition a problem?

The extent of nitrogen inputs from atmospheric sources varies locally and regionally throughout the coastal areas of the United States. The seriousness of the problem depends on vulnerability of coastal systems as affected by physical characteristics, the amount of atmospheric deposition, and the relative importance of other sources of nitrogen. Some regions of the United States do not have nitrogen overenrichment problems and for some regions experiencing such problems atmospheric sources may be relatively slight when compared with other sources. In addition, changing demographic and settlement patterns in the United States will effect the relative contribution of atmospheric and other nitrogen sources to coastal waters over time.

The specific role of atmospheric transport as a path for nitrogen entering coastal waters was first raised in the late 1980s, with a focus on the Chesapeake Bay. Since that time, there have been efforts to quantify atmospheric nitrogen inputs to Chesapeake Bay and many other estuarine areas in the United States, primarily on the Atlantic coast and in parts of the Gulf of Mexico. The attached table from a report published by Valigura et al in 1996 (see suggested reading) presents summary results of a number of studies performed along the east and Gulf coasts that are comparable in broad terms.

What should be done about nitrogen deposition?

Nitrogen deposition is a trans-boundary issue, crossing watershed, legal, ownership, administrative, and other jurisdictional boundaries. Given the compartmentalized nature of agencies and institutions at all governmental levels, addressing atmospheric sources of nitrogen will challenge existing regulatory structures and assessment programs. Moreover, the response of ecological systems to atmospheric nitrogen reductions may not be immediate, directly obvious, nor the same in every area.

What is clear, however, is that increased atmospheric deposition of nitrogen has ecological and economic impacts. The consequences associated with these impacts can only worsen if nothing is done. A number of point and non-point nitrogen sources have been dealt with successfully in recent years through policy and management actions. However, atmospheric sources of nitrogen and their ultimate consequences are neither well understood nor addressed, and atmospheric deposition of nitrogen must be considered in future policy and management actions. Workshop participants felt that current scientific information and understanding supported several conclusions with direct relevance for current policy issues and implementation.
 

Policy relevant conclusions:  
  • Nitrogen inputs must be reduced and managed in coastal waters experiencing nitrogen overenrichment. 
  • Air policy and water policy must be linked. Emission control policies should explicitly consider water quality effects as well as air quality effects. 
  • Policymakers must continue taking steps to overcome institutional barriers between levels of government (local, state and federal), agencies (e.g., NOAA and EPA), and programs within agencies (e.g., EPA's Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds and Office of Air and Radiation) to address air emissions that impact coastal ecosystems. Programs focusing on coastal ocean status and trends must incorporate atmospheric deposition of nitrogen. 
  • Seasonal controls of nitrogen emissions used to reduce air quality effects may not be sufficient. Reduction strategies must include year round controls in order to accomplish significant benefits for water quality. 
  • Air policy revisions must address nitrogen species not currently regulated in the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments, including ammonia (NH3), ammonium (NH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), dissolved organic nitrogen, and particulate organic nitrogen. Air policy revisions should be coordinated with Coastal Zone Management Act programs. 
  • Reducing atmospheric nitrogen inputs to coastal waters constitutes an added benefit in support of new ozone and particulate matter (PM 2.5) standards. These benefits must be quantified in terms of cost savings and ecological responses. 
  • Addressing atmospheric sources of nitrogen requires both local and regional approaches. 
 
The issues involved in linkages between air and water resources and the role of atmospheric nitrogen deposition in coastal water quality are still evolving and emerging on the policy agenda. Workshop participants identified various short to medium-term information needs that must be fulfilled, using existing and emerging information, if policymakers and managers are to successfully understand and address these issues.
 
Policy/management needs:  
  • Increase awareness of the connection between nitrogen emissions and coastal water quality among the public, policymakers, and managers. A key area of consensus reflected the need to compile and share currently available information and findings. However, in communicating on large scale issues with no real boundaries, it is difficult to present material in ways that involve and empower people. This must be accomplished through concerted efforts of public agencies, professional organizations, nonprofit organizations, and the media. 
  • Produce emissions/deposition maps, or "airshed" maps, to display regionality of emissions and eutrophication along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Overlay individual and combined airshed maps with maps displaying the extent of eutrophic conditions in coastal waters to illustrate emissions and occurrence of eutrophication. 
  • Recognize that the relative proportion and, therefore, importance of ammonia (and possibly organic nitrogen) will significantly increase as nitrate loadings decrease due to continued, expanded implementation of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. 
  • Evaluate the seasonal and annual benefits of NOx reductions from implementing the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. Evaluation should consider impacts on Coastal Zone Management Programs and must include not only the benefits for estuaries and other coastal waters, but other benefits such as reduced ozone and acid deposition. 
 
 
Technical assessment needs:  
  • Improve estimates of ecological benefits and implementation costs of options for reducing atmospheric nitrogen deposition.  Such efforts should be undertaken at national, regional, and local levels. 
  • Examine the effects of forest management and agricultural practices (e.g., animal operations and applications of fertilizer and animal wastes) on delivery of nitrogen to coastal waters. 
  • Undertake rigorous technical assessments (including research, monitoring, and modeling) to set goals, define costs, and understand the multiple benefits of controlling atmospheric N inputs. Agencies, scientists, and managers must create and maintain new organizational networks to develop and communicate findings from technical assessments. These assessments should consider both growth and development and the need for healthy coastal environments, and should include:  Linking delivered atmospheric loads to sources; 
    • Connecting and applying airshed and watershed models in a management purposes; 
    • Developing nitrogen loading delivery efficiencies for different land uses; 
    • Better quantification of the role of coastal oceans in delivering atmospheric nitrogen loads into estuarine and coastal systems; 
    • Establishing basic estimates of organic nitrogen deposition rates and loadings; 
    • Developing relative costs for implementing NOX emissions reduction and the resulting reductions in atmospheric nitrogen deposition. 
  • Develop atmospheric deposition profiles for all key estuarine/coastal systems along the east and gulf coasts. To the extent possible, these profiles should be developed using a consistent set of methodologies (e.g., in terms of wet/dry deposition ratios, percentage of contributions from dissolved organic nitrogen) or tailored to specific regions using a common base of information. Profiles should include: 
    • Estimates of atmospheric deposition contributions to total nitrogen loadings broken down between direct deposition to tidal surface waters and amount of direct deposition to the surrounding watershed that is delivered to tidal waters; 
    • Delineation of oxidized nitrogen/reduced nitrogen airsheds; 
    • Emission source breakdowns. 

Finally, a great deal is known about the relationship between the sources and deposition of atmospheric nitrogen and the health of coastal and estuarine waters. Yet, significant uncertainties remain, and various research issues must be addressed over the medium to long-term in order to inform policymakers and managers about issues surrounding atmospheric nitrogen deposition.
 

Research needs:  
  • Develop models for characterizing the vulnerability or susceptibility of watersheds and coastal waters to atmospheric deposition of nitrogen. Information incorporated in such efforts should include: 
    • Characteristics making systems more or less vulnerable to atmospheric nitrogen; 
    • Quantitative and qualitative biological effects of nitrogen inputs, primarily direct inputs to the water surface; 
    • Background information on atmospheric deposition covering a range of landscapes; 
    • Atmospheric nitrogen sources relative to the contribution of other sources; 
    • Intra- and interannual variability of nitrogen deposition. 
  • Develop a clear conceptual model of nitrogen retention and throughput within coastal watersheds, including:
    • Linkages with rivers and groundwater;
    • The role of episodic events in nitrogen cycling, retention and transport, since existing modeling frameworks cannot estimate nitrogen outputs resulting from major natural occurrences (e.g., floods, droughts, freezes, insect defoliation);
    • Understanding regional cycling of nitrogen through watershed linkages.
  • Develop appropriately scaled models capable of coupling nitrogen sources with the fate and ecological effects of nitrogen on living marine resources.
    • This involves temporal and spatial linking of nitrogen sources (by nitrogen species), routes of transport and combined effects on living marine resources. Nitrogen sources include power generation, transportation, industrial, natural, and agricultural. 
    • Research on living marine resources should include impacts of nitrogen on productivity, community composition, food chains, and important commercial and recreational fisheries and their habitat. 
  • Improve atmospheric models. In terms of nitrogen budgets, what is the contribution of atmospheric nitrogen relative to other "new" and regenerated nitrogen sources in specific nitrogen sensitive water bodies? This question should be pursued on regional, national and international levels, focusing on: 
    • Increasing knowledge about sources of NOx (nitrogen oxide plus nitrogen dioxide), ammonia (NH3), and ammonium (NH4), including better identification, accounting, and knowledge of the temporal and spatial distribution of these nitrogen species; 
    • Quantifying "pristine" atmospheric nitrogen deposition loading rates in order to better quantify anthropogenic contributions; 
    • Acquiring more knowledge and understanding of atmospheric sources of dissolved organic nitrogen, about which many unknowns remain; 
    • Determining mechanisms involved in nitrogen transport and transformation; 
    • Determining loads and controlling factors to coastal marine environments; 
    • Evolution of current models to address other concerns, such as global change, toxics and multiple stressors. 
  • Increase knowledge of ocean and coastal systems (shelf, estuaries) linkages and interactions, and the impacts of increased nitrogen loads. Establish a network of research sites that examines nitrogen retention and accumulation across scales from local to regional. 
    • How much nitrogen from atmospheric sources is entering bays and estuaries? 
    • What is the relative biogeochemical and trophic importance and the roles of atmospheric nitrogen along the gradient spanning estuarine, coastal, and open ocean waters? 
    • What are the quantitative and qualitative ramifications of specific atmospheric nitrogen constituents (dissolved inorganic nitrogen, dissolved organic nitrogen, particulate organic nitrogen) in terms of biogeochemical and trophic responses along the gradient spanning estuarine, coastal, and open ocean waters? 
    • Utilizing a combined experimental and modeling approach, what are the acute vs. chronic biogeochemical and trophic impacts of atmospheric nitrogen on estuarine, coastal, and oceanic waters? 
    • What is the interaction of increased nitrogen with changes in other nutrient inputs to coastal ecosystems (e.g., phosphate, silicate, iron), as well as the consequences for other important biogeochemical cycles? 
    • What is the relationship between nitrogen processing in coastal systems and increased nitrogen loads? Without further research to increase understanding of the capabilities of coastal systems to process nitrogen, reliance on current understanding may incorrectly characterize the benefits to be gained from reducing nitrogen inputs. 

How do we measure the effectiveness of policy and management actions?
Present monitoring methods and facilities must be improved on regional scales in order to successfully measure the status, trends, and effectiveness of controls on atmospheric sources of nitrogen. In order to capitalize on current strengths and make monitoring cost effective, for example, present atmospheric monitoring networks should be supplemented by the addition of coastal sites currently conducting complementary monitoring. Environmental monitoring systems must be better integrated and protected from the vagaries of the budget process. In addition, socioeconomic indicators are required to evaluate societal progress in understanding and addressing environmental goals and developing an understanding and assessment of short and long-term impacts of management actions. Workshop participants made several specific suggestions in this regard.
 

Measuring effectiveness:  
  • Develop a set of environmental indicators or leading degradation indicators, specifically for coastal waters. Pointing out status and trends in nitrogen inputs and ecological responses, such a tool can act as an early warning device. Indicators might include health and extent of seagrass beds (long-term); extent and duration of hypoxia/anoxia events (dissolved oxygen, phytoplankton or chlorophyll a concentration); or macroalgae occurrence and abundance. Such indicators should be used to establish pre-impact status, detect ecological change, and track impact effects over long time frames. 
  • Examine effectiveness of existing monitoring sites, programs, and networks in providing useful information for designing and evaluating policy and management actions. Review of monitoring methods, sites, and networks should be undertaken by EPA, NOAA, NSF, and USGS; coordinated through the National Science and Technology Council (Committee on Environment and Natural Resources); and, consult non-governmental organizations (e.g., the Coastal States Organization). The review should examine programs such as the USGS stream monitoring program, the National Estuary Program, National Estuarine Research Reserves, Long Term Ecological Research Program, and NOAA status and trends efforts. 
  • Monitoring must focus on impacts of nitrogen reductions, including all nitrogen species, not just those regulated under the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments The most critical need in this regard is to monitor the load change. 
  • Establish a set of mechanisms for assessing connections between source reductions and responses in the waterbody. Such an effort necessitates developing and maintaining organizational structures that coordinate across agencies and boundaries, and that support multidisciplinary research, synthesis, and management teams. 
  • Monitor stream flow concentrations of nitrogenous materials and parameters that indicate effects of nitrogen loading on coastal ecosystems. Dissolved oxygen, seagrasses, and chlorophyll concentrations will be critical to measuring the effectiveness of controls in coastal waters. These efforts should be undertaken in both near-coastal and over-water sites and must specifically include nitrous oxide (N2O), ammonia (NH3) and ammonium (NH4), and dissolved organic nitrogen. 
  • Develop a network of watershed-based monitoring sites, utilizing existing capabilities (e.g., NOAA National Estuarine Research Reserve System) and ranging from the mountains to the coast. 
  • Link monitoring and modeling. Coupling of atmospheric and water models, and the linkages between air and water, should be supported by developing sites that monitor multiple parameters at one location. 
  • Improve measurements of dry deposition of nitrogen and link with wet deposition measurements to arrive at better estimates of total nitrogen deposition to coastal waters. 

For Further Reading

The Sustainable Biosphere Initiative (SBI) Project Office of the Ecological Society of America (ESA) works to reinforce the vital role of ecological science at all levels of decision making through activities such as interdisciplinary symposia, science planning workshops, and science-policy seminars. Founded in 1915, the Ecological Society of America is the nation's leading professional society of ecologists, representing over 7,500 researchers in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and 62 other nations.
  

Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition to Coastal Watersheds
Participant List
 

Mary Barber 
Director 
Sustainable Biosphere Initiative 
1707 H St., NW 
Suite 700 
Washington, DC 20036 

Richard Batiuk 
Chesapeake Bay Program 
410 Severn Ave., Suite 110 
Annapolis, MD 21403 

Al Beck 
NBNERR 
55 South Reserve Rd. 
Prudence Island, RI 02872 

Joseph Schubauer-Berigan 
Baruch Marine Laboratory 
University of South Carolina 
P.O. Box 1630 
Georgetown, SC 29442 

Rona Birnbaum 
Office of Atmospheric Programs 
Office of Air and Radiation 
US EPA 
401 M St., S.W. 
Washington, D.C. 20460 

Donald Boesch 
University of Maryland 
Center for Environment and Estuarine Studies 
P.O. Box 775 
Cambridge, MD 21613 

Darrell Brown 
EPA 
Office of Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds 
401 M St., S.W. 
Room 4504F 
Washington, D.C. 20460 

Thomas Church 
College of Marine Studies 
University of Delaware 
Newark, DE 19716-3501 

Sarah Cooksey 
Delaware Coastal Management 
DNREC 
P.O. Box 1401 
Dover, DE 19903 

Joseph Costa 
Director, Buzzard's Bay Project 
Marion Town House 
2 Spring Street, 2nd Floor 
Marion, MA 02738 

Trudy Coxe 
Executive Office of Environmental Affairs 
100 Cambridge St. - 20th Fl. 
Boston, MA 02202 

Michael Crosby 
National Research Coordinator 
Ocean and Coastal Resource Management 
NOAA, SSMC-4, Rm. 11437 
1305 East West Hwy 
Silver Spring MD 20910 

Robin Dennis 
NOAA/EPA 
Atmospheric Modelling Division, MD-80 
Research Triangle Park, NC 27711 

Charles Evans 
Director, L.I. Sound Program 
79 Elm St. 
Hartford, CT 06106 

Grover Fugate 
Coastal Resources Management Council 
Oliver Steadman Government Center 
Wakefield, RI 02879 

James Galloway 
University of Virgina 
Dept. of Environmental Sciences 
Clark Hall 
Charlottesville, VA 22903 

Jonathan Garber 
USEPA/AED 
27 Tarzwell 
Narragansett, RI 02882 

Christine Gault 
Waquoit Bay NERR 
P.O. Box 3092 
Waquoit, MA 02536 

Robert Goldstein 
EPRI 
P.O. Box 10412 
Palo Alto, CA 94303 
 

Holly Greening 
Tampa Bay National Estuary Program 
117 7th Ave. South 
St. Petersburg, FL 33701

Rick Haeuber 
Sustainable Biosphere Initiative 
1707 H St., NW, Suite 700 
Washington, DC 20036 

Bruce Hicks 
Director, Air Resources Laboratory 
NOAA, SSMC-3 Rm. 3151 
1315 East West Hwy 
Silver Spring, MD 20910 

Norb Jaworski 
202 Wordens Rd. 
Wakefield, RI 02879 

Bruce Kahn 
Sustainable Biosphere Initiative 
1707 H St., NW, Suite 700 
Washington, DC 20036 

Kate Lajtha 
Dept. of Botany and Plant Pathology 
Oregon State University, Cordley Hall 2074 
Corvallis, OR 97331-4501 

James Latimer 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 
27 Tarzwell Rd. 
Narragansett, RI 02882 

Virginia Lee 
RI Sea Grant 
S. Ferry Rd. 
Narragansett, RI 02882 

Gary Lovett 
Institute of Ecosystem Studies 
Box AB 
Millbrook, NY 12545 

Thomas Morrissey 
DEP/Water 
79 Elm St. 
Hartford, CT 06106 

Scott Nixon 
Dept. of Oceanography 
University of Rhode Island, Bay Campus 
Narragansett, RI 02882 

Hans Paerl 
University of North Carolina 
Institute of Marine Sciences 
3407 Arendell Street 
Morehead City, NC 28557 

Richard Pouyat 
Legislative Assistant/ AAAS Fellow 
464 Russell Building 
Washington, D.C. 20510 

Doris Price 
Air-Water Coordinator, OWOW/OCPD 
US EPA 
401 M St., S.W. 
Washington, D.C. 20460 

Nancy Rabalais 
LUMCON 
8124 Hwy 56 
Chauvin, LA 70344 

William Schlesinger 
Box 90340 
The Phytotron 
Duke University 
Durham, NC 27708-0340 

Sybil Seitzinger 
Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences 
Rutgers University 
P.O. Box 231 
New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0231 

Eric Slaughter 
EPA Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds 
401 M St., S.W. 
Room 4504F 
Washington, D.C. 20460 

Richard Smith 
U.S. Geological Survey 
MS 413 
Reston, VA 20192 

Ivan Valiela 
Boston University Marine Program 
Marine Biology Laboratory 
Woods Hole, MA 02543 

Kathie Weathers 
Institute of Ecosystem Studies 
Box AB 
Millbrook, NY 12545 

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