Beneath the Surface: Understanding Nature in the Mullica Valley Estuary

2021 winner of Non-fiction popular category: New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance The Mullica Valley estuary and its watershed, formed over the last 10,000 years, are among the cleanest estuaries along the east coast of the United States. This 365,000-acre ecosystem benefits from a combination of protected watershed, low human population density, and general lack of extensive development. In Beneath the Surface, marine scientist Ken Able helps the reader penetrate the surface and gain insights into the kinds of habitats, animals, and plants that live there. Readers will gain a better understanding of the importance of these shallow waters; how the amount of salt in the water determines where animals and plants are found in estuaries; the day-night, seasonal, and annual variation in their occurrence; and how change is occurring as the result of climate variation. Throughout the book are insightful sidebars telling intimate stories of where various animals came from and where they are going as they travel through the estuary on their way to and from other portions of the east coast. Beneath the Surface emphasizes the kinds and importance of the animals and plants that live beneath the surface of this unique ecosystem.

Table of Contents:
Dedication Introduction 1. Penetrating the Surface 2. Mapping the Mullica Valley: Natural History Landscapes 3. Impacts and Invasions 4. Too Much Salt or Not Enough? 5. Seasons and Other Cycles 6. Sources: Both Near and Far 7. Marshes: Food Factories for the Mullica Valley 8. Hidden Habitats 9. Life and Mostly Death 10. Insight from Fisheries 11. Insights from Other Estuaries 12. Climate Change Underwater 13. Sea Level Rise 14. Underwater Calendar 15. Fishe Stories 16. Diamondback Terrapins and the Lost Years 17. Horseshoe Crabs: Ancient Migrators 18. Marine Mammals: Summer and Winter Visitors 19. A Valley Full of Blue Crabs 20. Tales of the Talons 21. River Herring: South Jersey's Salmon 22. White Perch and Hogchoker: Estuarine Migrators 23. Fishes and Shrimp are Important Forage 24. Summer Flounder Mysteries 25. Sharks and Their Relatives 26. Striped Bass: The Migratory Wizard of the Mullica Valley Appendix Table Acknowledgments Notes Index  

About the Author :
KENNETH W. ABLE is a distinguished professor in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University and has been the director of the Rutgers University Marine Field Station (RUMFS) since 1987. He is the author of three previous books, two on the life history and ecology of estuarine fishes in the Mid-Atlantic region. He has lived in the Mullica River watershed for nearly thirty years, and can be in his kayak on the river in fifteen minutes and has taken that opportunity over the years, in all seasons. 

Review :
"As Sea Levels Rise, So Do Ghost Forests," by Moises Velasquez-Manoff and Gabriella Demczuk https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/08/climate/ghost-forests.html?action=clickmodule=Top%20Storiespgtype=Homepage — New York Times "Ken Able is to be commended for this truly thorough compendium of information and personal experience. Beneath the Surface is a richly illustrated, comprehensive look at the inner workings of the Mullica River, riddled with slightly offbeat and anecdotal field notes that give life to a highly prolific career investigating these waters."— John R. Waldman, author of Heartbeats in the Muck: The History, Sea Life, and Environment of New York Harbor "In Beneath the Surface, marine scientist Kenneth Able helps the reader penetrate the surface and gain insights into the kinds of habitats, the animals, and plants that live there. Readers will gain a better understanding of the importance of these shallow waters; how the amount of salt in the water determines where animals and plants are found in estuaries; the day-night, seasonal, and annual variation in their occurrence; and how change is occurring as the result of climate variation. Throughout the book are insightful sidebars telling intimate stories of where various animals came from and where they are going as they travel through the estuary on their way to and from other portions of the east coast. Beneath the Surface emphasizes the kinds and importance of the animals and plants that live beneath the surface of this unique ecosystem."— SoJourn "Author Ken Able helps the reader gain insights into the kinds of habitats, the animals, and plants that live there. For the first time, readers will gain a better understanding of the importance of these shallow waters, how the amount of salt in the water determines where animals and plants are found in estuaries, the variation in their occurrence, and how all this is changing as the result of climate change. Beneath the Surface emphasizes what this unique marine resource can tell us about the larger world."— Northeastern Naturalist "Interesting and accessible to the layperson, the naturalist, the native South Jerseyean or the avid fisherman."— The Sandpaper "For more than thirty years, Ken Able has studied the Mullica Valley/Mullica River ecosystem, New Jersey's most pristine watershed. He has taught and researched with a generation of marine scientists. In Beneath the Surface, he reaches out to a broader audience and, through his readable prose, details for interested readers not only the evolving science but also the wonder of the Mullica."— Tom Kinsella, director, South Jersey Culture & History Center, Stockton University