Description
Book SynopsisThe Mullica Valley estuary benefits from a combination of protected watershed, low human population density, and lack of extensive development, making it the cleanest estuary in the northeastern U.S. In
Beneath the Surface, Ken Able helps the reader gain insights into the kinds of habitats, the animals, and plants that live there.
Trade Review"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 *
"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 *
"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 *
"Interesting and accessible to the layperson, the naturalist, the native South Jerseyean or the avid fisherman." * The Sandpaper *
"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 *
Table of ContentsContents
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
