Long Island Sound

The U.S. Ocean Commission Report identified the need for regional ecosystem assessments to support coastal and ocean management. These assessments must provide greater understanding of physical and biological dynamics than assessments at global and national scales can provide but transcend state and local interests. This need and timeliness is apparent for Long Island Sound, where a multi-state regional restoration program is underway for America’s most urbanized estuary. Synthesis of the Long Island Sound ecosystem is needed to integrate knowledge across disciplines and provide insight into understanding and managing pressing issues, such as non-point sources of pollution, coastal development, global climatic change, and invasive species. Currently, there is a need for a comprehensive volume that summarizes the ecological and environmental dynamics and status of Long Island Sound and its myriad ecosystems.

It has been 30 years since a comprehensive summary of Long Island Sound was prepared and 50 years since the pioneering work of Gordon Riley. Major advances in estuarine science are providing new insights into these systems, and yet, the condition of many estuaries is in decline in the face of continuing coastal development. There is an opportunity to lay a foundation for integrative coastal observing systems that truly provide the foundation for improved decision-making. This book will provide a key reference of our scientific understanding for work performed over the past three decades and guide future research and monitoring in a dynamic urbanized estuary.

Long Island Sound: Prospects for the Urban Sea is the first synthesis of the science of Long Island Sound in more than thirty-five years. Described by Daniel Webster as the American Mediterranean, four centuries of human habitation, use, and abuse have created a trajectory of change being duplicated in estuaries throughout the country. Now subject to coordinated restoration efforts, the fate of Long Island Sound is a harbinger of the fate of coastal waters and economies everywhere.

Six technical chapters summarize our knowledge about the human history, geology, physical oceanography, geochemistry, pollutant history, and biology and ecology of Long Island Sound. The last chapter identifies the linkages between science and environmental management, drawing extensively from hard-learned lessons on identifying threats and implementing strategies to confront them. This synthesis will be of interest to anyone engaged in the conservation and restoration of coastal ecosystems: scientists, students, managers, planners, and environmentalists.

“This massive, multidisciplinary synthesis is a welcome contribution to the understanding of Long Island Sound, providing not only new knowledge, but important information relevant to managers of coastal ecosystems. It will provide an extremely valuable resource for Long Island Sound for many years to come.”

Gene E. Likens
Founding Director and President Emeritus
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY

“Long Island Sound: Prospects for the Urban Sea" is a majornew and timely contribution to the literature on one of the nation’s most important estuaries. Prospects for all our estuaries are changing, primarily as a result of coastal development and effects associated with climate change particularly sea level rise and increased power of storm surges, rising temperatures and ocean acidification. This book provides valuable insights into understanding these impacts and into how to improve the prospects for the qualities and uses of Long Island Sound most important to society and to creating and maintaining a healthy, productive ecosystem. Many of the lessons are transferrable to other estuaries and coastal systems.”

Jerry R. Schubel
President and CEO
Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach, California