Ecology of the Apalachicola Bay system; an estuarine profile

This paper represents a synthesis of knowledge concerning the Apalachicola drainage system, which is located in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. The Apalachicola Bay complex is only one part of a major drainage area that includes the Apalachicola Chattahoochee, and Flint River systems on one side and the northeastern Gulf of Mexico on the other. The boundaries that separate various components (i.e., the rive and it associated wetlands, the bay system, and the open gulf) are artificial in an ecological sense. Likewise, the traditional boundaries that have separated various scientific disciplines--such as physics, chemistry, meteorology, and biology--are somewhat arbitrary when a systems approach is used to determine the functional interactions among interacting subsystems. Thus various boundaries must be crossed when the investigator attempts to understand an entire aquatic ecosystem.