GCE Study Site

Where Our Site is Located

The Georgia Coastal Ecosystems Long Term Ecological Research (GCE-LTER) site is located on the central Georgia coast of the Southeastern United States. The primary study area encompasses the estuaries, sounds and marsh complexes surrounding Sapelo Island (31.4° N Lat, 81.3° W Lon).

The GCE study area is bounded on the east by the Atlantic Ocean (South Atlantic Bight). The upland-estuarine interface consists of the riverine estuary of the Altamaha River, the lagoonal estuaries bordering the mainland and Sapelo Island, and the tidal marsh complexes fringing small hammocks distributed throughout the coastal area. The salinity regimes of these estuaries vary extensively due to the interactions of river discharge, ground-water delivery and oceanic tides.

The ecology of the GCE site is typical of the Carolinian biogeographic province, which is characterized by vast expanses of tidal salt marshes protected by a buffer of barrier islands. The principal biome type is coastal barrier island/marsh complex, and the main types of communities under study are salt marsh, estuary, intertidal sediment, surficial aquifer, oceanic sound, and oyster reef.

Additional photographs and 360° Virtual Reality panoramas of our site are available on the GCE site information page on the LTER Network WWW site.

What We Study

Our project employs a multi-disciplinary approach -- including environmental monitoring, direct experimentation, mathematical modeling, and GIS analysis -- to study the ecological linkages between local and distant upland areas mediated by surface and ground water delivery to the coastal zone.

Focused research studies are examining the influence of river flow and ground-water discharge variability on:

• transport and exchange processes in salt-marshes, tidal creeks, oceanic sounds, and the surficial aquifer
• sediment and ground water nutrient dynamics
• salt marsh production and trophic structure
• algal, bacterial, and fungal diversity and productivity
• invertebrate population dynamics

Who We Are

A group of 17 investigators participate on the GCE-LTER project, representing the University of Georgia, University of Georgia Marine Institute, Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, University of Houston, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Indiana University.