The National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) is an integrated network of 29 protected and coordinated estuarine reserve sites in 23 states and one territory (Puerto Rico) covering more than 525,000 ha of estuarine habitat, adjoining wetlands, and uplands that encompass 19 biogeographical regions along the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Pacific coasts, as well as the Caribbean Sea and Great Lakes. NERRS is an ecosystem-based research and monitoring network of sites serving as platforms to develop quantitative databases of value to coastal management programs in identifying and tracking short-term variability and long-term changes in the integrity and biodiversity of estuarine systems nationwide due to natural perturbations and anthropogenic disturbances. The reserve sites also play a vital role in assessing coastal issues of local, regional, and national significance for the purpose of sustaining estuarine systems and coastal lands, such as evaluating their responses to climate change and other major stressors to inform coastal decision-making and public awareness for the protection and resilience of natural resources and coastal communities. Over the past four decades, NERRS sites have collected large volumes of research and monitoring data of great utility in characterizing estuarine environments and addressing an array of resource-management concerns, including degraded water quality, loss and alteration of essential habitat, impacted fisheries, invasive species, and conservation.
Kennish, M.J. (2000) Estuary Restoration and Maintenance: The National Estuary Program. CRC Press, Boca Raton.
National Estuarine Research Reserve System (2006) National Estuarine Research Reserve System: Research and Monitoring Plan (2006-2011). Estuarine Reserves Division, NOAA, Silver Spring.
National Estuarine Research Reserve System (2007) The National Estuarine Research Reserve’s System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP): A Scientific Framework and Plan Detection of Short-Term Variability and Long-Term Change in Estuaries and Coastal Habitats of the United States. Estuarine Reserves Division, NOAA, Silver Spring.
National Estuarine Research Reserve System (2011) National Estuarine Research Reserve Strategic Plan 2011-2016. NOAA, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, Silver Spring.
National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) (2012) Sentinel Sites Program Guidance for Climate Change Impacts. NOAA, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, Silver Spring.
National Estuarine Research Reserve System (2012) National Estuarine Research Reserve System Research and Monitoring Plan 2012-2017. NOAA, National Estuarine Reserve System, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, Silver Spring.
National Estuarine Research Reserve System (2017) National Estuarine Research Reserve Strategic Plan 2017-2022. NOAA, Office of Coastal Management, Silver Spring.
Mills, K., Kennish, M.J. and Moore, K.A. (2008) Research and Monitoring Components of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System. Journal of Coastal Research, 66, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.2112/SI55-012.1
Kennish, M.J. (2004) NERRS Research and Monitoring Initiative. Journal of Coastal Research, No. 45, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.2112/SI45-001.1
Kennish, M.J. (2008) Research and Monitoring in a Nationally Integrated Network of NERRS Sites: Concluding Comments. Journal of Coastal Research, No. 55, 236-239. https://doi.org/10.2112/SI55-006.1
Kennish, M.J., Lathrop, R.G., Spahn, A., Sakowicz, G.P. and Sacatelli, R. (2016) The JCNERR Sentinel Site: Research and Monitoring Applications. Bulletin of the New Jersey Academy of Science, 61, 1-8.
Wenner, E.L., Holland, A.F., Arendt, M.D., Chen, Y., Edwards, D., Miller, C., et al. (2001) A Synthesis of Water Quality Data from the National Estuarine Research Reserve’s System-Wide Monitoring Program. The Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Marine Resources Division, Charleston.
Sanger, D.M., Arendt, M.D., Chen, Y., Wenner, E.L., Holland, A.F., Edwards, D., et al. (2002) Synthesis of Water Quality Data: National Estuarine Research Reserve System-Wide Monitoring Program (1995-2000). NOAA, National Estuarine Research Reserve System, Technical Report Series 3, Silver Spring.
Moore, K. (2013) NERRS SWMP Biomonitoring Protocol: Long-Term Monitoring of Estuarine Submersed and Emergent Vegetation Communities. NOAA, National Estuarine Research Reserve System, Silver Spring.
National Estuarine Research Reserve System (2001) Submerged Aquatic Vegetation: Data Development and Applied Uses CD-ROM. NOAA, Coastal Services Center, Charleston.
Kennish, M.J., Spahn, A. and Sakowicz, G.P. (2014) Sentinel Site Development of a Major Salt Marsh System in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Open Journal of Ecology, 4, 77-86. https://doi.org/10.4236/oje.2014.43010
Kennish, M.J., Bricker, S.B., Dennison, W.C., Glibert, P.M., Livingston, R.J., Moore, K.A., et al. (2007) Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor Estuary: Case Study of a Highly Eutrophic Coastal Bay System. Ecological Applications, 17, S3-S16. https://doi.org/10.1890/05-0800.1
Kennish, M.J., Haag, S.M. and Sakowicz, G.P. (2008) Seagrass Demographic and Spatial Habitat Characterization in Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, Using Fixed Transects. Journal of Coastal Research, No. 55, 148-170. https://doi.org/10.2112/SI55-0013.1
Kennish, M.J. and Fertig, B.M. (2012) Application and Assessment of a Nutrient Pollution Indicator Using Eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) in Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor Estuary, New Jersey. Aquatic Botany, 96, 23-30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquabot.2011.09.005
Fertig, B.M., Kennish, M.J. and Sakowicz, G.P. (2013) Changing Eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) Characteristics in a Highly Eutrophic Temperate Coastal Lagoon. Aquatic Botany, 104, 70-79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquabot.2012.09.004
Fertig, B., Kennish, M.J., Sakowicz, G.P. and Reynolds, L.K. (2014) Mind the Data Gap: Identifying and Assessing Drivers of Changing Eutrophication Condition. Estuaries and Coasts, 37, S198-S221. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-013-9746-5
Lathrop, R.G., Haag, S.M., Merchant, D., Kennish, M.J. and Fertig, B. (2014) Comparison of Remotely-Sensed Surveys vs. in Situ Plot-Based Assessments of Sea Grass Condition in Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey USA. Journal of Coastal Conservation, 18, 299-308. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11852-014-0319-y
Kennish, M.J., Meixler, M.S., Petruzzelli, G. and Fertig, B. (2014) Tuckerton Peninsula Salt Marsh System: A Sentinel Site for Assessing Climate Change Effects. Bulletin of the New Jersey Academy of Science, 59, 1-5.
NOAA (2011) NOAA Sentinel Site Program. NOAA, National Ocean Service, Silver Spring.
National Estuarine Research Reserve System (2016) Coastal Habitat Response to Changing Water Levels: NERR Sentinel Site Application Module 1. NOAA, Office of Coastal Management, Silver Spring.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2014) IPCC Fifth Assessment Report. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Meixler, M.S., Kennish, M.J. and Crowley, K.F. (2018) Assessment of Plant Community Characteristics in Natural and Human-Altered Coastal Marsh Ecosystems. Estuaries and Coasts, 41, 52-64. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-017-0296-0
Raposa, K.B., Weber, R.L., Ekberg, M.C. and Ferguson, W. (2017) Vegetation Dynamics in Rhode Island Salt Marshes during a Period of Accelerating Sea Level Rise and Extreme Sea Level Events. Estuaries and Coasts, 40, 640-650. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-015-0018-4
Raposa, K.B., Wasson, K., Smith, E., Crooks, J.A., Delgado, P., Fernald, S.H., et al. (2016) Assessing Tidal Marsh Resilience to Sea-Level Rise at Broad Geographic Scales with Multimetric Indices. Biological Conservation, 204, 263-275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2016.10.015
Raposa, K.B., Lerberg, S., Cornu, C., Fear, J., Garfield, N., Peter, C., et al. (2018) Evaluating Tidal Wetland Restoration Performance Using National Estuarine Research Reserve System Reference Sites and the Restoration Performance Index (RPI). Estuaries and Coasts, 41, 36-41. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-017-0220-7