Concept information
Preferred term
CREDDP
Definition
- The Columbia River Estuary Data Development Program (CREDDP) has two purposes: to increase understanding of the ecology of the Columbia River Estuary and to provide information useful in making land and water use decisions. The program was initiated by local governments and citizens who saw a need for a better information base for use in managing natural resources and in planning for development. In response to these concerns, the Governors of Oregon and Washington requested in 1974 that the Pacific Northwest River Basins Commission (PNRBC) undertake an interdisciplinary ecological study of the estuary. At approximately the same time, local governments and port districts formed the Columbia River Estuary Study Taskforce (CREST) to develop a regional management plan for the estuary. CREDDP was designed to meet the needs of those groups who were expected to be the principal users of the information being developed. One group consisted of government officials and others involved in planning. The other group was researchers and educators. The ecological research in CREDDP focuses on the linkages among different elements in the food web and the influence on that web of such physical processes as currents, sediment transport, and salinity intrusion. Research was divided into thirteen projects, called work units. Three work units, Emergent Plant Primary Production, Benthic Primary Production, and Water Column Primary Production, dealt with the plant life which, through photosynthesis and uptake of chemical nutrients, forms the base of the esturine food web. The goals of these work units were to describe and map the productivity and biomass patterns of the estuary's primary producers and to describe the relationship of physical factors to primary producers and their productivity levels. The higher trophic levels in the estuarine food web were the focus of seven CREDDP work units: Zooplankton and Larval Fish, Benthic Infauna, Epibenthic Organisms, Fish, Avifauna, Wildlife, and Marine Mammals. The goals of these work units were to describe and map the abundance patterns of the invertebrate and vertebrate species and to describe these species' relationships to relevant physical factors. The other three work units, Sedimentation and Shoaling, Currents, and Simulation, dealt with physical processes. The work unit goals were to characterize and map bottom sediment distribution, to characterize sediment transport, and to determine the cause of bathymetric change, and to determine and model circulation patterns, vertical mixing and salinity patterns. Final reports on all these thirteen work units have been published. In addition, these results are integrated in a comprehensive synthesis entitled THE DYNAMICS OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER ESTURINE ECOSYSTEM, the purpose of which is to develop and description of the estuary at the ecosystem level of organization. Other documents available are: INDEX TO CREDDP DATA GUIDE TO THE USE OF CREDDP INFORMATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS THE COLUMBIA RIVER ESTUARY: ATLAS OF PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS BATHYMETRIC ATLAS OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER ESTUARY CHANGES IN COLUMBIA RIVER ESTUARY HABITAT OVER THE PAST CENTURY COLUMBIA'S GATEWAY LITERATURE SURVEY OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER ESTUARY ABSTRACTS OF MAJOR CREDDP PUBLICATIONS To order any of the above documents or to obtain further information about CREDDP, its publications or its archives, call (503) 325-0435, or write CREST P.O.Box 175 Astoria, Oregon 97103 (en)
Broader concept
- A - C (en)
URI
https://gcmd.earthdata.nasa.gov/kms/concept/1761ff72-1908-48a1-ae6e-ac53daaf04e4
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