What Time Is It?

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Robert R. Christian

East Carolina University

Department of Biology

www.actionbioscience.org/environment/christian.html

Robert Christian, Ph.D., is a Distinguished Professor of the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences and Research Distinguished Professor of Biology at East Carolina University. He was President of the Estuarine Research Federation from 2005–2007. His research focuses on coastal ecosystems— particularly salt marshes, estuaries, and coastal lagoons along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the USA, and in the Mediterranean. In these various ecosystems, he has studied nutrient cycling—especially the nitrogen and carbon cycles and energy flow.

 

It was the best of times,

it was the worst of times…

—Charles Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities 

Ok, so we know it is the worst of times – economically speaking. And it isn’t too good environmentally, either. Hypoxia appears to be increasing in frequency and intensity; climate change is altering ecosystems in subtle but important ways; and both invasions and extinctions are occurring at recently unprecedented rates.

      So when do the “best of times” start? Well, after a hiatus of almost a decade, we have an administration that recognizes the importance of the environment. NOAA is led by someone who appreciates coastal ecosystems. The coastal observing systems are beginning to get some traction; and technologies for in situ and remotely sensed sampling, information management and modeling are ever improving. Opportunities to inform environmental management by science are still limited but exist as never before.

        CERF 2009 is the perfect forum to accentuate the positive. The scientific program captures all that make this a good time to be estuarine and coastal scientists. You will be able to hear the new and innovative, as well as the latest on more established, ongoing studies. And, of course, one of the most important benefits of going to an ERF/CERF meeting is the interaction outside the sessions – the meeting of new people, hallway conversations, barroom discussions, and appreciating new sides of your friends and colleagues during social events. Abiennial CERF meeting is a “must do” for many of us, and should be a “must do” for all members of the Federation.

      The Federation has made some hard decisions to ensure that CERF 2009 will be the “best of times” while realizing the economic “worst of times.” Perhaps the most obvious is that we have frozen the registration fees at the CERF 2007 rates. We have also tried to minimize costs of staying in Portland. You can read about cost savings elsewhere in this Newsletter. Please, consider this as you try to pull together the resources to participate in the latest “best of times” for a CERF member.