This award covers tasks necessary to terminate the North Inlet LTER Site. Termination requires 1) archiving and documenting core LTER datasets compiled under previous NSF grants, and 2) synthesizing completed data into research papers to be submitted to ecological journals. Data from this research site uniquely represent estuarine ecosystems and must be properly archived and documented for future use. Approximately two thirds of the core datasets are compete to February 1992. Several datasets (meiofauna, macrofauna, zooplankton, rainfall chemistry) require additional processing and analysis. This award will permit completion of all core datasets to February 1992 by the end of the award period. Samples will be archived and stored at the Baruch Field Laboratory for future reference. All documentation will be made accessible to other scientists in electronic or hardcopy versions and provided to the LTER Network Office. Long-term data sets will be synthesized in a few integrative publications to be submitted to key ecological journals. Synthesis will focus on inter-relationships among core datasets, issues related to variability, and evaluation of ecological theory.
