Ecosystem Modeling in Cobscook Bay, Maine: A Boreal, Macrotidal Estuary General Acknowledgments This special issue of the Northeastern Naturalist is the product of many years of interest in and research on Cobscook Bay on the part of the authors and their associates. We express our appreciation to the past investigators who set the groundwork. The planning, fieldwork and analyses were undertaken as part of a research program “Developing an Ecological Model of a Boreal, Macrotidal Estuary: Cobscook Bay, Maine,” funded by a grant from the A.W. Mellon Foundation to The Nature Conservancy. Matching funds and services were provided by Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, University of Maine Orono and Machias, Texas A&M University, US Fish and Wildlife Service Gulf of Maine Program, Suffolk University (Friedman Field Station), Maine Department of Marine Resources and The Nature Conservancy. Any opinions expressed are those of the authors and not The Nature Conservancy or other supporting institutions. Barbara Vickery, Maine Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, has been supportive of recent Cobscook Bay research. She was instrumental in the inception of the present program and has been deeply involved all along the way. Many people extended technical support to our efforts. Notable among them are Librarian Pam Shepard and Systems Administrator James Genus of the Bigelow Laboratory. Doug McGovern of Computer Science Corporation produced the base map used in many of the contributions. Seth Barker, Bruce Kidman, and Louis Torrieri provided the cover design and images. Cover Landsat TM 5 image of Cobscook Bay, August 19, 1988, courtesy USGS EROS Data Center TM. Special thanks are due to the Cobscook Bay community who supported our efforts in many ways. The Cobscook Bay Resource Center provided information and advice. Students and teachers from Shead High School undertook drifter studies to verify the hydrodynamic modeling. Many area residents attended workshops before, during, and after the field research. Several research projects benefited directly from collaborations with individuals in the marine resource community. We look forward to continued synergies in future investigations. The success and scientific rigor of this comprehensive consideration of the Cobscook Bay ecosystem is largely due to the wisdom and dedication of a diverse group of peer-reviewers. We offer our sincerest appreciation to: William Ambrose, Bates College; Walter Barnhardt, University of North Carolina; Veronica Berounsky, University of Rhode Island; Ed Brinton, Scripps Institution of Oceanography; Pierre Brunel, Universite de Montreal; Michael Brylinsky, Acadia University; Stephen Cairns, National Museum of Natural History; Dale Calder, Royal Ontario Museum; Thierry Chopin, University of New Brunswick; Edward Cutler, Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology; Kristian Fauchald, National Museum of Natural History; Patricia Glibert, Horn Point Laboratory; Terrance Gosliner, California Academy of Sciences; David Greenberg, Bedford Institute of Oceanography; Barry Hargrave, Bedford Institute of Oceanography; Marilyn Harlin, University of Rhode Island (retired); 2004 Northeastern Naturalist Vol. 11, Special Issue 2 Larry Harris, University of New Hampshire; Peter Hayward, University of Swansea; Brian Kensley, National Museum of Natural History; Blaine Kopp, US Geological Survey; Jacco Kromkamp, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Centre for Estuarine and Marine Ecology; Rafael Lemaitre, National Museum of Natural History; Arthur Mathieson, University of New Hampshire; Hugh MacIntyre, Dauphin Island Sea Lab; Richard Modlin, University of Alabama; Françoise Monniot, Museum Natural d’Histoire Naturelle (France); Jon Norenburg, National Museum of Natural History; Mark Ohman, Scripps Institution of Ocenography; Fred Page, St. Andrews Biological Station; David Pawson, National Museum of Natural History; Gerhard Pohle, Huntsman Marine Science Centre; Nathan Riser, Marine Science Center, Northeastern University; Charles Roman, US National Park Service; Peter Rosen, Northeastern University; Gary Rosenberg, Academy of Natural Sciences; Klaus Ruetzler, National Museum of Natural History; Sandra Shumway, University of Connecticut; William Silvert, Instituto Nacional de Investigacao Agraria e das Pescas (Portugal); Glen Thursby, US Environmental Protection Agency; David Townsend, University of Maine; Seth Tyler, University of Maine; Robert Jay Van Syoc, California Academy of Sciences; Andrea Waeschenbach, The Natural History Museum (UK); Thomas Waller, National Museum of Natural History; Robert Wilce, University of Massachusetts; David Wildish, St. Andrews Biological Station; Judith Winston, Virginia Museum of Natural History; Charles Yarish, University of Connecticut; and several anonymous reviewers. Finally, the printing of this special issue of the Northeastern Naturalist was supported, in part, by the Maine Sea Grant College Program.