Here's another satellite view of Sapelo Island (courtesy Alice Chalmers), that also includes all of the marshland between the Island and the mainland, and the Altamaha River and Sapelo Sound areas. This view shows essentially all of the territory covered by the new (probably starting in spring 2000) Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER (Long Term Ecological Research) site. Over a 6- year (or longer) period, across the marked salinity gradients (both east/west and north/south) of the area in the image, we will monitor: hydrological variables, groundwater variables, biogeochemistry, marshgrass and algal productivity, prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbial diversity and productivity. Mary Ann Moran, Tim Hollibaugh, Bob Hodson, and I will attempt to unravel interactions among marshgrass ascomycetes and shoot-associated marsh bacteria.