A comprehensive resource management plan for the Taunton Bay estuary, Maine, was developed to support the estuary's capacity to accommodate human uses without degrading ecosystem integrity or resilience. The initial phases of this plan, which has little precedent in the Gulf of Maine, target issues of immediate concern regarding environmental alteration and stock depletion associated with fisheries for four benthic species. Having no dedicated funding, our overall approach to developing ecosystem-based fisheries for this estuary relies heavily on thrift and efficiency, two attributes not usually associated with managing for ecosystem complexity. Despite our gaining a better understanding of this estuary through site-specific research and management activities, the complexity of the ecosystem's components and the unpredictability of its responses to management actions leave much uncertainty. Advancing a nascent, ecosystem-based management effort under such conditions requires the adoption of coping strategies that allow positive shifts in management. Our overall approach emphasizes using alternative knowledge systems to their best advantage, encouraging the participation of and provision of guidance by local resource users, prioritizing key information needs, conducting local research and monitoring, creating opportunities for prompt management corrections, striving for fairness to and stewardship from resource users, and encouraging a long-term commitment to this process.

Southern Illinois mined lands were investigated to identify wetland scale habitat parameters influencing the presence of a habitat limited species the Least Bittern (Ixobrychus exilis) Total area (ha) open water area (ha) robust emergent (REM) area (ha) percent REM coverage REM-open water edge length (m) edge REM coy er index and water depth parameters were measured at 35 wetlands (mean = 5 51 ha range = 0 13 39 7 ha) to develop one and two-regressor logistic regression models best explaining Least Bittern wetland use Logistic regression models using open water area or open water area + edge index regressors ranked highest among candidate models, which distinguished our results from those obtained in previous studies These data suggest that human-created basins supporting at least semi permanently flooded robust emergent cover ample expanses (>8 ha) of open water and high emergent edge lengths relative to flooded REM area may consistently meet breeding season requisites of Least Bitterns Further work to validate or refine this profile of Least Bittern habitat may benefit efforts to enhance pre-existing wetland resources or create new ones Received 16 January 2008 accepted 20 July 2008

Knowledge of resource-use and movement patterns is a missing component in the development of horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) management strategies. Available evidence indicates the potential for a variety of possible migratory behaviors, but the lack of high-resolution, spatial-temporal data has hindered development of a year-round profile of ranging behavior. This need was addressed in the present study by using acoustic telemetry to track the movements of adult horseshoe crabs in two subembayments (Egypt and Hog Bays) of the Taunton Bay Estuary, Maine, from June 2003 to June 2005. Estimated mean total home range sizes were 64.1 and 61.4 ha for breeding crabs tagged in Egypt and Hog Bays, respectively. We observed no horseshoe crab dispersal to areas outside of the subembayments where they were tagged, so no mixing was observed between Egypt and Hog Bay individuals despite a < 4-km separation. Observed shifts in movement patterns, resource use (subtidal versus intertidal), and vagility facilitated a profile of seasonally partitioned horseshoe crab activity, which included late April to early May post-wintering, June–July breeding, August–September pre-wintering, and October–April wintering, where space usage represented about 10% of the mean total home range size. The apparent isolation of these resident populations implies a heightened vulnerability to overexploitation and large-scale habitat alteration that might be more easily sustained by larger, more vagile populations. This work underscores the need to apply horseshoe crab conservation, research, and management efforts at scales that are appropriate to the ranging patterns of crabs, which first requires application of high-resolution methods to identify those patterns.