Dr. Stephen Threlkeld, a professor of biology at Ole Miss since 1991 and a noted researcher in aquatic biology and ecology, was selected to replace outgoing editor Harold Stephenson, who will retire this year after managing Estuaries since its founding in 1978. Published by the Estuarine Research Federation, the quarterly journal deals with those areas where the rivers flow into the sea, Threlkeld said. Estuaries are an important topic of study because they comprise the area of the sea that's involved in a great deal of marine fish production.
Many fish have their breeding grounds in estuaries.
These sites also afford us an opportunity to study how sediments and other river materials affect the marine environment. Threlkeld's three-year stint as an associate editor of another journal, Limnology and Oceanography, established him as the top candidate for the Estuaries helm, he said. He also served as technical editor for a recent book on climate change. They wanted someone with editing experience and a history of multidisciplinary research. Estuaries covers a broad range of disciplines, including chemistry, geology, physics and biology.