Winter 1997 Newsletter of the Land Margin Ecosystems Research Program: Understanding changes in coastal environmentsContents: "All scientists' meeting, cross-site comparisons are valuable parts of the LMER program" by John E. Hobbie; "Analysis of the Satilla River Watershed: Land use, water discharge and nutrient ouput" by Ting Dai, Alice G. Chambers, and Richard G. Wiegert; "River forcing of planktonic net metabolism: extremes in Chesapeake Bay, 1995-96" by Erik M. Smith, Lawrence W. Harding, Michael E. Mallonee, W. Michael Kemp; "Biochemical characterization of suspended particulate material in the Columbia River" by Frederik G. Prahl, Lawrence R. Small, and Bruce Eversmeyer; "Direct measurement of gas exchange rates in the Parker River estuary" by Jane Tucker, Steve Carini, Nathaniel Weston, Joseph J. Vallino, Charles S. Hopkinson, Anne E. Giblin, Robert H. Garritt; "Organic matter group finalized results of five-site study" by Joseph J. Vallino; "Group concludes study of estuarine residence times" by William C. Boicourt; "Food web group compares use of OM by higher trophic levels in contrasting ecosystems" by Charles A. Simenstad and Robert H. Garritt; "GIS group changes its focus; Looks at methods and models for estimating loadings" by John T. Finn; "Rostock meeting considers common coastal problems" by Richard D. Wiegert; "Recent LMER publications"