We thank the many people, agencies, and institutions that facilitated the successful conference which served to germinate this volume. Special thanks are extended to the entire Tennessee Aquarium staff for organizing and hosting this conference. In large part, the success of this event was due to the efforts of Janet Allen, Jackson Andrews, Jim Hekkers, Sandy Skorput, and Sandra White, who skillfully formulated the conference preparations. Bruz Clark (The Lyndhurst Foundation), David Etnier (The University of Tennessee at Knoxville), Robert Hatcher (Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency), John Jenkinson (Tennessee Valley Authority), and Gary Litchford (The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga) were both helpful and kind in serving as outside consultants to the aforementioned committee. Janet Allen was indispensable both before and after the conference, recognizing and tying together many loose ends such that the overall conference process was so well-coordinated that it gave us confidence. Many others at the Tennessee Aquarium, including Charlie Arant, Sally Boals, Peter Burman, William Flynn, Barbara Hailey, Jim Hill, John Kelley, Cheryl Key, Joe Kilgore, Carson Malone, Gene Pinder, Cathy Parker, Judy Powell, Allen Roberts, Neil Robinson, Todd Stailey, Gordon Stalans, Cindy Todd, and Jeff Worley, as well as Aquarium receptionists, membership staff, and volunteer docents played important conference and/or publication roles. We thank the staff at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Holiday Inn for working well with the Aquarium's staff to provide a supportive conference venue. Of course the success of the program itself was ensured by the fine group of presentation authors that flattered us with their willingness to participate. In addition to these knowledgeable professionals, we also thank the many people who pointed the way to these experts. No doubt we have unintentionally overlooked mentioning some that were important to this event or to this publication, and we sincerely apologize for this.
We also thank the authors and official reviewers who unselfishly took time from their busy professional and personal schedules to prepare and refine the chapters contained herein. The names and addresses of these fine people are presented toward the end of this volume. Mark Schorr (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga) and Paul Johnson (Southeast Aquatic Research Institute) read several chapters and a portion of the index (respectively) and provided comments which were useful to us. A very talented Aquarium research intern named Tom Tarpley is thanked for his wonderful illustrations which adorn the chapter headings, and a determined and persistent young biologist named Heather Grant is thanked for ungripingly donating her time to check literature references. Janice Gay Williams (Tennessee Aquarium) is thanked for her assistance in preparing portions of the volume draft and also for her help with many logistical tasks which were critical in getting this volume published. The production of this volume was greatly facilitated by computer technology which we know little about, and a bright young Aquarium research intern named Aaron Fitzsimmons allowed us to be productive without having to battle any of those "how to" manuals which are usually indecipherable by those such as ourselves who are now firmly established in mid-life. Hilary Vinson, Donna Stanek, and Richard Biggins (all U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), Raymond Bouchard (The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia), Alan Buchanan (Missouri Department of Conservation), George Folkerts (Auburn University), Marvin Cook (Wilderness Graphics, Inc.), Debbie Petticord and Max McKenzie (both Chattanooga Magazine), Ray Andersen, and Richard Bryant are all thanked for facilitating or providing pictures or artwork for use in the volume. The critical suggestions of all of the above and others was extremely helpful as our expertise in some topic areas is clearly limited. We hope we have done the authors right in getting their ideas into print, and we accept responsibility for any errors which we have introduced or which have otherwise evaded our notice.
John Brown (formerly U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) was kind in facilitating a contract that bolstered our conviction that this volume would be useful to biologists and resource managers. The Tennessee Aquarium's commitment to this volume in the form of publication funding, as well as our duty assignment as volume editors of course was critical.
Lastly, we thank Richard Lenz, John Lenz, Pam Holliday, and others at Lenz Design & Communications for efficiently doing a fine job publishing this volume, as well as for their leadership in supporting publications which promote the conservation of our precious natural heritage.