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Coastal Zone mCOSYSTEMS AND RESOURCES Information E Center OF THE MASSACHUSETTS COAST I- PFF Wto- 14- )qw I;r w Of v i ioll QH 105 M4 c37 Massachusetts 1976 WTITUTE FOR MAN Coasicl Zone AND ENVIRONMENT Nbnagenial TABLE OF CONENTS Acknowledgements Introduction .................................................. 3 We wish to thank the following persons and organizations who generously provided their I The Geology of the Massachusetts Coast ........................ 5 time and facilities to help us prepare this The Glacial Influence ...................................... 5 document. First to our scientific advisory The Dynamic Coastline ..................................... 6 panel, Professors Charles Cole, Dayton Carritt, Craig Edwards, Paul Godfrey and James Nature's Stabilizers ....................................... 10 Parrish, of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, we offer appreciation for their critical 11 The Living Systems of the Coast .............................. 11 and patient review of our manuscript. We also The Ecosystem .......................................... 11 extend our gratitude to the staff of the Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management Ecosystem Management .................................. 12 Program, Executive Office of Environmental Salt Marsh .............................................. 13 Affairs, for their assistance. Others who Eelgrass Beds ........................................... 16 provided help are: John Dennis, Nantucket; Sand Dunes ............................................. 17 Ralph Goodno and Thomas Quink, Cooperative Sand Beaches ........................................... 20 Extension Service; Dr. James Baird,. Tidal Flats ............................................... 23 Massachusetts Audubon; Allen Look, Nor- Rocky Shores ............................ I ................ 24 thampton; Clifford Kaye, U.S. Geological Survey; Dr. Phillip Stanton, Framingham State Composite 'Ecosystems ................................... 26 College; and Dr. Joseph Hartshorn, University Salt Ponds .............................................. 26 of Massachusetts. Barrier Beaches-islands ................................... 28 Thanks are due also to the Metropolitan Estuaries ................................................ 29 District Commission and Massachusetts Inventory Maps of Mass. Coast ............................. 34 Division of Forests and Parks for providing us boat trips in Boston Harbor; and Carlozzi, Sinton and Vilkitis, Inc. for the use of their four III Coastal Resources and Their Cultural Uses ..................... 44 wheel drive vehicle. The Physical Resources .................................... 44 Finally we offer our special appreciation to The Biological Resources .................................. 48 the Institute for Man and Environment, par- ticularly to Helen Swartz for editorial review.; to IV Planning and Research for Coastal Zone Management ........... 59 Judith Epstein and Ann Dressier for typing and forbearance; and to Sal!v Klinnpnpr fnr ;all manner of administrative maneuvers necessary Glossary .................................................... 60 to the completion of our efforts. List of Species In Text ......................................... 63 ECOSYSTEMS AND RESOURCES OF THE MASSACHUSETTS COAST F DE@ARTMENT OF COMMERCE NOAA A L SF RVICES CENTER Written by: Carl Carlozzi 2234 SOUTH HOHON AVENUE Kathryn King CHARLESTON, SC 29405-2413 William F. Newbold Jr. Illustrations and Layout: William F. Newbold Jr. S, J" 10 Nauset barrier beach and Chatham Harbor looking South Courtesy Army Corps of Engineers, NE Division This publication was made possible with a grant from the Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management Program, Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, Boston, Mass. 1975 THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT STATE HOUSE BOSTON 02133 MICHAEL S. DUKAKIS GOVERNOR Dear Citizen, Massachusetts has long been a national leader in the protection and enhancement of its coastal resources and ecosystems. Local ordinances concerned with wetlands began in the early 1960's. Sensitive to local needs, the state Legislatur6ilAssed a series of landmark laws which became a model for the rest of the nation: The Jones Act-The Coastal Wetlands Protection Act (1963), the Hatch Act-The Inland Wetlands Protection Act (1965), The Coastal Wetlands Restriction Act (1965), The Inland Coastal Wetlands Restrictions Act (1968), and the Wetlands Protection Law (1972) with amendments (1974), established Massachusetts once more as a forerunner in state environmental legislation. The pioneering of a system of local Conservation Commissions, the establishment of ocean sanctuaries off our shores, and the creation of an Energy Facilities Siting Council further support a recognition of the importance of our coastal environments. Massachusetts' foresight must continue in the future. This administration's development of a Coastal Zone Management program for its coastal areas along with the development of a local-based comprehensive growth policy for the entire state will help us to meet this goal. Through the development of long-term plans and management, we will be better able to balance the needs for future growth and development with enhancement and protection values. However, building towards the future requires much more than state governmental insight and hard work. It demands an informed and involved citizenry. I urge you to join in our efforts. The Massachusetts coast abounds in natural resources which support varied commercial, recreation and aesthetic needs. Deciding on how these resources should be used in the future requires your participation. This publication discusses all the natural and many man-made systems making up thA Massachusetts coastline, their importance as facets of the environment, and Xe ways in which they are used and altered by man. It has been prepared as a /guide for all Massachusetts citizens to use in order to better enjoy and under- t d their unique heritage. Sincerely, Michael S. Dukaki 2 INTRODUCTION Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean--roll 1 Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain; Man marks the earth with ruin-- his control Stops with the shore. . . Lord Byron "Wow Childe Harold's Pilgrimage canto IV, st. 179 The words of Lord Byron may have rung true nearly 160 years ago, but today they fall on IK& more knowing ears. Man's domain stretches far out to sea and to the greatest depths of the oceans. Man's unknowing destruction has affected the seas and fragile shoreline. The very wealth, beauty, and resources that convinced man to settle by the sea, work by the sea, and seek solace by the sea are threatened today. Congress recognized the extent of this danger to our coastal areas when it passed the Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Act of 1972. 3 The CZIVI Act of 1972 provides federal complex environment on earth, the coastal management in the face of competing and ever assistance to coastal states in a voluntary ecosystem. increasing demands upon the land and water program of comprehensive land and water use The commitment of the Massachusetts CZM resources of coastal states. In this light, management. Every coastal state in the nation Program to active public participation includes Congress realized the need for man's future eligible forfederal CZM funds has established a developing educational resources for the activities to respect the fragile and vulnerable CZM program. The Massachusetts Office of public. A better scientific understanding of the nature of coastal areas, and the need to halt Coastal Zone Management is in the Executive complexities of Massachusetts' coastal unknowing destruction. office of Environmental Affairs. ecosystems will help in establishing the critical A better scientific understanding of the We have much to protect and develop in needs of the coastal zone, and in better un- complexities of Massachusetts' coastal Massachusetts. The history and fate of the derstanding man's environmental impacts. This ecosystems will help in establishing the critical Commonwealth is intricately tied to the sea. publication attempts. to reach that "better needs of the coastal zone, and in better un- From the arrival of the earliest European understanding", by laying out clearly, con- derstanding man's environmental impacts. settlers, our natural harbors, productive cisely, graphically, and in lay language ac- structively and with foresight to plan for the fisheries, and maritime trading routes have curate information on Massachusetts' coastal future economic, social, and environmental provided man with food, housing, and a means ecology. needs of the Commonwealth. of commercial support. The forces of nature that create our coastal The remainder of this publication has been Ports developed and settlements grew along systems are dynamic. They reach beyond the divided into four main sections. The first two the shore. Today some 40 percent of the state's boundaries of towns, regions, and states. parts present an overview of the natural forces population lives in the 87 communities along Activities in one community can have reper- and ecosystems respectively that form the the shore. Almost half of all the construction cussions many miles away. It is incumbent productive basis for coastal resources. The development in the state occurs in our coastal upon us, then, as participants in planning and next part describes man's use of coastal cities and towns. management, to recognize the common in- resources and the environmental consequences Our coastal areas support commerce, in- terlocking relationships of natural systems, to of man's activities. Finally, the report analyzes dustry, transportation, housing, recreation, think broadly in terms of resource important broad coastal ecosystems and their commercial fishing, and tourism. The coastal management, and to consider the regional resource wealth, complexity, and en- areas are rich in history and tradition, and meet impacts of our decisions, vironmental health. This last section considers many of our vital aesthetic needs. However, Man has not been wholly aware of the im- needs for future scientific research and in- these land and water uses often conflict, and pacts of his past activities. We are still learning formation tied to the management of we have come to realize in recent years that the about the delicate ecology of the land and sea Massachusetts' wealth of coastal resources. myriad of uses that take advantage of the interaction. wealth of our coastal resources often wreak In passing the CZM Act, Congress havoc on the most productive, sensitive, and recognized the pressing need for resource 4 1. THE GEOLOGY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS COAST To better understand the Massachusetts III its southward movement the glacier coast as it is seen today, it is necessary to look scrubbed rock material from northern lands and back into history at the major geologic events carried it as far as the southern limit of glacial a van that formed our coastline. This part discusses d ce. Gradually, as the climate warmed, geologic and meteorological actions that have meltwater from the glacier transported silt, built and sculpted the Massachusetts coast. clay, gravel, cobbles and boulders, and There are two sections. The first describes deposited them in terminal moraines at the significant historic occurrences and dynamics 1310Z IZO H edge of the glacial lobes. Water flowing form of the great continental glaciers and their 13AY the glacier sorted finer and lighter material ...... . ..... contributions to coastal materials and land- from the heavier gravels and boulders, forms. The second section describes the depositing these sediments into bedded layers present day-to-day and seasonal dynamics of called stratified drift. water and weather as they alter the shape and Looking at the entire Massachusetts coast chemical nature of the coast. today, the results of glacial action can be seen from the North Shore to Cape Cod and off The Glacial Influence shore islands. Glacial till and stratified drift deposits make up the principal landforms and The major features of today's coastline were subtidal forms. Along the North Shore the formed 10,000 years ago during the stage of the glacier left long, narrow, tapered mounds of till . ......... last Ice Age known as the Wisconsin. The called drumlins. These have become the basis glaciers made their final advance in the Nor- for such coastal landforms as the Plum Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . United States and in their retreat left the theast barrier beach. Cape Ann's high rocky headlands @*N . . . . . . . . . . outlines of Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and offshore rock reefs are overlain with large and .......... ... Nantucket Island, the Elizabeth Islands boulders and cobbles delivered there by glacial Long Island. Prior to the arrival of the glaciers, movement. MM, Drumlins, reworked by currents, waves and the Georges Bank and continental shelf, 200 ........... . ..... miles east of Cape Cod, were an area of plains tides, provide the basis for the Boston harbor and low hills, many feet above sea level. islands. These d ru m I ins have been altered f rom As the earth's climate cooled, the glacier During the Ice Age four successive glacial advances their original shapes and finer materials have grew in overall dimensions and began its and retreats moved across New England. As the last been redeposited to form a complex of sand journey to the southern shores of New glacier began to retreat about 10,000-12,000 years spits and beaches in the harbor. Nantasket England. As they grew, they absorbed more ago, tremendous amounts of glacial till [sand, silt, Beach was built in this way with sand deposits and more water and the sea level fell between gravel, and boulders] were left behind. Runoff from connecting several emergent and submerged 300 and 500 feet. The Wisconsin ice advance in the melting glaciers combined with the natural drumlins. Further south, from Duxbury to the Massachusetts consisted of three major ranges weathering forces of wind, rain, and waves have Cape and Islands, the glacier's historic of massive, scalloped-edged, glacial been constantly molding these deposits into the presence is evident in the large terminal movements, or ice lobes, known as the Buz- coastline we know today. moraines that provide an elevated base for zards Bay Ice Lobe, the Cape Cod Ice Lobe, and today's shoreline landforms. The high, dune- the South Channel Ice Lobe (See Figure capped cliffs on the east shore of the outer 5 Cape are examples of these forms. The moraines also have Provided materials for WIN95 5TORM South Shore and Cape shoals, beaches, tidal flats and dunes. Features of these moraines are the small hills and deep depressions called MATe12IA4,!5 knobs and kettles. Kettle ponds formed in deep MATt-Pa4j_f> holes created by large blocks of ice, left behind when the glaciers melted. Examples of kettle ponds can be found in Wellfleet and Truro. South and west of the Cape some terminal moraines were built high enough to avoid drowning in the rising ocean. Nantucket, CO, TA L_ Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands are ZONE examples of moraines that achieved such heights. As the Ice Age waned, the glaciers melted WNW, during the summer months, causing streams and rivers of meltwater to flow from the ice, carrying rock flour or clay silt in the form of finely ground rock, which settled on the ocean C OAZVF_W5 floor. Coarser and heavier materials were deposited at the southern edge of the glacial Because it marks the confluence of air, land, and ocean, the coastal zone is a front. The accumulated debris formed what is highly complex and dynamic environment. called an outwash plain, the foundation of the present south shore of Cape Cod. As more melting occurred, the waters carved out glacial drowned. Later, the land once again subsided revealed to a slightly more perceptive observer. outwash channels in the outwash plain. The and as sea level rose, the shoreline was sub- The physical shape of the coast itself is Bass River between Dennis and Yarmouth is an merged at greater elevations. Today, the land constantly changing, in some places very example of such an outwash channel*. Similar continues to subside at the rate of about six rapidly. Certainly, this does not make the coast outwash plains and channels created the inches every 100 years and the sea level is still different in kind from all other places on the shoreline and rivers of Buzzards Bay. rising as the polar ice cap glaciers melt. earth, but the rate of change is usually faster. The effects of the Wisconsin glacier are still Oince 'Lille coastal, zone is only -n very narrow operating. The coast has a geologic history of The Dynamic Coastline band at the junction of land and sea, it makes subsiding shoreline and rising sea level. The the relative importance of change a serious land subsided under the weight of glaciers. As The coastline is never still. To the casual matter, not only to man, but to the survival of the glaciers melted and retreated, the land observer this seems obvious since the water the intricate and productive systems of plants mass rebounded as its toploading pressure was conditions are ever changing. Tide and waves, and animals that are found there. Like man, relieved. Since this process happened faster storms and calm are the dynamics that cannot these organisms have continuously adapted to than the rise in sea level, the land was not go unnoticed. But there are other actions the coastal dynamics. The balances between 6 A WA gf- 0 lu Ji: i;: V ow WINM AORT4 7T fORCF-5 ON THE CoA5TAL- ZONE 6LPJFACE, CURKENT5@' 5PPINCI Ic ------ lit I@Ql ------ AUTUMN *AQNnE:p WotA OuMpu,5 @ LAIZi Ej? AMv-p-icA,r4 qmc eTy [q65 1500THWF-STY-9-Illes Ar 4wi4ic. soc C&4d. the organized biological arrangements and the changing face of the coast are often delicate when seen against the extremes of energy sA-% released through storms, sweeping ocean currents and large tides. To better appreciate the conditions of coastal existence, it is helpful to think of the coast as the meeting and mixing place where fun- 7 damental forces and substances from both land and sea are joined. Every day of every year materials are blown or washed from the land's surface and carried down to the sea. The constant renewal of the meteorological and hydrological systems P powered by solar energy and gravitational forces guarantees that the transport of the earth's materials to the- oceans will continue. Contained in the flows of water and wind are 0 sands, silts, clays and organic particles along with dissolved chemical compounds from the Y in land. These substances may accumulate higher concentrations as they are transported :J to the sea, thus increasing the load for eventual deposition in the ocean. This land-to-sea movement contributes basic materials for the building of coastal forms, and is the source of salts and chemical nutrients necessary to the health of coastal and oceanic ecosystems. Unfortunately, not all materials transported Waves striking a beach at an angle create a the wave. Suspended particles of silt or sand are then from the land to the sea are benign and phenomenon known as littoral drift. In deep water a carried ashore and back out with the backwash. The beneficial. -1 he same forces thlat carry chemical passing wave causes suspended pa-icl 5 4- - - 4-f-#-4 N- i"dirntec the genpral mnvement of M le 10 MOVE M -------- nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous, circular path. But as the wave approaches the shore, sediments along the coast with the successive swas@ calcium, iron, potassium, and others also move this movement becomes horizontal in the direction of and backwash of the wave action. the waste products of human endeavor to the coast. These waste substances are often harmful either because they are over-- concentrations of otherwise useful and needed 8 materials or because they are directly toxic to living things. When the land-derived materials enter the coastal areas, the currents, tides and waves of the ocean provide the major transport system for distribution and dilution. This action of transport from places of origin or concentration to places not richly endowed with nutrients and food sources spreads the chemical basis for biological productivity along the coastal zone and outward to the ocean. River outfalls and estuaries are singularly important areas through which nutrients and Diagram showing simplified wave mechanics, The arrows indicate the general food are moved. Many of the currents tran- motion of a suspended particle. The influence of a passing wave on bottom sporting materials from the outfalls carry them sediments is proportional to the wavelength measured crest to crest. long distances. The good and undesirable influencesof Massachusetts rivers such as the Merrimack, the Charles and the North, for example, will be felt in waters on the coast and currents rather than major storms that are the And it is the transport and dilution of both in the open ocean. physical factors which determine the biologic beneficial and harmful chemicals and Less dramatic but equally important are the systems occupying different locations along sediments by coastal and ocean currents that local currents and daily tides. Along the en- the coast and from the coast to the open sea. in large part determine the level of productivity tire coast occur lateral movements of water It is the average high and low levels of tide of coastal ectosystems. called longshore currents or littoral drift, that determine the zonation of plant and animal The dynamics of the coastal area are produced by wave action. These flows are sDecies on all shores. therefore essential to its ecological well-being responsible for carrying loads of sediment from It is the depth of disturbance of waves in all cases. Flows of water, movement of areas of erosion to areas of deposition, coupled with turbidity that limits the growth of materials, and fluxes in chemical composition primarily in the coastal zone. As materials are subtidal organisms on the floor of the sea. provide the basis for a healthy environment for eroded from beaches, sand cliffs and even It is the shape and composition of the ocean coastal organisms. Only in the extreme do the rocky shores by strong waves and heavy rains bottom, in combination with coastal currents natural forces of the coastal environment seem during storms, they are picked up and tran- and tides that influence species of fish in their to act against the survival of living things. But sported by the littorai drift. Some of this choice of habitats. even in the event of more violent physical material is redeposited on other beaches and It is the patterns of flows, the circulation and occurrences, there are mechanisms that some is moved outward to the depths of the mixing of fresh and saline waters in the protect against and minimize damage to the open sea. In this way, the coast in some places estuaries, that fix the location of shellfish beds coastal ecosystems. is diminished by erosion, and in others or the spawning areas of other mollusks (clams nourished by deposition. and scallops), crustaceans (crabs and lobsters) In many ways, it is the effects of the day-to- and fish. day stresses of winds, waves, tides, and 9 77 Storn waves eroding Coast Guard Beach Wellfleet Barrier beach Martha's Vineyard Courtesy CZM Office Courtesy Army Corps of Engineers, NE Division Nature's Stabilizers It Doesn't Happen Overnight Despite the potential for constant erosion islands and shoals are built of unconsolidated The dynamic mix of natural forces along the and shifting of the coastline, there is a materials, they are subject to general erosion coast slows the development of large, highly stabilizing effect caused by the shape of the and to blowouts and washouts during storms. productive and relatively permanent coastal coast, the buildup of offshore barrier islands, In the very long run, the general day-to-day ecosystems. Some Massachusetts salt mar- and the growth of biological communities on balance between the movement of the littoral shes, for instance, have taken thousands of shore and in the intertidal zones. drift, tides and large ocean currents makes years to grow to their present size. All the Rocky headlands may break the full force of rebuilding of the barrier islands, shoals and while, they are subject to the physical stresses storm-driven waves and tides, in this way beaches a periodic event. of changing weather, water movement and even creating quiet bays and coves where natural or The successful establishment of living dramatic changes in sea level. man-made systems may exist without major communities of plants and animals is very Yet they survive and grow. Only monumental disturbance. The arch of Cape Cod and the important to the stabilization of both the shore climatic alteration or geologic change would be string of the Elizabeth Islands moderate the and barrier islands. Beach grass and shrub sufficient to destroy or radically change the force of the ocean-born storms, thus giving communities protect against wind erosion of natural resiliance of the coastal ecosystems Came Cod Ba- and Buzzards Ba- ecological dunes. Salt marsh communities cushion some were it not for the presence of man. qualities not found in other parts of the of the intertidal areas against the full forces of Pollution, dredging and filling of the in- Massachusetts coastal zone. storm-driven water. In all instances, the tertidal and shallow water areas, and building Barrier islands and shoals running parallel to presence of healthy vegetation is a natural and traffic on the dunes, all act, in the places the coast are formed by the deposition of mechanism providing a more stable base for where they occur, as equivalents to geologic or materials eroded from the coast and carried by the plants themselves, fostering a physically meteorological events occasionally occurring the littoral drift. These break the force of the stronger biologic community, and allowing for in nature. These man-induced stresses, waves and currents and protect the shore from the expansion of the community along its however, are not simply occasional; they are the full erosive power of the sea. Because the margins. .widespread and becoming more frequent. 10 11. THE LIVING SYSTEMS OF THE COAST The Ecosystem chemical elements essential for life and growth conditions in the environment make it possible The concept of ecosystems recognizes that within the group of organisms living in a given or impossible for particular organisms to all life is interconnected and interdependent. It area. Since this process occurs both worldwide survive in a particular place. It is for this reason rests on the understanding that there is an and locally, it is possible to think of something that the living world exhibits such variety: organization among plants and animals in as large as one global ecosystem or as small as species occupying any one place are only those response to their physical environment that the groups of plants and animals living on one that are adapted to functioning together in their promotes optimal efficiency in capturing, type of rock in the intertidal zone. local conditions of sunlight, physical forces, storing, and transferring the energy and The fundamental physical and chemical and chemicals. Z,7 osFi-,K-t 7 LCL ri A F15H -J. -7 'S Nutrients born by the wind, currents and tides greatly enhance growth of plants attacked by a host of microscopic organisms [fungi, bacteria, protozoal forming living in the water and at the water's edge. The plants are then utilized in the a "skin" over the fragments. An array of other animals know as detritivores system in two basic ways. The first is by direct grazing in which microscopic [worms, shelllfish and crustaceans] feed on this protein rich "skin" and allow the animals [zooplanktonj consume microscopic plants [phytoplankton]. Larger remaining material to pass through their bodies to be utilized again, Carnivores plants are consumed by larger herbivores such as insects and waterfowl. The then feed on these small herbivores and detritivores and they in turn become prey second way is less direct. Fragments of plant material known as detritus are for still larger carnivores such as large fish, birds of prey, and man. 11 Ecosystem Management Modern environmental management in- The coastal zone of Massachusetts has many understood, there is still a need for scientific creasingly depends on the growing knowledge types of ecosystems. The following section research to better detail the true functioning of of ecosystems as the basis for activities and summarizes each major type, describing certain ecosystems in general or in particular programs. Such knowledge is also essential to essential physical conditions and dominant places. Ultimately, it will be the degree to all levels of private and public planning for land plants and animals making up the biotic which improved knowledge of the coastal and resource use. Unlike earlier management communities found there. There is also a systems can be disseminated to, and con- techniques that tended to focus effort on the summary discussion of each system's sen- sistently applied by, all coastal zone users and special resource features or species desired, sitivity to human use and disturbance, such as decision makers that will preserve coastal today's efforts rely properly on managing whole pollution, filling, dredging, resource harvest, resources in the future. ecosystems. Awareness that changes in any and the building of water-related structures. Ecosystems discussed in this section are: one part of the ecosystem, however small or While the major elements of each ecosystem salt marshes, eel grass beds, sand dunes, sand remote, cause alterations in all other parts, are known and the principles that govern the beaches, tidal flats, rocky shores, salt ponds, sets the pattern for management. physical and biological interactions of each are barrier beaches-islands and estuaries. DISTRIBUTION OF PRIMARY PLANT PRODUCTIVITY* measurements in grams dry matter per square meter per day 10-25 3-10 3.0-0.5 less than 0.5 less than 0.5 0.5-3.0 deserts grasslands moist forest coastal waters continental deep ocions deep lakes shallow lakes alluvial plains shelf waters mt. forests moist grasslands intensive agriculture moist agriculture *adapted from e.p. odum, fundamentals of ecology, 2nd ed. philadelphia: saunders, 1959 12 SALT MARSH molluscs, lobsters, shrimp, and crabs in the -1000 M deeper ocean waters. The Massachusetts coast has several areas DEPO'si- r1o, where extensive salt marsh systems occur. Large marshes are found in the estuaries of the Merrimack and Parker Rivers and on Plum Island. Salt marshes cover large areas of ,@A Massachusetts Bay in Saugus, Revere, and Quincy and smaller areas in Hingham and 4f Cohasset. Marshfield derived its name from the broad marshes there. Further south, Duxbury also has large marshes. Extending to the tip of Cape Cod and along Buzzards Bay, salt mar- shes are tucked in bays and behind barrier beaches. One of the most prominent Cape Cod marshes is Barnstable Marsh, four miles long and two miles wide, and located west of Barnstable Harbor. The history of Barnstable Thesalt marsh is one of the most important Marsh has been traced to its beginning ap- ecosystems. These highly productive proximately 11,000 years ago, some time after biological communities, varying in size from the glaciers retreated and when the sea was tiny pockets to thousands of acres, are found eighteen to twenty feet below its present level. along the entire coast of Massachusetts. Salt (See figure) marshes typically are located in intertidal areas This marsh is separated from Cape Cod Bay behind barrier beaches, bordering pools of by a broad barrier beach built as sand was quiet water, or along the banks of tidal rivers. transported westward by the longshore current Salt marshes add greatly to the aesthetic to form a spit across what is now Barnstable diversity of the coastal landscape, providing a Harbor. Behind the beach in the calm waters, source of recreational enjoyment through marsh grass seeds were able to germinate in fishing, shellfishing, waterfowling, and general the soft sediments that had been carried there nature appreciation in all seasons of the year. by tides, rains, and rivers. Over many seasons, The salt marsh can be viewed as a "machine" the decaying remains of marsh plants gradually 15ARN5TABL-F_ HAlZbOR* transferring food and chemicals back and forth accumulated. Under the living mat of between the productive land systems and the vegetation, where high acidity and lack of 5&nd open sea. As such, it fills a vital role in oxygen greatly reduces the rate of decom- 5aAl McLr5h maintaining the physical-biological character position, peat formed. The marsh grew along (C of the near-shore area of the coast and in its landward and seaward edges. *Mmpted from A.C. Redfie-W ir, Life and supporting the continued existence of fish, The Barnstable marsh illustrates the process I Death of o- 5ojt Mar!5h" 64 J@ Te0_1 - 13 Cross Section of a Salt Marsh One of the most productive ecosystems, salt marshes, are found in protected high marsh or the upper limit of the areas inundated each and every day be the areas away from strong waves and currents. The spatial arrangement of plant tides. Animals such as birds, fish, crustaceans, and mollusks likewise key their and animal life is controlled by the tides, the plants of the salt marsh distributed activities to the tidal ebb flow. In many Massachusetts salt marshes, a large or zoned according to differing exposures to salt water. Of particular significance portion of the plant productivity is carried off by tides and currents to be utilized is the border between the highly productive low marsh and the less productive by fishes nearby. of salt marsh building as it occurs elsewhere use a large amount of the food they produce in zones are determined by the plants' responses along the coast where salt marshes have order to survive in their rigorous environment, to varying salinity and the frequency of tidal enlarged the coastal area and offered physical the remainder is available to be used as a flooding. This zonation is most easily seen in protection against storms and tides to more source of nutrients by other plants and the occurrence of the marsh's two dominant vulnerable shoreline features. animals. This contribution can be substantial plant species; the coarse, broad-leafed salt Research has confirmed the critically im- considering that each year, anywhere from five marsh cordgrass; and the smaller salt meadow portant role of salt marshes in the coastal zone. to ten tons of organic matter may be produced cordgrass. The spatial occurrence of these two In West Falmouth, investigation of Great by each acre of salt marsh. Wheat fields, by species marks, respectively, the extent of the Sippewissett Marsh indicates that salt marshes comparison, yield one and one-half tons per low and high marsh zones. The high marsh export an abundance of food to coastal waters. acre per year; hay, four tons per acre per year, zone is flooded only during extreme high tides As in all biological systems, vegetation and deserts and oceans, one-third of a ton per and during storms. serves a variety of roles in the marsh. It is able year, making the salt marsh one of the most Bordering the upper zone between high to use solar radiation and nutrients to produce productive of all ecosystems. marsh and land are found seaside goldenrod food; it reduces extreme temperatures, it Similar to most intertidal biotic com- blackrush and panic grass. Higher marsh transfers moisture from the soil to the air by munities, the salt marsh exhibits definite zones ground that receives influxes of fresh water is means of transpiration; and it adds organic in the arrangement of its plant and animal often colonized by cattails and Phragmites- material to the marsh soil. While marsh plants species. (See figure ) The limits of the marsh (reeds). 14 A most unusual plant species, glasswort, ";% - I @J ' - - --- @ - sharp-tailed sparrows, clapper rails, and others thrives in high concentrations of salt. It is often visit the marsh to nest and feed on snails, found within pannes, the shallow depressions clams, crabs and minnows. Tidal creeks in the high marsh filled by the flooding tide. support the diet of great blue herons and snowy Water is retained in the pannes, where salt V egrets. Insects and their larvae are plentiful and concentrations rise due to evaporation, provide a suitable diet for birds and their allowing glasswort to live without competition young. Mussels, clams, and crabs are sought from plants that are less tolerant of salt. by larger birds and mammals. Marine animals Also contributing to the high productivity of follow the incoming tide to search for crabs, the marsh, although not as obvious as the snails and worms. Bitterns and ospreys feed marsh grasses and border plants, are the upon them. At low tide, marsh hawks and microscopic algae that cover the muddy surface short-eared owls patrol the marsh in pursuit of of the marsh. They appear as slicks of green mice and small birds. and gold and are essential food sources for In fall and winter, many migrating animals small invertebrate animals. These single-celled enter the marsh on their way to warmer organisms are subjected to severe extremes in climates. Herons, shorebirds, and other soil temperature and salinity, depending upon aquatic birds poke out worms, crabs, clams, the season, the flow of the tides and the influx THfz and larvae living in the marsh,mud. of fresh water. Since they are consumed by Despite their importance to the general insects and crustaceans. Other deeper water productivity of the coastal and oceanic en- organisms such as filter feeders utilize this quickly than salt meadow cordgrass because it vironment, salt marshes have been disturbed in food source as it is made available during tidal is flooded daily and lacks any physical buffer to many ways by man. Thousands of acres of salt exchange. protect it from tidal destruction. marsh have been destroyed by direct filling to Forming sizable mats, the blue-green algae During the winter months, the algae continue provide sites for development along the appear throughout the year on the mud to replicate their populations, supplying food shoreline. Other marshes have been used as covering the tidal creek banks in the marsh and to the marsh system. Marsh plants, bacteria, convenient dumping grounds for dredged beneath the cordgrass stalks. These tiny plants and animals consume only some of the materials. Pollution, both in the water and in are nitrogen-fixers, able to extract nitrogen available food energy produced in the marsh. the air, can lower the primary productivity of from the air and convert it into a form that can The remainder is exported by the tides, rivers, marsh plants and interrupt essential nutrient be used by other marsh plants. and littoral drift to provide nourishment for life cycles by destroying bacteria and animals After the growing season, most of the plants in the estuarine and coastal waters. species in the marsh. die back and their leaves and stems become Many animals seek food, nesting sites, and Stresses of all types are increasing. detritus. Decomposers, which are primarily shelter in the salt marsh. Clams, worms, and Management of salt marsh and related aquatic bacteria, fungi, and protozoans, break burrowing shrimps dwell in the tidal flats and ecosystems is necessary if this most down the detritus into minerals, gasses and marsh creek banks. At low tide, feeding crabs, productive and important coastal resource is to water. Nutrient materials released by the shore birds, and insects explore these areas. continue its generous contribution to the decomposers are recycled and returned to the Birds are attracted to the salt marsh in great ecological well-being and productivity of the soi I and water where they can be reabsorbed by numbers. Marsh hawks are year-round oc- coastal zone and ocean. plants. Broadleaf cordgrass decays more cupants. Marsh wrens, seaside sparrows, 15 EEL GRASS BEDS Beds of subtidal eelgrass are very important 5PAW other areas, such as Nantucket and Buzzards food production and nursery areas. This Bay, with the result that scallops and waterfowl perennial plant is found in waters of varying have also returned in growing numbers. salinity in depths ranging from just under low Eelgrass primarily propagates by seeds and tide level to twenty feet below sea level in rhizomes as well as by the reestablishment of places where sunlight penetrates to the ocean broken sections of plants. The growth rate and floor, currents are not too swift, wave reproduction of eelgrass varies with the disturbance is low, and bottom sediments are seasons because the plants are sensitive to favorable to plant growth. They flourish in salt /I/ water temperature. After a dormant or near- ponds, bays, and at the mouths of estuaries dormant period in winter, eelgrass growth and tidal creeks. Some of the more important accelerates in March or April, with flowering, eelgrass communities in Massachusetts are in seed development and seed germination oc- Nantucket Harbor, Chatham Harbor, Buzzards curring in May. While summer growth is rapid, Bay and off Cape Ann. warmer water temperatures discourage per The character of the substrate is one of the sistence of developed leaves and stems. During factors determining the range of eelgrass. The the summer months, these continuously break plant prefers fine sediments ranging from off and provide a supply of cletritus for filter and sandy -mud to fine sand. Where finer mud deposit feeders. There is a brief resurgence of materials prevail, an overlay of protecting sand accumulated growth in the early fall just before is essential to prevent moving water from colder conditions in November cause a general stirring up and suspending particles of mud in dieback of the stems and leaves, resulting in the water, diminishing sunlight penetration, f ish, and waterfowl feed directly on the leaves the release of the plant's largest contribution of and thus reducing the productivity of eelgrass. and stems and on the attached plants and detritus to other members of the eelgrass Eelgrass beds provide a variety of ecological animals. Brant geese depend on eelgrass as the community. Because of the sensitivity of services. They offer a substrate for other plant singlemost important part of their diet. eelgrass to temperature, increasing use of and animal life. They are consumed directly as Disaster struck the eelgrass beds of the coastal waters for power plant cooling, with its food by grazing animals. They provide security North Atlantic coast in 1931. A "wasting consequent thermal discharges, may alter the to organisms requiring calm, protected waters disease" destroyed 99 percent of the standing plant's life cycle. This would be especially and shelter from predators. They cycle stock. Brant and coastal populations of Canada influential during the reproductive period in nutrients in the subtidal coastal waters and goose and black duck declined rapidly when May, when only slight variations from critical provide a habitat for an array of marine animals the grass beds were lost. Other marine water temperatures could reduce flowering and 0-6 as winter flounder, pipe fish, scallops, populations-clams, crabs, and bay scallops- seed develon-t W@11 U M brittle stars and jellyfish. They are a critical were reduced when their critical supply of Other hardships for these plants to endure nursery area for bay scallops, which can only eelgrass cletritus and protected nursery are the effects of dredging and the disap- survive their first month of life by attaching grounds were eliminated. pearance of the substrate in which they root. themselves to eelgrass stems. Eelgrass In 1950, a small stand rejuvenated itself on Increased silting and the flow of pollutants nourishes the crabs, molluscs, worms, the rocky shores of Cape Ann and the entire from industrial and urban wastes, sewage shrimps, and sea urchins which feed on community of eelgrass organisms there once disposal, and oil spills further hamper the detritus that the plants provide. Snails, crabs, again stabilized. Eelgrass has also returned to ability of eelgrass to survive. 16 SAND DUNES Sand dunes are most often seen in coastal intricate network of roots and rhizomes an- areas where there is an abundance of glacial chors the sand, holding the dune surface in moraine material or where coastal currents place. Waves transport sand to the shore, have deposited sand carried from distant winds carry it inland, and the beachgrass stalks moraine sources. In Massachusetts, Cape Cod, trap it. As sand accumulates, grasses grow up Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and the through it and the dune forms. Other species Elizabeth Islands contain the greatest number that can tolerate wind and salt are the beach e dusty and area of dunes. Dunes also are found on the pea, the seaside goldenrod, and th North Shore along Plum Island, Boston Harbor miller. Behind the dune, a low depression and Plymouth. called a slack or a swale occurs. This more sheltered environment is subject to less wind Sand dunes offer a very unstable substrate for plants and animals because they are ex- and salt damage. As successive dunes are 40,1 posed to several natural stress factors, the 2 created, those furthest from t 'he reaches of the sea are more hardy species that most critical being the effects of freshwater protected. The availability, wind erosion, and wind-born salt flourish there, providing ground cover and dune spray, stabilization, are bear oak, salt spray rose, The freshwater stress factor is caused by the beach plum, bayberry, poison ivy, beach porosity of the sand that allows rainwater to heather, and bearberry. The inland dunes are filter rapidly through it. Water held in the In cases where dunes front on the beach, known as secondary dunes as opposed to spaces between the sand particles is normally a storm-driven waves may wash over the beach primary dunes, which are the first to be ex- reliable supply for the dune plants. During berm and erode the dunes. (See figure.) posed to wave and wind action. prolonged dry periods, however, only plants Winds carrying salt spray from the sea are a Further inland, woody shrubs are found on that have deeply penetrating roots or live on the particular discouragement to plant growth on the back-slopes and in the low intervening dune's lower slope are able to absorb water the dunes. Only plants that are adapted to the hollows near the level of the groundwater table. from the deeper soil and groundwater zones in presence of salt by their growth form or The amount of soil moisture and the degree of order to survive. physiology can survive. exposure to salt spray are again limiting fac- Wind erosion is both a creator and destroyer In general, dunes lying inland from the beach tors. The trees are staghorn and smooth of dunes. Sand is blown from beaches to dunes are more protected and are, as a result, more sumac, gray birch, quaking aspens and young and among dunes almost constantly, Where fully stabilized by plant growth. There is a oaks. Among the lower shrubs, honeysuckle, there is little or no protective vegetation on the sequence of dune development from shore to bl ueberry and the wild rose form dense dunes, sand moves in the general direction of inland that is analagous to the zonation of thickets. Scattered throughout the dune the prevailing winds until it encounters an other coastal ecosystems. (See figure.) system are a variety of lichens, intimate obstacle sufficient in size to trap it. Very often, Similar to such other systems, the dune pat- associations of fungi and single-celled gteen sand shows a tendency to move away from the terns or zones are disturbed by extreme storms algae. These grey-green, tangled masses grow beach toward inland areas. The shifting mass and waves, and the physical abuse by people. on tree trunks and branches and on moist soil, of dune sand provides only a precarious surface The dominant plant species of the sand dune helping to keep it in place. These dune com- for plants. Blown sand may even cover plants is the American beach-grass whose scientific munities are well protected and can be con- that have managed to establish themselves. name, Ammophilia, means sand-[over. Its sidered forerunners of maritime forest. 17 DUNES CREATE HIGHLY VARIABLE CONDITIONS FOR PLANT LIFE lk5r!'@CA -T F@--_rA_s `@? 4 2 8 . . . . . . . . . . .......... . ........... 1 The beach face is a very difficult environment for plants, being exposed to salt wild rose and others predominate. spray, intense sun and direct wave action. Sea rocket and seaside spurge, beach 6, In many places on the Massachusetts Coast, most notably Cape Cod, nearly grass, and beach pea are adapted to the difficult environment. pure stands of pitch pine can be found on the more protected areas of the back 2. The Fore Dune, High exposure to salt spray. Beach grass, beach pea, dusty dunes. miller, and seaside goldenrod. 7. Swamp. Low interdune areas offer good protection from the ocean's in- 3. Swale or interdune depression. Some protection from salt spray. Beach fluences. Red maple, tupelo, alders, shadbush, and willows grow in this moist heather and poison ivy among others can be found here. environment. Occasionally, stands of white cedar are found in these fresh water 4, The high dune or primary aune. Expo.5ure to salt spray. Dessication can be a swamps. problem over dry periods since the water table is deeper. 8. Mature maritime forest. Well protected from salt spray, but still subject to 5. Under the protection of the high dune, the maritime forest begins to flourish, occasional exposure, are species associated with a mature maritime forest Black forming shrub thickets. Staghorn sumac, beach plum, honeysuckle, bayberry, oak, black cherry, pitch pine, quaking aspen, red cedar, sassafras, and American beach grow well here. Still further inland are swamps and bogs soil that is fertilized by minerals from salt which originated in low interclune areas or spray. Acid-dependent plants such as perhaps at scenes of wind blowout. Primary blueberries, lady slipper orchids, partridge species are red maple, black tupelo gum, alder, berries, and indian pipes are typical ground arrowwood, highbush blueberry and willows. cover under the pines. The most mature stage in the development of Dune ecosystems are very sensitive to the the sand dune community is the coastal effects of human use. The abrasive action of maritime forest. The dominant species are RPIZOME foot and vehicular traffic is especially black oak, red maple, American beech, black destructive. Repeated use of dune areas for cherry, grey birch, quaking aspen, shadbush, impromptu paths and roads causes the red cedar, and sassafras. Stands of pitch pine destruction of beach grass communities and and the exotic Japanese black pine are other /1, the subsequent reduction of dune stability. features of coastal maritime forest. Pitch pines Mining of dunes for builder's sand often are not very resistant to salt damage. Their changes their shapes and slopes, making wind branches and tips are deformed by the pruning and water erosion more severe. Increased movement of sand from one dune system to effects of salt spray. The Japanese black pine is salt-resistant, however; large numbers of another can upset the fragile balance between wind force, gravity, water, and seedlings of this species are being planted vegetation, ............ ...... along the coast. Falling pine needles acidif .1": X he mined and ....... causing loss of stability on t y a . ......... ........ 18 neighboring dunes. 1. The dunes are very sensitive to man's influence. Both vehicular and pedestrian traffic crush the sensitive roots and stems of the otherwise hardy beach grass. With the anchoring ability of the grass one, the wind blows away the loose sand, leaving a "z" 9 6@ breach in the dune face. 2. Storm driven waves are now able to penetrate deep into the dunes, levelling mounds and filling depressions with sand. 3. The storm carries its own seeds for regeneration. Along with debris, the waves carry in seeds of beach grass and plants such as beach pea, sandwort, and sea rocket which germinate and begin to stablize the shifting sands and rebuild the gap in the dunes. Simple wood plank walks in place of roads or paths substantially reduce traffic damage to the plants and enables the regeneration process to continue. 19 SAND BEACHES Sandy shores are the most physically they can be dropped and easily shattered, their stressed, and consequently least productive, meat quickly eaten. coastal ecosystems on the Massachusetts Seasonal stresses greatly influence sand shore. Similar to rocky shores, the sand beach organisms. Winter storms inflict severe beaches are fully exposed to wave and tidal damage by slashing away the sediments, energy. Unlike rocky shores, the substrate is carrying them clownshore or to offshore bars, ------------ unconsolidated and unstable. Higher plants and flattening and narrowing the beach profile. can find no anchorage, so that only unicellular As summer approaches, these deposits are algae are present to manufacture food within shifted back and the beach rebuilt. As waves the beach ecosystem. transport sediments to the shore from bars and Sand beach environments are found from the shoals, the beach profile becomes wider and steeper. (See figure) North Shore to the Cape and islands. They are most prevalent where glacial materials are These changes in amounts and movements nd of beach material cause migrations of intertidal present to contribute sands, gravels, a cobbles for beach formation. Some sand animals which seek less physically demanding material is also derived from inland erosion that environments and more reliable detrital food is delivered by rivers to the coast. Only the sources. Other major population changes in Merrimack River is important in this regard in numbers or species relate to the success of Massachusetts. The major stress factors in- annual reproduction--a high risk event in the fluencing the lives of sandy beach plants and ecosystems. Few animal organisms are difficult beach environment. animals are high wave energy and summer adapted to the strenuous sandy beach en- Beach organisms are especially sensitive to drying and heat. The surface materials of sand vironment, though their population may be disturbance by vehicular traffic. Nesting birds beaches are subject to almost continuous high where coastal currents, tides, and waves are put under stress by traffic. Nests are movement. Wave and tidal forces shift sand up, are effective in importing a detrital food base. sometimes destroyed, particularly those of down, and along the beach. From time to time Most beach animals are filter or deposit feeders terns, which prefer the more open lower beach this sand movement exposes or buries beach that must live below the surface of the sand, where traffic is heaviest. organisms. Washing by waves cleans the sand extending their siphons and tentacle plumes In some instances groins have been suc- of water-holding organic and fine mineral into the flooding tidewaters for feeding. Crabs cessful in retarding beach sand erosion in particles, allowing rapid drainage. In the upper and snails also emerge from their burrows on those areas where they have been built. But at interticlal beachwater drainage may leave the the incoming tide to search for food. Beach the same time they prevent sand from moving beach community without moisture at low tide, fleas, flies, crabs, and beetles flourish along naturally along the beach front, sand which and thus subject to high temperature stress. the high tide line where they feed on the nnrmnlhi nr%eiriQh hannhes and spits Because there is so little opportunity for detritus left by the retreating water. further down the beach. This not only disturbs food-producing plants to exist on the beach, Terns and gulls find the high beach a suitable the equilibrium of the beach system but also animal life is supported by imported cletritus nesting site with nourishment for their chicks interferes with the wishes of property owners that originates, for example, in the highly nearby. Gulls commonly carry scallop and clam who are trying to maintain their beaches 41 productive salt marsh and eelgrass shells to nearby roads and parking lots where downdrift from these structures. 20 A Section of Sandy Beach MCLE CRA3 2 CVAB- -01 A -6A r -M D RZA5 >f x C-HC-5T sHRimp DCLL AR T F- D rRom P-OSF-?-T L5C),Sr-@IIH QUAHOCI I @M t@C,0,@ -4@4 CAr.8 Hn L'@ ana"t, oyv,-@Pl P, V 116@ Nw*e SE'A Ike, bl-ic Only species adapted to the constant stress of pounding waves and shifting sands can inhabit sandy beaches. It is an ecosystem that produces very little of its own food and depends on the tides and waves to import organic matter. The animal species are generally small in size, have a low diversity, and are subject to wide fluctuations in populations. 21 "SUMMER" BEACH Most sand beaches are very susceptible to weather changes over the seasons. During periods of calm weather, usually during the summer months, the gentle wave action causes a net sand movement onto the beach'. This normally creates a high steep beach profile with a steep scarp at the water's edge and a small offshore sand bar. "WINTER" BEACH In contrast to the calm conditions of summer, winter often brings numerous storms and powerful, erosive waves. The winter beach face is characterized by a low flat profile with the scarp much further back on the beach face and a large sand bar off shore. A caution to property buyers: before buying beach front property be sure to inspect the property after stormy conditions when the beach is likely to be reduced-in size. 22 TIDAL FLAT Tidal flats, also known as clam and worm soft shell clams found in great numbers. f lats, are common along most of the Mud flats rich in organic matter are usually Massachusetts coast. They are found in found furtherup theestuary than sand flats and estuaries, quiet bays, in back of barrier where sluggish currents permit detritus to beaches, and in salt ponds. They also occur settle on the bottom. When the flats are ex- below the depth of wave disturbance along posed at low tide, the animals retreat below the more open shores in very large embayments surface to escape dessication. Burrowing also such as Buzzards Bay. These shallow, sloping is used for protection against summer heat and flats exist in a range of salinity from sea water winter cold. Mud flats, which often are nearly concentrations on the coast to less than one even in grade level with low tide, drain and dry percent salt in the upper estuarine area. The more slowly than sand flats. substrate is composed of materials ranging The species of animal life in the tidal flats from very fine silt and clay to coarse sands. In vary according to the proportions of sand and quiet waters, there is usually an accumulation mud making up the area. This is typified by the A of fine detritus mixed with mud. It is the distribution of clams on the Massachusetts combination of salinity, substrate quality, and coast. A familiar clam of the mud flat is the soft the character of water movement over the flat shell clam. When the substrate is made up of that determines the species composition of the equal parts of sand and mud, the quahog or plant and animal community. little neck is the most common species. In Major natural stress factors are those of purely sandy habitats, razor clams can be salinity and temperature change. In estuaries low tide to the upper water layer at high tide. found. especially, organisms may suffer from changes Most of the animals of the flats have adapted to The distribution of animal species is also a in salinity when fresh water flows are strong at daily environmental stress by burrowing response to salinity gradients. In areas where low tide periods. Rainfall on exposed flats also beneath the exposed surface during low tide or there are extreme fluctuations of salinity-the produces low salinity stress. In summer ex- by living there at all times. The algae of the flats North River, for example-soft shell clams posed flats experience rapid rises in tem- are important food producers but they do not burrow deeply into the mud, which offers perature and in winter the surface may freeze. provide fully for the needs of the consumer protection both from varying seasonal salinities There also may be stress from storms when animals. and from predators. The quahog clam increased currents, tides or waves may shift the The movement of tidal water as river currents dominates some small bays and salt ponds of otherwise stable sediments of the flats. Heavy carries the major supply of food, consisting of Cape Cod. Burrowing marine worms are accumulations of organic material in the mud cletritus and plankton, for these communities. adapted to the highly saline bays such as flats can result in partial to complete removal of This food source, the product of other coastal Rand's Harbor in Buzzards Bay. A particularly oxygen from the substrate. systems such as salt marshes and eelgrass attractive species, the clam worm, a blend of Large plants do not take hold on the flats bed s, is capable of sustaining a high blue-green and orange red, is a prized bait of because of the arduous nature of the sand-mud population of tidal flat animal life. fishermen. The fringed worm is only a partial environment. Instead, most of the plants are The population density of these animals is burrower, extending its brightly colored ten- microscopic algae, and fungi that can tolerate astounding. Measurements taken on interticlal tacles above the sand surface to capture food surface exposure and do not need a physically flats at Barnstable Marsh indicate that the and oxygen. The lugworm digs a U-shaped stable surface on which to grow. The algae number of benthic animals range from 7,000 to tunnel beneath the surface of the sand, using often migrate between the substrate surface at 355,000 per square meter, with the gem and one end for feeding and the other for 23 discharging wastes. Parchment, tube, and primary production of the salt marsh, eelgrass, ROCKY SHORES trumpet worms can also be seen on the flats, rocky shore and plankton communities and the along with snails, whelks, and hermit crabs. desired sport or commercial fishes. Feeding styles vary among the tidal flat Tidal flat ecosystems are subject to several animals in order to take advantage of algae and major stresses resulting from human use of the detritus that settle on the sediment surface or coastline and estuaries. Some forms of in- are suspended in overlying water. Many of the dustrial and domestic pollution may cause mud flat worms are deposit feeders, ingesting direct losses of animals and plants through detrital remains and diatoms and other single- toxic action or the reduction of oxygen through celled algae. Clams, on the other hand, are the deposition of high amounts of organic usually suspension feeders and their diet in- wastes. Accidental spills of petroleum or petro- cludes microscopic plants, cletritus, bacteria, products also destroy tidal flat organisms. fungi, an d yeasts which they extract from the Sedimentation caused by upstream erosion water. The lugworm and sea cucumber ingest a may bury sand and mud flats, cutting off the large amount of sand and mud in feeding, burrowing and tube organisms from oxygen retain nutrients and release undigested par- and food. This problem may be seen in the I> ticles. Mud flat animals are directly important extreme where materials from dredging have to the nutrition of larger fish. The winter been disposed on tidal flats. Finally, use of the flounder, for example, enters the flats on the tidal flat for vehicular traffic during low tide can incoming tide to feed on the exposed worms compact the surface and crush many of the and molluscs. In that sense, the tidal f lat subsurface animals. animals act as a critical link between the Rocky shore ecosystems are found all along the Massachusetts coast. They develop on the 0 exposed faces of rocky headlands, such as p, OU those of Cape Ann and the North Shore, or on boulders and cobbles derived from moraine materials in places along the South Shore, Cape Cod, and the Elizabeth Islands. Rocky shore communities also occur on such man- made structures as rock jetties, groins, piers, and rip-rap. Rocky shore ecosystems are typically ex- posed to great physical stress. Because the rock substrates on which the plants and animals live are usually steep, the effect of low y- tide exposure is intensified by rapid drainage. Without the ability to retreat below the surface Clamming on tidal flat Salem at low tide, the animals and plants of the higher 24 A Section of Rocky Shore CORMORANT "PUCUS" SMOOTH ROCKWEEK <A- 8qe4q42qp 2qHqI0qGqI -TIP&_ K4qN P)8qLqUqE WqRAqr-K LOW 7q18q06qrq-- N qoqc K, qC'. qR6qA0qB ',%,AV-) A KELP qr 8qM2q@ L)qr2qr_0qAqIqIqI A4qQ4qA4qF4qMTq@q) The many plants and animals associated with the rocky shore have adapted to to rock. 'The tides determine their distribut their difficult environment by developing means of firmly attaching themselves exposure to the elements that a particular sp zone of the shore endure periods of exposure to water-worn boulders and cobbles, plant and fasten them the drying action of wind, sun and summer animal organisms adapt to zones that meet structures cal heat. During rainstorms at low tide, the their respective sensitivity to tidal exposure. rocky shore organisms are subject to the stress of low (See figure the high spr ,4qZq:q@5 L7- qZ6qO salinity. During winter, ice flows may scour the Larger forms of algae play a dominant role in reveals blue-g shoreline, and at all seasons of the year the productivity of the rocky shore ecosystem. scum on roclq@ organisms of the rocky shores are buffeted by They can be seen at a variety of elevations Nestled in ro waves. within and below the intertidal zone. makes its ho Cradled within and growing on the face of complex algae have no roots or rigid stems but where barnacl diet for the dog whelk, a carnivorous marine a surface fully exposed to the stress of tides, COMPOSITE ECOSYSTEMS snail. Lower down are attached rockweed and waves, and currents. There is no opportunity to knotted wrack, a brown algae that shelters maneuver for living space above or below the mussels, smooth and common periwinkles, surface as do organisms of sand and mud flat There are three major composite ecosystems crabs, and limpets (snails with conical shells). communities. Many of the plants and animals found along the Massachusetts coast. Each of Green algae here include the common sea are long-lived and permanently anchored. these contains two or more of t-he previously lettuce. Red algae such as Irish Moss, sea Compared to other coastal systems, rocky discussed ecosystems. The composite laver, and dulse also appear. Grazing through shore animal populations exhinit less annual or systems are characterized by high diversity and this zone are crabs and sea urchins. seasonal change in numbers. include in each case a high proportion of the Large brown kelps make their home in Also, unlike other coastal ecosystems, rocky most productive communities, such as subtidal waters that receive little light. Kelp shore communities use or retain very small eelgrass beds and salt marshes. The three plants attach themselves securely to the ocean quantities of the nutrients they produce. composite communities are salt ponds, barrier floor by means of a holdfast. Sea urchins are Because there is so much tidal and wave energy beaches-is lands, and estuaries. very active predators on kelp beds, grazing released against the rocky shore, much of the heavily upon the holdfasts and the long stems, food material produced by the plants and SALT PONDS called stipes. Other grazers in the kelp com- animals is carried away as detritus and munity are snails, crabs, and shrimp. Many fish becomes part of the food chain for fish, Salt ponds are shallow, tightly-enclosed species, from larval to juvenile and adult crustaceans, and molluscs found in the open bays formed as the result of glacial action or stages, search kelp beds for food and shelter. water or on nearby tidal f lats and sand beaches. from sand spits closing off shallow bays. They Tidal pools are a biologically interesting The most significant man-induced stresses typically developed from kettle-hole ponds that rocky shore subsystem and an important stem from the problems of pollution from have narrow openings to the sea all or part of aesthetic, recreational, and educational domestic or industrial sources and the oc- the time, and are therefore exposed to the resource found along parts of Cape Ann and the casional oil spills common in most working influence of tidal exchanges of fresh water and North Shore. Here are found coastal organisms harbors. Such stresses are most often noticed salt water. that survive in depressions and catchments when the source of pollution is near the rocky Since sunlight often penetrates to the floor of which usually occur at or above high tide level. shore community. The movement of water on the ponds, they tend to constitute a Theyareexposed to littletidal action. Someare and against the rocky shores tends to carry photosynthetic zone from surface to bottom. filled only by splashing waves and rainfall. Sea away pollution loads. Only constant exposure On the basis of surface area and volume, they urchins are usually present in abundance; to high concentrations of pollution will bring are therefore among the most productive edible blue mussels are lodged in the sand, about degradation of the rocky shores systems on the coast. marine worms in their burrows, and sea ecosystem. Spills of oil are an important Good examples of salt ponds in anemones, dog whelks, and snails can be seen. problem because petroleum tends to adhere to Massachusetts are found on Nantucket, One of the most striking aspects of rocky the rocks and to the organisms themselves, Martha's Vineyard, the south shore of Cape Cod shore plants and animals is that they live on a resisting transport and dilution by waves and and along the shore of Buzzards Bay. solid substrate. This means they must exist on currents. 26 Ecosystems commonly associated with salt N'M rl@4 ponds are salt marshes, tidal flats, eelgrass Al@ beds, and to a lesser extent elements of rocky shores. This latter system often occurs where the construction of harbor and navigation works have created rock surfaces similar to natural outcrops and boulder faces. One of the most important ecologic aspects of the salt pond is its interdependence on various other productive ecosystems to permit the constant exchange of food and minerals between communities such as eelgrass and saltmarsh and colonies of crustaceans, shellfish, and worms found on tidal flats. Boom, Eelgrass is a particularly important producer in the salt pond system, where conditions Occasionally a barrier spit or barrier beach will develop across a bay or inlet promoting its growth include the penetratiQn of creating a salt pond that is isolated from the ocean. Once cut off from tidal flows sunlight, a quiet substrate on the floor of the salt ponds will gradually develop a brackish layer of water on the surface as fresh pond and a dampening of the effects of tides water accumulates in the embayment. This usually causes a drastic change in the and waves. environment of plants and animals accustomed to ocean level salinities. In some instances, sandbars created by the movement of adjacent dune or beach sands may close the salt ponds' shallow openings to the sea. When this occurs, there may be a natural stress on the salt pond system because of the influx of fresh water and the absence of tidal salt water exchange. Where the openings I are closed for several months, the influx of fresh water may be sufficient to change the basic chemical environment to the point that all the shallows of the salt pond are transformed into a freshwater environment. While this phenomenon can and does cause mortality among the animal organisms of the shallows, such as oysters, clams, mussels, and marine worms, it usually does not last long enough to completely or irreversibly change the character of major plant communities. Some of the important species of fish that Storm driven waves may breach the barrier, opening up the salt pond to tidal occupy salt ponds are menhaden, scup, influences. Often the barrier is cleared by dredging when local residents wish tomcod, winter flounder, white perch and boat access to the ocean or to reintroduce marine animals such as shellfish. tautog. 27 The ponds are also important as habitat for BARRIER BEACHES-ISLANDS lagoon or salt pond separating the beach from many kinds of water fowl, particularly black the mainland. Ecosystem components that ducks, greater scaup, golden eye, Canada typically may be found are salt marsh, tidal goose and mute swan. All the gulls and terns flats, and sand dunes. On larger more common to the Massachusetts coast also developed barrier beaches stands of maritime forest can be found. inhabit the salt pond community. Since they provide suitable growing conditions for Major examples of barrier islands-beaches in eelgrass, salt ponds are a particularly important Massachusetts include Plum lsland,.Duxbury habitat for the bay scallop, now harvested on a Beach, Cranes Beach, Sandy Neck, Nauset Nk - commercial scale in salt pond areas. Beach, Monomoy Island, Coatue Beach, en- In many instances, stresses on salt ponds 4@_ closing the Nantucket Harbor salt pond, the are the result of human activity in adjacent south beach on Martha's Vineyard, and Horse areas. Almost all salt ponds in Massachusetts Neck Beach. are near coastal communities and are used for Barrier beach systems, like sandy shores and dunes of the mainland are subjected to the recreational or commercial water traffic. The -induced stress is the repetitiv principal man e I4,kv 11 erosional stresses of storm waves and winds. dredging of navigation channels and basins, Because they are composed of materials that are easily eroded and transported by wave and necessary because the salt ponds are usually shallow and rapidly reshoal following dredging littoral drift, their beach area and contours operations. Agricultural, domestic, and harbor N often change dramatically during and following wastes are especially damaging to the salt stormy periods. ponds because their circulation and low tidal Washover is a very important event for the exchange prevent nutrients and other Barrier beaches are built from sand and barrier island system. This occurs when heavy pollutants from being flushed out of the salt gravel transported by waves from a sediment storms drive the sea across the island from pond system. There is a tendency for pollutants source. They typically begin as sand spits that foreshore to the marsh or lagoon. It is by this to build up in salt ponds to levels that adversely grow out from and parallel to the shore. Barrier means that sand is carried up on and over the affect all forms of filter feeders and deposit beaches become islands when their connection barrier above the high tide level. Washovers feeders, rendering them unfit for human to the shore has been breached by storm also carry sand from the barrier beach to the consumption or jeopardizing their survival. waves. Barrier islands and beaches are usually lagoon to create shoals and deltas. Where such Such pollution is more apt to affect animal than long and narrow and may have low elevations washover deposits are placed on old salt marsh, plant life, which results in the failure of in- barely above high tide level or may contain high dunes may form on them. Where deposits termediate and low-level consumer groups dunes. OCCuil in the lagoon nev., -salt marsh Mn%i fnrm 7 1-1111* such as clams, worms, and small fishes to Seen in cross section from the open sea to While there is some loss of communities that transfer the products of eelgrass beds and salt land, barrier beaches are composed of four are buried by the washover deposits, new marshes to the populations of larger fish. major elements: a sand beach made up of an communities arise to replace them and overall intertidal shoreface zone, a foreshore beach this process results in the slow migration of the and a steep berm; dunes; a shallow sloping barrier beach system toward the mainland. zone usually containing salt marsh; and a 28 0 4q4g2q:pqfe0qd 2qJqi:q:qin q( CROSS SECTION of a BARRIER BEACH '6qa4qaq, qtqr0qaqr0qiqcqr 1q4 0qerqtqlqe6qN 2qGqaqsql8qe qeqy6qz72qG16qe 4qAl qt :q3q7 2qQ & cqo q1 4qD ITO 22-15 4q2qT4qO 8qF6q7'qF- 8qV 8qPqi6qT2qc48qpql 8qGLD 6qU2q0 :q1 0q0 -Ar Plum Island is an example of a well developed barrier beach system that has such one moves from the exposed beach to the m features as salt marshes, sandy beaches, dunes and maritime vegetation. Some shown that about 6,000 years ago the gradu rocky shores created by the erosion of a glacial drumlin are found at the south deposits off shore forming the barrier beach end of the island. rise, the barrier beach system has been The transect taken across the island demonstrates the changes in vegetation as process of overwash and dune migration. Major human stress factors on barrier human use. Plum Island and Monomoy Island and protected. Public control of these and beaches are much the same as those affecting are National Wildlife Refuges. The National others has provided for reductions in such beach and dune environments. Many of the Park Service owns Coast Guard Beach and destructive uses as indiscriminate vehicle State's important barrier beaches and islands Jeremy Point. Horse Neck Beach is owned by travel, disturbance of bird nesting areas and have been publically acquired and now receive the State, and several important beaches such excessive concentrations of recreation ac- protection from most destructive forms of as Sandy Neck, and Nauset are Town owned tivities. S. t TO C 4- 7@ X C-, -e- C" ....... CW -4 A .............. . ........ IY/ ............ -'FA K--@ A X `ii. INK w ek '-,,W Cf ............... X. ........ ... ............ .................. XX . ...... .... .... XX ... .... ... X.:: .............. ........ ................ ..... ....... ... ..... . . ... ... ... . X. ............ . ... . .... ............... ..... .. ...... The estuary marks the convergence of fresh water from streams and rivers with estuaries, a number of other coastal ecosystems are likely to be found along with the ocean's salt water. The environment of an estuary is likely to change man-made influences of harbors and ports, which further adds to the complexity dramatically with the seasons and even daily with the tides. Often in the larger of the environment. ESTUARIES Estuaries are f.ound all along the Another type of estuary occurs where tidal Estuaries are, among all the ecological Massachusetts coast where fresh water flows currents are strong and force a turbulence at components of the coast, the most significant meet and mix with salt water. River mouths are the interface of salt and fresh water to produce in amount and variety of biological production. usually the place where estuaries form, though a partial mixing of waters. Where estuaries are They may contain many of the ecosystems in some cases such as Nantucket Harbor, broad and shallow, this process occurs more discussed previously in this publication. They embayments with no strongly defined fresh- readily and is often accompanied by a circular are vital environments for most of the state's water source may produce estuarine-like motion of flow, induced by the effect of the important biological resources. Because they conditions. earth's rotation on the moving water and known provide physical conditions that allow effective Three types of river estuaries exist, each Of as the coriolis effect. This effect tends to cause development of na -vigation fi;'rilitips.' pstimrips which is identified by the manner in which fresh water moving downstream to concentrate have been centers of much of the coastal social fresh water flowing downriver mixes with on the right-hand side of the estuarine channel and economic growth. More than anywhere else tide-driven salt water. A classic estuarine and salt water on the left. Since estuarine on the coast, complex systems of natural life system is that known as the "salt water plants and animals are adapted to varying levels and human use have been created. These man- wedge", where strong river flows push lighter of salinity, their distribution through the river is nature systems have rarely been compatible fresh water over the top of the heavier salt water influenced by the pattern of mixing and such and as use rates expand and estuarine to create a relatively sharp interface between features as the coriolis effect. ecosystems are degraded, the costs in lost the two kinds of water and opposing wedges of productivity have grown for both. salt and fresh water. 30 , A third type of estuary, where tidal mixing completely overcomes the seaward flow of fresh water and the waters of the entire estuary become totally mixed, is not usually found along the Massachusetts coast. The most common system through New England and typical of the Massachusetts North Shore, where both the tidal influence and s award movement of fresh water are strong, is e the partially mixed estuary. In addition to the mixing of fresh and saline water, estuaries are also subject to a physical phenomenon where the push of water coming upstream is felt some --a .0p: ........... distance from the mouth of the river. This push is known as tidal bore. One of the most significant characteristics of estuaries is their capacity to concentrate a variety of both marine and fresh water - --- -------- ---- - -- ------- - -productivity and resultant detritus. This occurs because a rough balance of forces between . . . . . . river flow and tides tends to slow the passage . .................. of materials and prevent total flushing through Salinity variations in an estuary. The concentration the estuary. In dry weather, the seawater will intrude the river mouth and out to sea. A buildup of of salt varies considerably seasonally and even daily far up the estuary. The earth's rotation from west to detritus is inevitable, as large amounts of with the tidal ebb and flow. During rainy weather, east causes a phenomena known as the Coriolis suspended materials in the water are made up fresh water runoff will push the salty seawater down Force, which slides the lighter fresh water to the right of living and dead organic particles and side of the estuary over the denser salt water. minerals. Along the shallows and shores of the river, FRE:5H E:5T'UA E: 013r-@4 CCEAtJ materials carried downstream and held in the estuarine zone begin to settle out, often creating large shoals that provide a base for the Ab formation of salt marshes and tidal flat com munities. The presence of large amounts of detritus and mineral nutrients provides a rich basis for the productivity of molluscs, crustaceans, worms, and small fish, and in this way an especially attractive food source for many commercial and sport fish. Estuaries are critical environments for most commercial and many other freshwater and saltwater species of fish and shellfish. Some Plants and animals are adapted to specific salinity fresh water and are required to spend stages of their permanently occupy the estuary and others use ranges in the estuary. Certain fish [herring, shad, life cycle in different parts of the estuary. The less it as habitat for part of their life cycles. Among striped bass and others] known as anadramous fish dense fresh water tends to flow over the heavier salt the resident fish are forage species that are are able to withstand the transition from sea water to water forming a salt water wedge along the estuary important in transferring food energy produced bottom. by the salt marshes, eelgrass beds, rocky 31 shores and plankton to larger commercial and shallow configuration of the estuary bottom providing flood protection, also trap desirable sport species. Some important resident forage through channel and harbor dredging. Dredging detrital materials and prevent them from fish are Atlantic silversides, sticklebacks, creates deep zones which support little moving downstream into the estuarine zone. At pipefish, cunners, mummichogs, and killfish. biological productivity. Over the years, the the same time, they influence the strength of Largerfish which enter the estuary to feed upon shallows of many estuarine river channels have river currents in the estuary, which alters the the forage fish include the bluefish, striped also been used for the deposition of dredged relationship between such factors as upstream bass, sea robin, Atlantic cod, Atlantic materials with a consequent burying of im- saltwater penetration and the effects of the mackerel, pollock, and Atlantic herring. portant tidal flats and salt marsh systems. In tidal bore. Most important are a number of fish species addition, dredging activities have released Construction of navigation structures and that require the estuary as a spawning or pollutants which were formerly trapped in bridges in estuarine zones can change the nursery habitat, including about two-thirds of bottom shoals and sediments and resuspended circulation pattern of fresh and salt water, the important commercial species, such as the the sediment and polluting materials into the interfering with the process of mixing, and in menhaden, tautog, tomcod, scup, and winter water. some cases reducing the effective estuarine flounder. In addition, other important species Estuaries are influenced by certain kinds of area available to species which are normal, pass through the estuary in the process of engineering works upstream. Dams, while temporary or permanent residents. moving upstream toward fresh-water spawning areas. These are the American shad, striped bass, alewife, blueblack herring, rainbow smelt, Atlantic sturgeon and the endangered short-nosed sturgeon. The young of these species depend upon the estuary as a source of food and a nursery as they drift downstream from the areas where they were spawned to where they will mature. (See figure) Estuarine tidal flats are particularly productive shellfish habitats. Estuaries are also one of the few \SPAT coastal ecosystems that produce the salinity T, required by oysters. Estuaries are particularly subject to a variety of man-induced stresses because they are the recipients of all manner of materials con- +e% atr am stie flow throunhout their "J watershed. All types of pollutants are delivered to the estuary, where concentrations increase as the river becomes more sluggish and tidal action retards the flushing of materials out to sea. The oyster once found in great abundance along the Massachusetts coast is now Activities designed to make these areas more harvested in only a few remote areas. The oyster needs brackish water and a firm suitable for water transport alter the normal bottom of rocks or shells on which the soft bellied young must fasten to nurture and mature, 32 14 High marsh tide pool or panne. Salisbury ANA&; 4 ;, j-W Upper edge of salt marsh Ro i @4' lk w1ey 4 A @V- 4-1 A A. 12 Trees twisted by salt spray White Cedar Swamp Sea gulls on tide flat Sandy Neck Cape Cod National Sea Shore PLUM ISLAND-CAPE ANN-NORTH SHORE There is great variety in coastal resources along Massachusetts' North Shore. The large salt marshes on the estuaries of the Merrimack and Parker Rivers are centers of coastal productivity, supporting important fisheries and waterfowl populations. The glacial boulder- strewn rocky outcrops of Cape Ann are a base for some of the State's most extensive rocky shores ecosystems. Visitors come by the thousands each year to enjoy the historic communities at -3-, Newburyport, Rockport, Gloucester, Salem, and Beverly. Fishing, swimming, nature study and sightseeing are opportunities available in many large and smal I bays and beaches. Barrier beaches at Plum Island and Cranes Beach are 44, important recreational resources. The National Wildlife Refuge at Plum Island and the Parker Dockside Marblehead River marshes offers continuing protections tor all forms of plant and animal life, particularly waterfowl. oftl The concentration of resources of the North Shore has attracted many users. Over the years, the combination of users and growing demand for all forms of coastal resources has resulted in the loss or degradation of many resources and their supporting ecosystems. Many of the once important North Shore shellfish beds have been closed to harvest because of domestic and industrial pollution. Expansion of demand for marinas has overcrowded many harbors and will require future expansion of facilities. Pressure on urban beaches to the south has shifted much urban recreation demand to the North Shore areas. Many of these beaches, such as those at Cape Ann, Salem, Beverly, and Marblehead are not capable of serving ad- ditional users because of their small size and limited access. Rocky shore Beverly Fishing wharf Gloucester 34 PLUM ISLAND-CAPE ANN-NORTH SHORE BOSTON HARBOR AND SOUTH SHORE The following five maps of the Massachusetts coast are intended as One of the largest ports on the Atlantic simplified inventories of the major coastal ecosystems and some selected coast, islands of ecological, historic, and land uses, and are not to be used for management purposes. The "Cultural recreational interest, beaches, amusement Classification" of land uses is defined as follows; parks, marinas, public institutions, factories, an international airport, power plants, and UTILITIES: Major power plants, sewage treatment plants. waste disposal facilities are all combined in WATER RELATED STRUCTURES: Major jetties, groin systems, sea- this large bay that once produced a major Boston skyline from harbor islands walls and causeways. fishery. Today from Lynn on the north to INSTITUTIONAL: Coast Guard and military installations, research Quincy on the south the Metrpolitan Area of Boston exerts growing urban pressures on the ATM stations. remaining coastal ecosystems and resources. COMMERCIAL/TRANSPORTATIONAL: Large port facilities that serve The large public beaches at Nahant, Revere, industry, warehousing and storage or public boat transportation. and Nantasket are overcrowded. Pollution has MARINAS: The larger complexes that serve recreational boating. prevented the use of mollusk species that are FISHING PORTS: A port that has a significant amount of dock space often present in abundance. Much of the devoted to commercial fishing. petroleum used in Massachusetts is delivered to terminals in Chelsea Creek, the Mystic River I A more detailed explanation of these land uses Is explained in Part Ill. and Quincy. Future expansion of imports may .0r require construction of additional deep water channels and storage areas, all posing in- creased risk of accidental spills and further destruction of estuarine ecosystems. The Boston Harbor Islands are an important recreation resource with much potential for- meeting future needs. Efforts by state agencies to improve access and facilities to some of the islands are being planned. The small outer islands are already recognized as valuable to coastal wildlife and are under protection to Rocky tidal pond Cohasset preserve them for wildlife habitat. Few coastal ecosystems near the Boston Metropolitan Area remain in their natural state; the less disturbed Neponset and North Rivers estuaries and salt marshes are the rare ex- ceptions. J Nantasket Beach l4ull 35 36 3k A7- SALIS& Y L .. . . . . . . . . . . . 14EWWAY .. ........... PORT . . . . . . ............ . . . . . . . NEWBUR 41- ..I/- N14- A6 x AV- zk@ %P ROA-Ef At Se 'All-- . . Ip5wICWL-,& -&c. ZU -t- Af, JL -X .@k . 3L ROcKPoaT T-ie -@L Nt %,r su :w 7 GLOU ESTSIZ sk- f5SXX 1AANCHESTeR SEVERLY SALEM MA-5,5AC:;4CJ5E7TT,5 MAR" READ "W SAY 3 p S OTT 0 1.2 2.4 4.8 ARROWS INIDICATE NPrT LITTORALMFr one inch 2.4 miles 0 0 z z 0 0 C E -c U) 0 u 0 C: 2 LL 0 -C 0 3. Q) U- C: 00 Q) a) 0 M U) a_ C 0 U) 1= " .- (n w Z W E L- UJ E c c E -C 0 M 0 LU M 0 jz M Cc U) Cr Cn U) 02 D U+') u U- cc S 2STeR 0 0 IV u uj BOSTON HARBOR SOUTH SHORE CAPE COD BAY The coast from Marshfield south, around the inshore of the Cape to Provincetown and down the outer cape to Chatham is an extensive k I coastal area still rich in natural and productive ecosystems. Major barrier beaches at Duxbury, Barnstable, Wellfleet, Eastham, and Orleans protect valuable tidal flats, marshes and salt ponds. Glacial material is abundant and has given rise to many beaches and their resultant dune systems. Maritime forest covers large portions of the coastal landscape. Commercial and sport fishing remain active and the tidal flats offer clams. Fishing ports are at Plymouth Fishing boat in dry dock Provincetown Harbor and Provincetown. The last two decades have brought in- creasing pressure on this valuable coastline. Major improvements in highway access coupled with the rapid expansion of recreation demands have generated growth of permanent and vacation populations. Resorts, marinas, A ;1@ shorefront homes and all their required services have grown and proliferated. Construction of coastal works to facilitate the activities of the growing population has occurred in once undisturbed estuaries, tidal creeks, bays and ponds. The natural dynamics of shore erosion V and deposition have been impeded and sometimes accelerated as property owners increasingly seek to avoid the loss of beach- front property from normal erosion. Ground- Boardwalks Nauset Beach Lobster wharf White Horse Beach water withdrawal to meet new needs may reduce the water flow in the Cape's streams, adversely affecting the freshwater and saltwater patterns in estuaries and salt ponds and threatening their productivity. Reaction to new and enlarging demands for land and resource use has produced some positive actions to preserve areas of scenic beauty and historic or natural value, Nature preserves have been established and historic districts declared. A major action by the federal government has created the Cape Cod National Seashore in Wellfleet, Truro, Provincetown and 37 Orleans. Dunes Wellflect 38 QIJI r ZYA/14 6W4"pdwrr AL Nf- EVERErT RAVE me ---------- cjif-:Lsr-A A-l ................ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WIMMROP .. . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . 003TOM nA55ACHUSETTS SAY -WQ VY4- M . flc W14cy SPA04TREM Ikj- W-ayi4ourm NINGNAM co"Aswr v 6 CITUATF- MOSMELL MANOV&A .Ilk It A( NY Z:L MARSOPIELD 0 1.2 2.4 4.8 one inch = 2.4 miles v ARROW5 It4DICATE t4ET UTTORAL DRIFT 4-; 0 L- 0 z CL z U) 0 C E (D L- -C u -C 0 0 0 C 0 U- M 0 -C M 0 .@:: a) U- a. M U) a. > M Fn 0 2 .2 Z (n Cn Cr Q) W E CD L- LU E c c (D u (D +@ r- C 0 0 LLJ M 0 U) U) u LZ U) Cr M Lu < -'7M r-,CM r,r 6w 0 u u LU SOUTH SHORE OF CAPE AND THE ISLANDS CAPE COD BAY The south shore oLf Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard is a region of glacial outwash rivers and salt ponds. Erosion of sands along the open coasts is often rapid but the resistant boulders offer a substrate for rocky shores biota. Glacial sands are plentiful and in protected areas behind the larger barrier 4- jw- islands such as Monomoy, beaches and tidal flats have developed. Nantucket, the site of the 7 early American whaling industry highlights the . . . ...... many historical resources of the region. One of the world's most renowned marine science complexes is at Woodshole in Falmouth. Fishing is an important activity in the sound with striped bass and bluefish being sought after by sport fishermen in boats and in the surf off Monomoy, Nantucket and the "Vineyard." *S Nantucket shoals to the east of the island are a i-E -Y CIP@; valuable spawning area for many fish of commercial and recreational importance. On 7 Muskeget Island, the rare and threatened beach meadow vole has its only home. Growth pressure like that along the inner shore of the Cape is disturbing the coastal 41# 1@' ev resource bordering Nantucket Sound. Rapid conversions of land and shoreline to vacation, residential, and resort uses has diminished the Beach stabilization project Martha's Vineyard Courtesy Cim""' Office extent and productivity of coastal ecosystems. Dredging, filling, and construction in the south shore salt pond harbors has intensified use and pollution in these low tidal circulation en- vironments. The marshes and tidal flats are the ultimate recipients of the effects of human use here as elsewhere on the Massachusetts coast. The impacts from human use are likely to continue to grow. Upgrading the Route 25 connector from the metropolitan area or in- stituting rail passenger service to the Cape may accelerate development pressure causing further stress on ecosystems and recreational resources. Actions to forestall environmental losses have been encouraged by towns and regional groups. New planning efforts are being tried in Martha's Vineyard and Monomoy Island has 9 been declared a National Wildlife Refuge. Giant sea turtle carried ashore by hurricane Terns nesting on beach Dennis 3 40 Nantucket Island ..MAJZ@ FIV-0 LEGEND ECOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION @e x, Sandy Beach oux6u Y Rocky Shore N r*- q Salt Marsh ro, AING 6 IN Tidal Flats FVMOUTH eA)- Salt Ponds .7 Dune Environments or Maritime Forest Barrier Beach Estuary PL YMOUTH ... COD DA CULTURAL CLASSIFICATION rl Utilities Water Related Structures Institutional J Commercial Transport. 0 2 4 8 150(JRNLr Marinas one inch = 4 miles 3ANDWICH-... 4z se Fishing Ports ARP-OWS INDICATE PlIFT LITT-ORAL 0R)F-T 1D SOUTH SHORE of CAPE COD and THE ISLANDS BUZZARDS BAY AND FALL RIVER Protected by the enclosing Elizabeth Islands and strung with rocky shores and headlands, 77 Buzzards Bay is a special coastal region in the Commonwealth. Its eclosed nature modifies the effects of storms and tides and creates an almost estuarine or salt pond condition. Its protected waters historically have been at- tractive for harbors. New Bedford services Elizabeth Islands Courtesy Allen Look much of the fishing industry. Fall River is an important transfer point for petroleum products. Like the southshore of the Cape, glacial out-wash valleys and kettleholes have WIT" created the estuaries and salt ponds of the region. These are attractive locations for marinas and, in the eastern part of the Bay, support most of the important tidal flat ecosystems. The relatively inaccessible IL Elizabeth Islands are a particularly important coastal area. There human uses have remained low compared to the rest of the Massachusetts coast. Many parts of these islands exhibit almost undisturbed and pristine-like natural beach, dune and forest systems. Because of the prevalence of heavier glacial materials, sand beaches are found mostly in Fishing trawlers New Bedford Tuna tails Westport Courtesy CZM Office small pockets; though there are extensive barrier beach systems in Westport where Horse Neck Beach State Park is located. Although New Bedford and Fall River are Jil major metropolitan centers, therefore creating s e environmental stress, much of the om Buzzards Bay region is comparatively un- K I developed. Remaining open areas along this coast offer opportunities for enhancing through tourism and economic growth --moll recreation as well as conservation. Z k -1-ALww-A@ -lot 10 t A*4 E. Horseneck Beach Westport Courtesy CZM Office 41 42 .: wV. 0 LEGEND N: FALHO ECOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION MA 314 DE Sandy Beach Rocky Shore Sa It Marsh 3:4 Tidal Flats Salt Ponds Dune Environments or Maritime Forest Barrier Beach rs 71 OAK SLU Estuary WE6T T16BURY CULTURAL CLASSIFICATION MAMAVVINEYARV 0-PpAquiewick ED&AJT6WA Utilities CHiLMAK: Water Related ........ Structures WAY Institutional Commercial /Transport. Marinas Fishing Ports 0 2 4 8 one inch = 4 miles ARjzow5 it4r)irATr- @4t-T LITI-ORAL MIFT BUZZARDS BAY and FALL RIVER III. COASTAL RESOURCES AND THEIR CULTURAL USES The shorline comprises both biological resources and physical features. Man harvests biological resources by such means as trawling, line fishing, agriculture, shellfish 7 digging, and hunting. Man utilizes coastal jill, physical resources either in their natural state or by enhancing them to serve shipping, commercial, residential, and recreational needs. This second first discusses physical resources of the Massachusetts coast and the way man's manipulation of those resources can alter ecological process. The second part discusses important living resources and describes some of their major ecological 7 requirements and sensitivity to human ac tivities. The Physical Resources Man made structures built to stablize the shoreline often modify the environment in various ways. The pounding waves of the exposed side of the jetty above, Protected and relatively quiet bays and river simulate the stressful environment of the rocky shore, while the protected side mouths have, throughout the history of human may allow the estblishment of plants and animals associated with low energy use of the coast, been especially valued. Such ecosystems Jeelgrass, tidal flats, salt marshes]. places provide safe harbor for boats and ships, and a stable base for the construction of the Efforts to increase the extent of sheltered along the Massachusetts coast there are engineered works and buildings that serve coastline have also included the expansion of frequent examples of efforts to retard the water transportation and commerce. In taking building sites suitable for water transportation process of erosion. Groins and rip-rap are advantage of the naturally occurring protected structures, housing and recreation. The filling devices often built for this purpose. Our efforts areas, man has learned to manipulate available of intertidal flats and salt marshes has been a to eliminate erosion in one place have often resources to increase the total area of protected common occurence not only in Massachusetts accelerated it in others. Structural changes at shoreline. Through the building of coastal but along the entire Atlantic coast. Very often, the mouths, or in natural channels, of estuaries works such as protective breakwaters, jetties, material for filling came from dredging have altered the pattern of river f lows and ocean, bulkheads, and navigation channels, centers operations necessary to create or maintain currents, to encourage the accumulation of for coastal and ocean transportation have shipping and boating channels. In other in- pollutants in these areas. grown in number and extent. These facilities stances, fill material was pumped to the shore Access to the shoreline is itself a problemi' imitate geologic forms, especially that of the from the ocean bottom. The geologic form of the coast deters people' rocky shore ecosystem, and in many ways Erosion of many parts of the coastline, a from making easy use of many resourcm successfully alter the way basic energy and normal occurrence, continuously threatens the Steep rocky cliffs, shifting dunes, the man) I forces of nature are expended along the coast. places where people live, work and recreate. All outfalls of large and small rivers, and the dall) 43 44 LEGEND N WF-SrPORT roo"O", DARTMOUTH ECOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION AC US)INCT NEW Sandy Beach Rocky Shore M, FALRNAVAN L AL Salt MATTA Marsh 72-g - -4c Tidal Flats Salt Ponds ......I Dune Environments or Maritime Forest Barrier Beach Estuary 8 Z Z R A Y CULTURAL CLASSIFICATION Utilities Pannikesee Water Related Structures Cuftyhunk' is:... Institutional we 15LAND6 Commercial /Transport. ...... 606NOLD: N* Marinas 0 1.2 2.4 4.8 Fishing Ports one inch = 2.4 miles ARROWS INOICATF- K@-T UTTC) 0 FT inundations of tidal flats all act as barriers to JETTIES PILINGS the shore or to travel along it. Construction of roads, causeways, and bridges has been the principal means for overcoming the difficulties of access. The increase in private ownership of the shore has reduced public access to coastal resources. Private development has also brought about many small but significant physical changes in the coastline, the effects of which are similar to those of the major 4"Tfi commercial and public works in our large ports and harbors. These physical alterations of the coast have rendered the search for particular resources more successful. In many instances also, the value of coastal resources accrues to more people than those who live by the sea. The large ports of Boston, Gloucester, and New Bedford have a social and economic impact Jetties are linear barriers built of large rock or Pilings are made from treated wood poles, both on Massachusetts and the nation. Lesser concrete. They are positioned to reduce the concrete or steel. Piles are driven or placed in examples such as Newburyport, Rockport, effects of storm wave surge or the force of holes in the substrate. Plymouth, Provincetown, and Nantucket serve strong currents. Jetties may be built parallel to as local, state, and regional centers for offshore bays and river mouths to protect boat They are used to provide support for buildings, commercial fishing and recreation. Major port harbors or perpendicular to the shore to protect pier platforms, docks, or general protection for facilities have played an historical role in navigation channels of harbors and marinas. shoreline structures. Pilings are effective in diversifying the culture and economy of the extending usable space above high tide for state. Impacts coastal works. Today, however, people are becoming more sharply aware that the historical and continuing Exposed face of jetties mimic rocky shore Impacts uses of the coast have been levying a toll on its environments and induce the development of natural resources. As each change has taken rocky shore ecosystems. 9 Pilings change the substrate available to place, we have lost or diminished the 9 Behind the jetty, lagoon, or quiet bays, coastal organisms and create quasi-rocky productive capacity of important coastal ecosystems may develop encouraging eelgrass shore ecosystems. ecosystems. beds or subtidal worm and clam communities e Encroachment of structures over sand beach to form. or tidal flat communities. * May alter the pattern of river and tidal flows Some jetties act like groins to trap sand in one location and intensify erosion effects elsewhere. 45 GROINS OUTFALLS COMMERCIAL FISHING PORTS J, @"Ir 77C Z_ It Groins are linear structures built perpendicular Power plants are built on the coast to take Larger port facilities serving commercial to the shore. Their purpose is to interrupt the advantage of plentiful water for cooling pur- fishing and ocean-going vessels occur in major normal pattern of littoral drift and wave poses. embayments and estuaries along the coast. In refraction to prevent local shoreline erosion or most instances, port facilities require major encourage sand deposition. They are built of Impacts alterations in the sea and river bottom for the large rocks or concrete and their length and development of deep water channels and height vary with the strength of littoral flow, The principal environmental effect from power harbor and turning basins. Port facilities tide levels and storm strength. plants is the discharge of heated water into the commonly include piers, docks, dry docks, immediate area of the coast. Warm water raises warehouses, storage tanks, fuel depots and Impacts average temperatures in the local marine en- processing or manufacturing industries. They viroment. This may discourage these are served by major access roads, railroads and By lessening erosion and trapping sands and organisms that have particular temperature trans-shipment staging areas. slits at one place along the shore, groins ranges for carrying out their life cycle (eelgrass prevent the transport of shore building for instance) or in summer months causing Impacts materials to downdrift shore areas. Therefore reductions in the concentration of oxygen in they tend to intensify the effects of erosion in the affected waters. In some cases, the higher Because of their size and complex services, those areas. environmental temperatures may favor the commercial ports use extensive shoreline growth of some organisms (such as oysters) by acerage, much of which is built on fills extending their growing season in early spring covering coastal systems such as salt marsh or fall months. Often fish normally associated and tidal flats. Since all forms of coastal with warmer waters will establish themselves in construction are associated with commercial the area of the thermal discharge, a precarious ports, impacts are typically the same as those situation during the colder months if the power noted for most of the structures or uses plant shuts down. mentioned previously in this part of the publication. 46 MARINAS BEACH COMMUNITIES DREDGING/FILLING V11 14" Aj Marinas serve recreational boating. They in- Beach communities usually have roads, Dredging is used to create and maintain deep clude mooring space, docks, piers, and small recreation buildings, hotels and vacation channels and basins for navigation in bays and craft maintenance facilities, Marinas are houses constructed near or on the upper beach estuaries. Dredging is also used to obtain located all along the coast in bays, estuaries or primary dunes. sands and gravels from the floor of the sea or and the mouths of tidal creeks. Like larger deep from riverbeds for construction purposes. water commercial harbors, channels and Impacts basins may be dredged to assure adequate Impacts depth for safe navigation. Concentrations of human activities and buildings in beach and dune environments Dredging causes the following changes in Impacts often cause the following impacts. coastal environments. 9 Replacement of shoreline ecosystems e Destruction of bottom habitats and Because of the location for marinas they often by buildings, roads, and parking areas. organisms from removal of sediment. cause the degradation of eelgrass beds and salt e Increase of dune erosion through the *Increase in suspended sediments in marshes. In addition, they may cause effects destruction of beachgrass. dredging area. such as: Disturbance of nesting birds. e Reintroduction of organic and inorganic pollutants from bottom sediments into water. Petroleum pollution from boat engine e Disposal of dredged materials may bury discharges. aquatic or terrestrial ecosystems. e Maintenance, dredging disturbances . Shoreline fills, bulkheading, piling and buildings may replace natural systems. 47 The Biological Resources Many kinds of animals and plants of the Haddock coast have been historically important to human survival and pleasure. These living are dependent to some degree on coastal resources are the products of the ecosystems. ecosystems for their food, reductions in the They have been defined as resources by cultural productivity of those systems may reduce the habit and custom as have the ways in which survival of young fish. Also, pollution of near they are used and appreciated. shore waters can reduce the success of the Commercial harvest of molluscs, larvae that spend several critical months in crustaceans, and fish occurs today in much the shallow coastal areas. same way it occurred in the past. The value of the "catch" is significant to the state's Winter Flounder economy and food supply. Recreation uses of these same resources increase yearly as more gain leisure time and the affluence to enjoy the coastal environment of Massachusetts. While there is a higher and more widespread Cod value placed on coastal areas, there is, simultaneously, a serious threat to the future of These fish are two of the most important the coast's living resources. Direct actions commercial species found along the such as the over-harvest of desired species and the replacement of habitat by coastal con- Massachusetts coast. They are not the products of the near shore ecosystems but are struction pose an obvious and serious threat to influenced, especially during their immature the resources. Indirect and less apparent stage, by the amount and kind of small impacts on the biological resources raise equa crustacean productivity generated by coastal if not more significant levels of potentia resource degradation. Pollution in ecosystems systems. Cod are spawned at roughly the 20 fathom such as salt marshes, eelgrass beds, and tidal contour off the North Shore above Cape Ann, flats may reduce or eliminate bacteria, fungi, the South Shore, and in the area of the Nan- filter and deposit feeders and other detritus tucket Shoals. During their first year many are Summer Flounder feeders, breaking the link between the primary found in the near shore areas in very shallow The winter and summer flounders are among food-producing plants and the important fish water. Adult cod eat mollusks, larger the most sought after commercial and sport resources. Thermal discharges from power crustaceans, urchins, sea cucumbers and species of coastal waters. The winter flounder facilities can alter the species combination of worms. (or lemon sole) is found on all coasts of the fish and mollusc populations in eastuaries and Haddock are close relatives of the cod. They state but the larger summer flounder (plaicefish near shore habitats. Sedimentation of are generally reliant on the Georges Bank for or fluke) rarely is found north of the outer coast productive waters can increase turbidity and spawning, but do not move as close to shore as of Cape Cod. thereby reduce the amount of sunlight cod during their immature or mature stages. Winter flounder are true productsof the coast penetrating to aquatic vegetation and lower the Like the cod they are voracious predators and entering bays and estuaries to spawn: eelgrass level of primary food production on which the tend to move constantly in search of food. They beds are important nursery grounds for them. mollusc, crustacean, and fish resources have a wide range of prey including all the types Summer flounder, especially in the northern depend. eaten by cod and, in addition, some fish. part of their range, spawn well offshore. The following pages illustrate some of the Principal impacts on cod and haddock in- During their adult life both species spend more important living resources of the clude overfishing and disturbance of spawning many months of the year in shallow waters, Massachusetts coast. grounds by repeated trawler runs. Since they where they feed on smal I fish, crustaceans, and 48 worMs. The winter flounder, not being so striped bass with the beaches and bays north of Smelt are hardly ever found more than one mile vigorous, includes less fish then the summer Cape Ann to the Merrimack Estuary another out. Both species are dependent on coastal flounder in its diet. major area. they are also found in Plymouth environments for their entire life cycle. The winter and summer flounders are Bay and Buzzards Bay. The bass is a near shore Tautog, a fish mostly important for sport, especially dependent on the environmental fish dependent on Coastal ecosystems range from the North Shore to Cape Cod and condition and productivity of near shore throughout its life. Buzzards Bay. They are most abundant along waters. Pollution, dredging, increased White Perch are small relatives of striped the southern shores of Massachusetts. The sedimentation, thermal discharge, and bass. they are decidedly inshore fish found waters off steep, rocky shores are the tautog's displacement of coastal ecosystems, par- often in upper estuaries, salt ponds and preferred habitat, though they also frequent ticularly subticlal flats and eelgrass beds, by brackish bays. Perch are located around Cape areas over clean sandy bottoms. Tautog feed on shoreline construction have a negative effect on Cod, Buzzards Bay, and the "Islands," and are invertebrates such as mollusks and worms. flounder populations. found less frequently north of the Cape. Blue mussels are their major food source. They Striped bass and white perch are particularly often use eelgrass beds for resting and feeding, Striped Bass susceptible to degradation of near shore and and suffered a reduction in population during estuarine waters. Spawning activity and larval the eelgrass decline in the 1930's. survival are seriously affected by sedimen- Smelt are anadromous fish that move just tation, toxic and oxygen reducing pollutants above the salt water zone in estuaries to spawn. '0 @K@-Zq-,77 and thermal discharges in estuarine waters. Though they are small (8 to 11 inches) smelt are Reduction of the productivity of such systems voracious predators. They feed on small as salt marsh, eelgrass and tidal flats will also crustaceans, fish larvae and eggs. limit food supplies for young and adults. Smelt are harvested commercially and for sport. They are netted in April and early May at White Perch Tautog the mouths and in lower estuaries, where they appear in dense schools during their spawning run. Because tautog and smelt are predators, they are adversely affected by any reduction in their food that is produced by the coastal ecosystems. Smelt are particularly vulnerable to upstream, penetration of salt water that is lethal to their eggs. Sedimentation of their spawning grounds is also a problem. Tautog These two closely related fish are of great interest for their commercial and sport value. Smelt suffer from the disturbance of mussel beds, Both species are anadromous-living most of sub-tidal flats, and eelgrass, from dredging and their life in salt water, but migrating up coastal filling, and pollution from sediment and rivers to fresh or brackish water to spawn. petroleum spills. The striped bass grows to large size, with occasional records of fish over five feet and weighing more than 90 pounds. Bass are strong swimmers, able to move through shoal riffs and breakers in pursuit of food. They feed on many These fish are coastal creatures of the near forms of fish as well as crustaceans, squid and shore. Tautog are found rarely more than three worms. The outer shore of Cape Cod and or four miles from shore in their northern range Nantucket are prime Massachusetts areas for and further seaward in their southern range. 49 Bluefish crustaceans, mollusk larvae and the fry of other summer and fall. They are most consistently f ish. found from just north of Cape Ann along the Both weakfish and bluefish are dependent on inner Georges Bank south to Cape Cod Bay and the products of shallow coastal waters and the Nantucket Shoals. When young, these fish estuaries, and thus are indirectly affected by feed on minute planktonic animals, larvae, and @i- any reduction in the populations of their food eggs. As they mature, their diet shifts to fish, species. Disturbance or loss of saltmarsh, tidal small crustaceans, mollusks, and their larvae, flat, and eelgrass beds, especially, are threats as well as bottom organisms such as marine to the well-being of weakfish and bluefish. worms. Mackerel are a schooling species that are Weakf ish very important commercially and are sought Mackerel after for sport. Since they are also a food source for larger commercial and sport fish such as striped bass and bluefish, they have a double role in the production of coastal resou rces. Both menhaden and mackerel are sensitive to the quality of near shore environments. The These two fish are important in Menhaden productivity of coastal ecosystems provides a major part of the base of their food supply. Massachusetts for sport and to a lesser extent Reductions of that productivity through for commercial fishing. Because the center of pollution, dredging and filling, and their range lies south of Cape Cod, their ap- sedimentation adversely affect these two pearance in large numbers along the valuable fish. Since both species are attracted Massachusetts coast is sporadic. to and held in coastal waters by the presence of Like the bluefish, weakfish are voracious ".117 their food, reductions in their food supply predators feeding on crustaceans, mollusks, means not only a loss in menhaden and worms, and, during their adult life, feeding mackerel, but a break in the ecological links mostly on other fish such as menhaden, scup, between primary coastal producers and im- herring, and silversides. Weakfish schools are Menhaden (Pogy) are commercially very portant sport and commercial fish. usually found during warm months in Buzzards important for oil, fertilizer and fish meal. They Bay and along Cape Cod, except during rare appear near the coast in vast schoolsfrom Cape Lobster summers when they may reach parts of the Cod northward during late spring and early summer, with the greatest populations oc- North Shore. They prefer shallow bays and coves and may enter estuaries, at least as far as curring during the summer months. Menhaden the brackish water reaches. are warm water fish that often seek their The bluefish is a much larger and stronger planktonic food in shallow waters. Their food is predator that prefers, during its adult life, areas sieved from the water while they swim with offshore where tidal currents and rips are open mouths. While of no importance directly strong. It is often located in waters where to sport fishing, they area valuable food source striped bass are found. Its diet, except for its for many coastal and open ocean gamefish early life, is concentrated on other fish species. such as bluefish, weakfish, cod, tuna, and Young bluefish (snappers) are common swordfish. Mackerel, like the menhaden, are visitors to summer inhabitants of lower estuaries, where they appear in large schools to feed on small the Massachusetts coast, usually appearing in 50 The lobster is the most commercially and Blue Crab Clams culturally important crustacean of the Massachusetts coast, It is sought after by commercial fishermen, and each year Softshell Quahog thousands of people purchase permits for their personal lobster pots and buoys. The lobster lives from inshore areas, where water depth 4- may be as shallow as ten feet, to many'miles off the coast where it is found in sea bottom canyons hundreds of feet deep. S. u rf The female lobster carries the eggs with her until they hatch. Young lobster larvae are free 7 swimming in the surface layers until they grow and physically change to the point where they resemble the adult. They then settle to the The blue crab is a common and important commercial and recreational species of the Razor bottom where they live out their lives. Growth rate is influenced by water temperature, being southern coasts of Massachusetts. During the faster in warmer water. However, at any warmer months it can be found in estuaries, temperature the lobsters' growth is slow. On tidal creeks, salt ponds, bays, and on sub-or the average, it takes about three years for a intertidal mud flats. The blue crab spawn all These clams, excepting the surf clam are all lobster to reach six or seven inches in length. through the summer and early fall, though the creatures of the "flats". They are important Lobsters feed on live animals but are limited peak of spawning is in August and September. commercially and are eagerly sought by generally to small fish and slow moving Crabs move offshore to mate. The young seek recreationists. The surf clam is found off open organisms such as clams, sea urchins, worms, estuaries where the brackish water is essential sand beaches where the high energy of waves is and crabs. for their survival and maturation. Blue crabs a common condition. The lobster is a declining resource. Over- grow rapidly and reach maturity in one to one The softshell clam is the most significant in fishing in recent decades has severely reduced and a half years. During their growth, they shed terms of total catch and in common use. It the population, and scarcity and higher fishing their hard outer skeleton several times. It is prefers mud or sandy-mud interticial en- costs, plus high market demand have driven during this shedding that crabs are considered vironments. This clam is the usual species prices up. Inshore populations are particularIv especially desirable because their new skeleton used for steaming and frying. is soft and the entire crab may be eaten. The quahog (hardshell, cherrystone) is found diminished, and fishermen have in many cases in somewhat sandier habitats then the soft- abandoned the earlier pot (trap) methods of "Softshell crabs" are vigorously sought after inshore capture to trawl for lobsters in the deep for market and sport. shell, usually in the subtidal zone. It is a offshore habitats. The blue crab is important in the estuarine favorite clam for stews and chowders. Quahogs food chain. It is fed on by many species of fish are commercially harvested by raking or throughout its entire life cycle. Because this hydraulic dredging, the latter technique species relies on the cletrital production of the creating a larger disruption of the clams' near shore waters and low salinities to mature substrate. it is adversely affected by losses or degradation Razor clams are intertidal sandflat ,0,(- " @,rT of salt marshes, estuaries, and other productive inhabitants. Never as abundant State-wide as ecosystems. The young are particularly qu.ahogs and softshells, they are nonetheless prized vulnerable to changes in salinity that may occur for chowders and frying. There is only a small commercial harvest of razor clams but from alteration in the yearly pattern of flows of freshwater and its mixing with salt water. local "flats" often provide excellent recreational clamming. 51 The surf clam is important for chowder and Bay scallops are subtidal, shallow water Clamworm cut bait. Its habitat is one of the most organisms with a strong dependence on physically rigorous of all coastal organisms of eelgrass beds for their survival. They are found the open wave churned coasts along the true typically in salt ponds, mouths of estuaries, sand beaches. It is subticlal in location, and its and quiet, shallow bays. The bay scallop is a population, in any single area, may fluctuate mid-Atlantic animal that is rarely found north of r*4 widely. Cape Cod. All clams are dependent on a supply of Oysters are exclusively estuarine and salt plankton and detritus transported to them by pond organisms. They are adapted to fluc- tides, currents, or waves. Reductions of tuating salinities but do not persist in true primary productivity in ecosystems such as marine salinity or freshwater. They require saltmarsh, rocky shores, eelgrass beds, and clean, rough substrates such as shell, shell flats adversely affect clam fragments or coarse gravel. Oysters become the intertidal production. Some pollutants such as fixed to their substrate once the young (spat) pesticides and metals may be lethal to clams- have attached themselves. They are relatively especially immature forms. Oil spills oc- slow growing, taking up to three years to reach casionally smother their habitats. Other forms marketable size. Other than small, local Bloodworm of pollution, such as domestic wastes may not populations scattered in rivers and salt ponds, destroy clams, but the accumulation in clams only Wellfleet retains a population sufficient to of harmful bacteria from such pollution may support consistent commercial harvest. All These worms, commercially harvested and render them unsafe for human consumption. other important oyster areas have been lost to used by sport fishermen, are especially prized persistent environmental degradation and as live bait. They are a natural and preferred earlier periods of overharvest. food for many small and large fish that forage Blue Mussel Blue mussels, a very abundant interticlal for them on the subtidal and intertidal flats. The animal, are found in dense colonies in a variety worms are usually found in mud or sandy-mud of environments. Rocks, course gravels, and substrates, the common environment of the sands, and constructed surfaces such as softshell clam. Both species may reach lengths pilings, seawalls, and jetties are suitable of three feet but are usually found between 6 to substrates. Mussels are of considerable im- 15 inches long. Oyster portance in European cuisine but have only Clamworms and bloodworms are burrowing limited appeal in North America. animals, retreating below the mud surface at As is the case with other bivalve filter low tide to escape drying heat from the sun and feeders, mussels, scallops, and oysters must changes in salinity. They are also sensitive to rely on other ecosystems than their own to bright light and thus tend to emerge from their supply their food. Damage to those ecosystems burrows for feeding on very cloudy days or at is degrading to these valuable mollusks. Some night. Bay Scallop salinity changes in estuaries -part icu larly Clam and bloodworms are vulnerable to the upstream penetration of seawater may reduce same environmental impacts as are clams and Scallops, oysters and, to a lesser extent, oyster populations because higher salinity mussels. They are often stressed by salinity blue mussels are highly prized coastal favors the oyster drill, a very active predator. All changes from changes with the pattern of salt i.iollusks. The bay scallop is the most com- three of these mollusks may be disturbed and and freshwater flows along the "flats" in mercially significant of these three bivalves, killed by dredging and spoil disposal activities. estuaries or salt ponds. though oysters would certainly be important Pollution also may reduce their numbers or were there more of them in Massachusetts. prevent safe human use of them for food. 52 Aquaculture In some instances, particularly with large Greater Scaup mobile organisms such as lobsters, aquaculture may only rear them until they are sizable enough to fend for themselves in natural conditions. This approach overcomes the high risks and low survival rate of the very young which is often t-he limitIng conc[ftjori in "a. estoring or enlarging commercial harvests. r Aquacultural success will improve when problems of environmental degradation are XW T 7- rl) relieved and when natural factors such as Scoter disease and predation can be consistently controlled. Given the ideal location for aquaculture in estuaries, there are risks in- curred from direct effects of toxic or con- taminating forms of pollution that tend to Research and development to artificially concentrate in the estuarine or salt pond areas. improve the production level of commercially Salinity changes may also result from upstream important marine organisms has been un- water use or shoreline construction that change dertaken world-wide. This management the amount or pattern of fresh water flow technique, called aquaculture, has focused on reaching the estuary or pond. Natural diseases Scaup (bluebills) and scoter (coots) are open coastal biota, mostly mollusks and or predators are encouraged by the high water duck that dive for their food. Both crustaceans. Clams, oysters, and lobsters concentration of their hosts and prey and species nest in Northwestern Canada and claim most of the experimental attention in sometimes take a heavy toll from managed Alaska and winter in part along the Atlantic New England. populations. coast from Massachusetts to the Carolinas. Estuaries, bays, and salt ponds are com- The greater scaup is both a freshwater and monly the environments chosen for Shrimp salt water bird. On the coast, estuaries and aquacultural experiments because they provide larger salt ponds are preferred feeding and naturally high productivity of detritus and resting areas. In those environments the scaup plankton. To date, most aquaculture has find their required food that includes about half consisted of placing artificial substrates or animal life and half vegetable. Greater scaup containers in idealized environmental feed on aquatic insects, crustaceans, and 7 situations. High populations of the selected mollusks such as mussels and small oysters. animal are put in the containers, or induced to Plant materials sought after are sedges, cor- naturally colonize on carefully prepared sub- dgrass and eelgrass. In many instances in- strates. In each instance, the man-made habitat dividuals living on coastal waters may have an is maneuvered to place the organisms in the exclusive animal diet. most favorable growing conditions with respect Scoter are almost exclusively birds of salt to food supply, salinity, or other chemical and water, often appearing well off the coast in physical factors. In some cases, available calm weather. Their usual feeding and resting natural food may be supplemented with other areas are close to shore and in estuaries where "feed" in order to hasten growth or allow for there is an abundance of mussels, clams, higher population density in the cultured en- scallops, oysters, and crustaceans that make i vironment. Aquacultural devices are also made up the animal diet of this bird, The most ef- to facilitate easy harvest of mature organisms. fective method of seeing scoters is to observe 53 their near shore low flights that carefully follow The Canada goose, a very large bird Black Duck the shape of the shoreline. sometimes weighing over 12 lbs. and a wing Both scoters and scaup are sought after by span of up to 6 feet, is attracted to the marshes hunters though not to the same degree as other and salt ponds of the coast. Canada geese nest ducks and geese. These birds have been af- throughout the northern part of the continent fected by the destruction of various shellfish with most of the Massachusetts birds coming V beds through sedimentation, dredging and from around Hudson Bay and the Canadian fishing. Maritime Provinces. Occasionally this bird may nest in Massachusetts but the breeding Brant population is local and very small. Canada geese feed on land and gleaners in harvested grain fields and they will enter shallow coastal L@___ - waters and marshes to feed on insects mollusks, and crustaceans as well as green @M' plants. The most serious threats to the Brant and Canada goose in Massachusetts is the destruction of their winter feeding grounds and Mallard nesting places. Brant are particularly vulnerable to the loss of eelgrass, while Canada Goose are adversely affected by reductions or des- These closely related species are permanent tions in salt marsh, tidal flats and salt residents and migratory visitors to the Com- truc monwealth. They are found from the coast ponds. Oil spills are very damaging to both 77 spec inland whereever shallow water and food are ies. Hunting reduces their numbers and, if plentiful. Marshes, tidal creeks, and salt ponds not carefully regulated can be an important limiting factor in the maintenance of population are favorite coastal areas for these birds. Canada Goose levels. Pollution from pesticides has been a Black ducks are more prevalent in salt and problem, though restrictions on the use of brackish waters than are mallards. Animal Brant and Canada geese are regular visitors some pesticides like DDT have reduced this food, such as mollusks and crustaceans figure or residents of the coastal waters of danger. prominently in their diet, sometimes making up Massachusetts. They are especially valued by as much as 25% of the food of this otherwise waterfowl hunters and are important animals in vegetarian bird. Black ducks prefer eelgrass the natural history near shore waters, estuaries among coastal plant species though they also and salt ponds. seek out other plants and their seeds such as Brant are birds of the far north, nesting in the bulrish, burdock, and pondweeds that are subarctic regions of Greenland and Canada. found in fresh or brackish waters near the They winter from the Massachusetts Coast coast. Cultivated grains also are important to southward to North Carolina. Brant are almost their diet when they are available. They nest in a exclusively birds of salt water. They can be variety of habitats along ponds and streams seen flying in undulating lines often only a few such as shrub thickets, grassy areas, or the feet above the waves. In their Massachusetts edges of marshes and swamps. and southern range, brant rely heavily on The mallard or greenhead is the most eelgrass for food. They move inshore at the low widespread duck species in the world. It is tide when shallower eelgrass beds are within common throughout most of North America, reach of the birds. and is a permanent resident of Massachusetts. 54 The mallard much prefers fresh over salt water THREATENED SPECIES environments though it can frequently be found feeding and resting in brackish water in estuaries and salt ponds. To a great degree the food of the mallard is similar to that of Black ducks but usually contains less than 10% animal life. Mallards generally nest on the rather open grassy edges of ponds, sloughs, and freshwater marshes. On the coast they will sometimes nest along "fresher" salt ponds. The most significant threat to the mallard and Black duck has been the steady loss of Ar their habitat. Draining and filling of marshes and swamps in Massachusetts and elsewhere has limited nesting and forced populations to concentrate in fewer feeding and resting areas. Fortunately, in Massachusetts, protective Beach Meadow Vole Ipswich Sparrow legislation for coastal and inland wetlands, has helped to retard habitat loss as has the The beach meadow vole is found only on This sparrow is a winter resident in establishment of National Wildlife Rufuges at Muskeget Island off Nantucket. Its distribution Massachusetts. The Ipswich sparrow's the Parker River-Plum Island Marshes and on on the island is limited to perennial grass breeding range is restricted to Sable Island off Monomoy Island. habitats where it digs and tunnels in sandy Nova Scotia. Its wintering range is from Nova Pollution (particularly occasional oil spills) substrates. Like most small rodents, the beach Scotia to Georgia where it lives among coastal and hunting also limit populations, though meadow vole's population fluctuates naturally sand dunes, particularly the primary dunes increasing constraints on the allowable harvest from year to year and seasonally depending on fronting the beach. of black ducks has reduced some of the risks breeding success and habitat conditions. It is Destruction of the Sable Island breeding from hunting. capable of bearing several litters of five to areas from storm erosion and loss of dune seven young annually. habitats in the bird's winter range from Protection for this rare and threatened shoreline development have caused a decline in species is partially accomplished because all of numbers. Oil exploration in the Sable Island Muskeget Island is a refuge for nesting terns. area also threatens this species. However, predation by house cats and storm Protection is offered through the establish- damage to the vole's habitat are limiting factors ment of National Wild Refuges and National in its existence. It is important that continued Seashores. Further protection could be achieved by enlarging the "Refuge" and protection be given to Muskeget Island and house cats removed from the island. "Seashore" systems and the preservation of sand dune environments through development control. Preservation of the Ipswich Sparrow breeding grounds by the Canadian government The grey seal is a threatened species that frequents is also essential. Muskeget Island off Nantucket. 55 M@T- 917@-!'@@' '@77 f q'! Motor, 7-7 a IM 13 boo 'Ail ML..IW--.WWUAW- Al. Beach nourishment project, Scituate Courtesy Army Corps ot Engineers, NE Division Decaying VII 5PI1,11 A@11"' 2,, M Beach stablization with boulders Plymouth Groins for beach stabilization 56 JU Sewage plant Fall River Courtesy CZM Office Tidal flat with oil storage. Power plan Ar- WNW, tw Power plant and oil storage tanks Quincy Oil storage tanks City Pt. South Bos P 01 MOW 'NI _75 I'% Liz*, W N , SW ILA- V P*' .......... Cranberry bog Manomet Fishing with -, @W V Ilk, J-47 UA Oyster aquaculture experiment Wellfleet Clamming fl 58 IV. PLANNING AND RESEARCH FOR COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT Coastal areas, a major concern of planners, equitably, the needs of all kinds of coastal coupled with the use of high and low altitude are distinguished from the remainder of the resource users. This question may be more aerial photography will @ield an inventory of state for two principal reasons. First, the coast pertinent in high-use areas but it is not in fact critically important salt marsh communities. has diverse and particular high-quality physical or principle limited to those areas. Virtually Similar research efforts are being directed at and biological resources. Second, the coast every mile of coastline is today subject in some tidal flat and eelgrass systems. experiences intense and diverse resource degree to conflicting uses and ecosystems. Despite the reliance of many coastal towns demands from uses which are not always degradation. on the fisheries resource, there is insufficient mutually compatible or supportive of Since it is the productive and protective knowledge of critical coastal habitats sup- productive ecosystems. capacities of the coastal ecosystems that porting this resource. Research required to All manner of resource uses focus on the produce most of the coastal resources, describe and evaluate these habitats in relation coastal areas, legitimately pursuing their own management efforts must give these systems to fish species is already under way. These respective goals, each inadvertently levying highest priority. Identification of the most studies recognize species that are important costly impacts on the others, and, most im- productive ecosystems is a needed first step. commercially and for recreation and those portantly, producing in the aggregate a growing Preservation of the state's established and species that are vital links in the food chain of negative effect on coastal ecosystems. Issues thriving salt marsh, tidal flat, eelgrass, dune, the larger fishes. Particular concern is shown for management do not evolve from any special and rocky shore ecosystems will provide a solid towards those species that require estuarine, or unusual coastal uses, but rather from the beginning for the overall productivity along the salt pond, and tidal marsh creek habitats. concentration of use effects. Not all problems coast. The Coastal Zone Management program Accurately describing both large and small are caused directly by coastal uses. For is currently engaged in research leading to this systems of ocean and coastal currents is example, much and perhaps most of the end. Specific studies of salt marsh ecosystems essential to the management of the coastal pollution of estuaries results from actions and evaluation of their relative production zone. The circulation patterns tell much of the upstream--often many miles. The dwindling story of where both beneficial and harmful numbers of such important fish as cod and materials go once they reach the coast. The haddock in the near-shore area is the result of answer to this question is being sought by massive over-harvest in the oceans by domestic search. Findings will be used to better un- re and foreign fleets. derstand the physical and chemical conditions The episodic "red tides" often begin outside influencing the success of high productivity coastal ecosystems but their toxins reach the I ecosystems. They will also give insight into the shore, diminishing for a period the potential ability of the coastal water to transport and harvest of shellfish. dilute harmful substances. Solutions to such problems are unlikely to be Coastal erosion is a perennial human con- found in any direct management of the coastal .,r-, cern. Research is needed to help define the zone. But they illustrate the importance of nature and extent of the erosion process in maintaining a close coordination between Massachusetts. The focus of such in- research and management activities on the vestigation investigations would not solely be coast and those related to inland areas and the to provide a basis for erosion control. It would ocean. W also be interested in the importance of erosion Planning for use and protection of most in the natural development of the total coastline coastal resources will, however, be a question and the role erosion plays in enlarging or of how to accomodate, effectively and limiting the growth of productive ecosystems. 59 GLOSSARY ALGA (pl. algae): The simplest of all green COMMUNITY: All the plants and animals in a DECOMPOSERS: Living plants and animals, plant forms, having neither roots, stems, nor particular habitat that are bound together by but chiefly fungi and bacteria, that live by leaves. Algae range in size from microscopic food chains and other interrelations. extracting energy from the decaying tissues of single cells to branching forms one hundred dead plants and animals. In the process, they feet or more in length. Larger marine forms are CONSUMER: Any living thing that is unable to also release simple chemical compounds known as seaweeds. manufacture food from nonliving substances stored in the dead bodies and make them but depends instead on the energy stored in available once again for use by green plants. BARRIER BEACH: A bar, parallel to the shore, other living things. See also Decomposers; whose crest rises above high water. Food chain; Producers. DETRITUS: Particles of the decaying remains of dead plants and animals; an important source BARRIER ISLAND: A detached portion of a CONTINENTAL SHELF: A shallow portion of of food for many marsh animals. barrier beach between two inlets. the sea floor adjoining continents and ex- tending from the low-tide level seaward to a DRUMLIN: Elongate oval hill formed of debris BERM: A nearly horizontal upper part of the break in slope, generally 300 to 700 feet below accumulated beneath a slowly advancing beach or one sloping away from the ocean. sea level. Widths vary from less than a mile to glacier. The long axis of the hill and steeper several hundred miles. frontal slope mark the direction of movement of BIVALVE: Possessing two valves, or shells. the subsequently vanished glaciers. Bivalve molluscs include oysters, clams, and CORIOLIS EFFECT: An apparent force acting similar animals. on moving particles and resulting from the ENVIRONMENT: All the external conditions, earth's rotation. It causes moving particles to such as soil, water, air, and organisms, BRACKISH: Used to describe waters that are be deflected to the right in the Northern surrounding a living thing. mixtures of fresh and salt water. Coastal Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern marshes and estuaries generally contain Hemisphere, the deflection being proportional EQUILIBRIUM BEACH: A beach where littoral brackish, or moderately salty, water. to the speed and latitude of the moving particle. currents supply an adequate quantity of sand or The speed of the particle is unchanged by the gravel during small-wave periods to replace that BREAKWATER: A structure, usually of rock or apparent deflection. removed by beach erosion during storms. concrete, protecting a shore area, harbor, Equilibrium may be disturbed by human ac- anchorage, or basin from waves. CRUSTACEANS: The large class of animals tivities, such as jetty building, or the opening that includes crabs, lobsters, shrimp, and of new tidal inlets where sand is carried into CHLOROPHYLL: A group of pigments that similar forms. Crustaceans typically live in lagoons to form tidal deltas, or a change of produces the green color of plants; essential to water and are characterized by jointed legs, wave or current regime. photosynthesis, q.v. segmented bodies, and hard external skeletons. ESTUARY: A tidal river; the portion of a river affected by the rise and fall of the tide andt- and that contains a mixture of fresh and salt water. FILTER FEEDERS: Animals such as clams and mussels that obtain food by filtering or straining it from the surrounding waters. 60 FLOOD TIDE: An usually high tide often caused HYDROLOGIC CYCLE: The compqsite cycle of MOLLUSCS: A major group of animals with by a combination of factors such as storms or a water exchange, including change of state and soft, boneless bodies and, usually, shells. The particular alignment of the sun, moon and vertical and horizontal transport, of the in- group includes snails, clams, mussels, and earth. terchange of water substance between earth, oysters. FLYWAYS: Routes followed by migrating birds. atmosphere, and ocean. MORAINE: A deposit left by a glacier at its In North America, ornithologists distinguish INTERTIDAL ZONE (littoral zone): Generally terminus (terminal moraine), along the side of a between the Atlantic, Mississippi, Central, and considered to be the zone between mean high- valley glacier (lateral moraine), down the glacier Pacific flyways. water and mean low-water levels. from the junction of tributaries (medial FOOD CHAIN: The passage of energy and moraine), and as a thin glacial deposit over materials in the form of food from producers INVERTEBRATE: An animal without a back- most of the glaciated area (ground moraine). (green plants) through a succession of plant- bone. Insects and mussels are invertebrates, Moraines are generally ridges, but a ground eating and meat-eating consumers. Green see also Vertebrate. moraine may form a level plain. plants, plant-eating insects, and an insect- KETTLE HOLE LAKES: Bodies of water formed MUD: Detrital material consisting mostly of silt eating fish would form a simple food chain. See in depressions left by melted glacial ice blocks. and clay-sized particles (less than 0.06 also Food web. Bogs often form in these depressions. millimeter) but often containing varying amounts of sand and/or organic materials. It is FOOD WEB: A system of interlocking food LARVA (pl. larvae): An active immature stage in also a general term applied to any fine-grained chains. Since few animals rely on a single food an animal's life history, during which its form sediment whose exact size classification has source and since a given food is rarely con- differs from that of the adult. The caterpillar, not been determined. sumed exclusively by a single species of for example, is the larva of a butterfly; the animals, the separate food chains in any tadpole is the larval stage in the life history of a NUTRIENT: In the ocean, any one of a number natural community interlock and form a web. f rog. of inorganic or organic compounds or ions used primarily in the nutrition of primary GLACIAL DRIFT: Sediment accumulated as a LITTORAL CURRENT: A current moving producers. Nitrogen and phosphorous com- result of glaciation, under a glacier, at its parallel to the shore, usually developed by wave pounds are examples of essential nutrients. margins or beyond, as glaciofluvial and glacial fronts that have an angular approach to the marine deposits. shore. The current causes shifting of beach PANNE: A shallow depression containing water sand along the shore. left by receding tides. The water is usually too GLACIAL TILL: A "boulder clay," an unsorted salty to support vegetation, but sometimes and unstratified sediment deposited directly by MARSH: A treeless form of wetland, often mats of blue-green algae, stunted grasses, or a glacier in moraines or drumlins and not developing in shallow ponds or depressions, showy flowers form. Pannes and creeks are the reworked by meltwater. river margins, tidal areas, and estuaries. principal physical features of saltwater mar- Marshes may contain either salt or fresh water. shes.. HABITAT: The immediate surrounding (living Prominent among the vegetation of marshes place) of a plant or animal. are grasses and sedges. 61 PEAT: Partly decayed organic matter formed in RED TIDE: A red or reddish-brown SUCCESSION: The gradual replacement of one boggy areas where high acidity and a lack of discoloration of surface waters most frequently biotic community by another, eventually oxygen limits decomposition. occurring in coastal regions, and caused by leading to a more or less stable community. concentrations of certain microscopic PHOTIC ZONE: Area penetrated by light. organisms, particularly dinoflagellates. These SWAMP: A form of wetland characterized by organisms produce toxic substances which moss and shrubs, or trees such as maples, PHOTOSYNTHESIS: The process by which when ingested by filter feeders render them gums, and cypresses. Swamps usually have green plants convert carbon dioxide and water unfit for human consumption. better drainage than bogs. Sometimes they into simple sugars. Chlorophyll and sunlight succeed marshes in shallow water basins, and are essential to the series of complex chemical SALINITY: A measure of the quantity of they also may develop in sluggish streams and reactions involved. dissolved salts in sea water. Formally defined floodplains. as the total amount of dissolved solids in sea PLANKTON: The minute plants and animals water in parts per thousand (0/00) by weight TERMINAL MORAINE: Debris deposited at the that float or swim near the surface of a body of when all the carbonate has been converted to terminus of a glacier and forming a ridge water. The enormous quantities of plant oxide, the bromide and iodide to chloride, and remaining to mark a particular glacial stage plankton (phytoplankton) and animal plankton all organic matter is completely oxidized. after the glacier has melted back or vanished. (zooplankton) in water provide an important food source for many aquatic animals. SAND: Loose material which consists of grains TIDAL FLAT: A sandy or muddy land covered ranging between 0.0625 and 2.0 millimeters in and uncovered by rise and fall of the tides. Tidal PLEISTOCENE: Of or pertaining to the most diameter. flats are largest where land slopes are low and recent epoch in the earth's geologic history, tidal range is high, as in northern Maine. roughly the past one million years. The period SEDGE: A kind of plant resembling the includes at least four major retreats and ad- grasses. However, sedges usually have solid TIDAL INLET: A breach in a coastal barrier vances of continental glaciers. triangular stems in contrast to the round hollow generally opened by a major storm and stems of grasses. The floating mats of bogs are maintained by tidal flow. PRODUCERS: Green plants, the basic link in often composed of sedges. any food chain. By means of photosynthesis, VERTEBRATE: An animal with a backbone. The green plants manufacture the food on which all SESSILE: Permanently attached to a surface. group includes fishes, amphibians, reptiles, other living things ultimately depend. See also birds, and mammals. Consumer. SHRUB: A woody plant, usually less than twelve feet tall, having many stems rising from WATER TABLE: The upper level of the un- PRODUCTIVITY: The rate at which living things the ground. derground reservoir of water. in an ecosystem add to the amount of biological matter. Productivity is dependent on SPAT: Immature oysters or scallops newly the interaction of the life and the environment. settled upon an available surface. SPIT: A small, elongated point of land, mostly sand, extending into a body of water. 62 LIST OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS IN TEXT VERTEBRATES Fishes Birds Alewife A losa pseudoharengus American Golden Eye Glaucionetta clangula americana American Pollock Pollachius virens Black-backed Gull Larus marinus American Shad A losa sapissima Black Duck Anas rubripes Atlantic Herring Clupea harengus Black Skimmer Rynchops nigra Atlantic Silverside Menidia menidia Brant Goose Branta bernicla Atlantic Sturgeon A cipenser breviros trum Canada Goose Branta canadensis Banded Killifish Fundulus diaphanus Clapper Rai I Rallus longirostris Blueback Herring A losa aestivalis Common Tern Sterna hirundo Bluefish Pomatomus saltatrix Double-crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus Cod Gadus callarias Greater Scaup Duck A ythya marila nearctica Cunner Tautogolabrus adspersus Herons Nycticorax nycticoras, Four-spine Stickleback Apeltes quadracus Ardea herodias Haddock Melanogrammus aeglefinus Herring Gull Larus argentatus Mackerel Scomber scombrus Ipswich Sparrow Passerculus princeps Menhaden Brevoortia tyrannus Laughing Gull Larus atricilla Mummichog Fundulus heteroclitus Mallard Anas platyrhynchos platyrhynchos Pipefish Syngnathus fuscus Marsh Hawk Circus cyaneus Rainbow Smelt Osmerus sturio Mute Swan Cygnus olor Scup Stenotomus versicolor Osprey Pandion halicetus cardinensis Sea Robin Prionotus carolinus Pectoral Sandpiper Erolia melanotos Short-nose Sturgeon Acipenserbrevirostrum Seaside Sparrow Ammospiza maritima Smelt Osmerus mordax Semi-palmated Sandpiper Ereunetes pusillus Striped Bass Morone satillis Sharp-tailed Sparrow Ammospiza caudacuta Summer Flounder (Plaice) Paralichthys dentatus Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia Swordfish Xiphias gladius Sparrow Hawk Falco sparverius Tautog Tautoga onitis Spotted Sandpiper Actitis macularia Three-spine Stickleback Gasterosteus aculueatus White-winged Scoter Melanitta fusca doglandi Tomcod Microgadus tomcod Tuna Thynnusthynnus Mammals Weakfish Cynoscion regalis Beach Meadow Vole Microtus breweri White Perch Morone americana Meadow Mouse Microtus pennsylvanicus Winter Flounder Pseudopleuronectes americanus Muskrat Ondatra zibethica Rabbit Sylvilagus floridanus 63 INVERTEBRATES Arthropods Crustaceans Echinoderms Acorn Barnacle Balanus balanoides Brittle Star Ophiopholis aculeata Blue Crab Callinectus sapidus Common Starfish Asterias forbesi Fiddler Crabs Uca pugnax, pugilator and minax Green Sea Urchin Strongylocentrotus droehbachiensis Ghost Shrimp Callianassa atlantica Sand Dollar Echinarachnius parma Gooseneck Barnacle Lepas fascicularis Sea Cucumber Cucumaria frondosa Green Crab Carcinides maenas Hermit Crabs Pagurus pollicarus and longicarpus Merostomates Jonah Crab Cancer borealis Lobster Homarus americanus Horseshoe Crab Limulus polyphemus Mud Crab Panopeus herbs tii Oyster Crab Pinnotheres ostreum Insects Pea Crab Pinnixa chaetopterana Beach Flea Talorchestia spp. Rock Crab Cancer irroratus Greenhead Fly Tabanus nigrovittatus Molluscs Mosquito (Salt marsh) Aedes solicitans Bay Scallop Argopecten irradians Channeled Whelk Busycon Canaliculatum Dog Whelk Thais lapillus Coelenterates Edible Mussel Mytilus edulis Gem Clam Gemma gemma Moon Jelly A urelia aurita Knobbed Whelk Busycon caricum Pink Jellyfish Cyanea capillata Limpet Acmaea testudinalis Plumose Anemone Metridium dianthus Marsh Snail Melampus bidentatus Sagartia Anemone Sagartia modesta Moon Snai I Polinices heros Sea nemone Adamsia spp. Mud Snail Narcarius obsoletus Stalked Jellyfish Haliclystus auricula Oyster Crassostrea virginica Oyster Dri I I Urosalpinx cinerea Annelids. Periwinkle Littorina spp. Pond Snail Planorbis trivolvis Clam Worm Nereis virens Quahog Mercenaria mercenaria Fringed Worm Cirratulus cirratus Razor Clam Ensis directus Lugworm Arenicola marina Ribbed Mussel Modiolus demissus plicatulus Parchment Worm Chaetopterus variopedatus Rough Periwinkle Littorina rudis Plumed Worm Diapatra cuprea Soft-shell Clam Mya arenaria Sand Worm Polycirrus eximius Surf or Sea Clam Spisula solidissima Trumpet Worm Pectinaria gouldii Tube Worm Spirorbis spp. 64 PLANTS Seed Plants Alder (Speckled) A Inus rugosa Poison Ivy Rhus radicans American Beech Fagus grandifolia PussyWillow Salix discolor Arrowwood (Southern) Viburnun dentatum Quaking Aspen Populus tremuloides Bayberry Myrica pensylvanica Red Cedar Juniperus virginiana Beach Grass Ammophila breviligulata Red Maple A cer rubrum Beach Heather Hudsonia tomentosa Salt-meadow Cordgrass Spartina patens Beach Pea Lathyrus maritimus Salt-spray Rose Rosarugosa Beach Plum Prunus maritima Saltwort Salsola kali Beach Wormwood Artemisia caudata Sassafras Sassafras albidum Bear Oak Quercus ilicifolia Sea Blite Suaeda maritima Bearberry Arctostaphylos uva-ursi Sea Lavender Limonium nashii Black Cherry Prunus serotina Sea Rocket Cakile edentula Black Grass Juncus gerardi Sedges Carex spp. Black Gum Tree Nyssa sylvatica Seabeach Orache A triplex has ta ta Black Oak Quercus velutina Seabeach Sandwort Arenaria peploides Blueberry Vaccinium spp. Seaside Aster Aster linariifolius Bulrush Scirpus validus Seaside Goldenrod Solidago sempervirens Cattai I Typha latifolia Seaside Spurge Euphorbia polygonifolia Cord Grass Spartina alterniflora Shadbush Amelanchier canadensis Cranberry Vaccinium macrocarpon Spike Grass Distichlis spicata Crowberry Corema conradii Staghorn Sumac Rhus typhina Duckweed Spirodela polyrhiza Sundew Drosera rotundifolia Dusty Miller Artemisia stelleriana White Cedar Chamaecyparis thyoides Eelgrass Zostera marina Wild Rose Rosa virginiana Fly Honeysuckle Lonicera morrowi Glasswort Salicornia spp. Golden Aster Chrysopsis falcata Algae Golden Heather Hudsonia ericoides Blue-green Calothrix spp. Grey Birch Betula populifolia Dulse Rhodymenia palmata Heather Calluna vulgaris Enteromorpha Enteromorpha intestinalis Highbush Blueberry Vaccinium corymbosum Irish Moss Chondrus crispus Holly Tree flex opaca Kelps Laminariaspp.; Alaria esculenta Indian Pipe Monotropa uniflora Agarum cribrosum Japanese Black Pine Pinus nigra Knotted Wrack Ascophyllum nodosum Jointed Glasswort Salicornia europaea Rockweeds Fucus spp. Meadowsweet Spiraea latifolia Sea Laver Porphyra vulgaris Moccasin Flower Cypripedium acaule Sea Lettuce Ulva lactuca Partridge Berry Mitchella repens Lichens Pitch Pine Pinus rigida Lichens Cladonia spp. Plume Grass (Reeds, Phragmites)Pragmites communis 65 REFERENCES Bigelow and Schroeder, Fishes of the Gulf of Maine, Lippson, Alice Jane, The Chesapeake Bay in Maryland: an Fishery Bulletin of the Fish and Wildlife Service- atlas of natural resources, John Hopkins Press, 1973. Volume 53, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1953. Niering, William A., The Life of the Marsh, McGraw-Hill, Chapman, V.S., Coastal Vegetation, Macmillan Co., 1964. 1966. Clark, John, Coastal Ecosystems, The Conservation Palmer, Ralph S., The Mammal Guide, Doubleday and Foundation, 1974. Company, Inc., 1954. Copeland, B.J., McMahan, E. A., and Odum, H. T., Coastal Peterson, Roger Tory, A Field Guide to the Birds, Ecological Systems of the United States, The Con- Houghton-Mifflin, 1947. servation Foundation, 1974. Research Institute of the Gulf of Maine, (TRIGOM), A Socio- Edley, Maitland A., The Northeast Coast, Time-Life Books, Economic and Environmental Inventory of the North 1972. Atlantic Region, 1974. Farb, Peter and Hay, John, The Atlantic Shore, Harper and Shepard, Francis P. and Wonless, Harold R., Our Changing Row, 1966. Coastlines, McGraw-Hill, 1971. Gaylord, Marsha and Hubbell, Harriett Weed, Treasures of Smith, R.L., Ecology and Field Biology. 2nd the Shore, a Beachcomber's Botany, Chatham Con- Ed. Harper and Row, 1974. servation Foundation, 1963. Godfrey, Paul and Melinda, "Field Trio Guide to Plum Sterling, Dorothy, The Outer Lands, American Museum of Island," (unpublished). Univ. of Mass., Amherst. 1975 Natural History, 1967. Hay, John, The Great Beach, Doubleday and Co., 1963. Strahler, Arthur N., A Geologist's View of Cape Cod, Natural History Press, 1966. Kortwright, Francis H., The Ducks, Geese, and Swans of Teal, John and Mildred, Life and Death of the Salt Marsh, North America, Stackpole Company, 1953. Audubon/ Ballantine, 1969. Leonard, Jonathan Norton, Atlantic Beaches, Time-Life U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Books, 1972. National Estuary Study, 1970. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Threatened Wildlife of the United States, Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, 1973. 66 'M L A Dune vegetation Sandy Neck Barnstable Road causes destruction of dunev W The problem of public access Note no trespassing signs Scituate Salisbury Beach Amusement 464 q Ilk Courtesy Allen Look 68 51 "o 't4 50MF-- VIN14-z A@I-K411@-F@-@@ wrrH T14T&--- KN 4--la @@C-A fl) 6- ET 0 3 6668.00002 - 943