The Wrack

Project Summary

Researchers manipulated densities of the invasive snail Littorina littorea at two sites, one in the Little River estuary and another in the Webhannet River estuary, to investigate the effect of grazing on plant production and sediment accumulation. They found that under more stressful conditions for saltmarsh cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora)  poor drainage or greater flooding, for example  the impact of snail grazing on biomass becomes apparent: Where snails eat cordgrass faster than it can grow back, less cordgrass is available to capture sediment and the marsh surface does not build up as quickly. In contrast, the impact of snails is not significant under more favorable conditions for cordgrass.

Michele Dionne, Director of Research at the Reserve, has an ongoing collaboration with Dr. Celia Chen at Dartmouth College to study how mercury moves through the salt marsh system. When some of her lab crew headed out to catch Atlantic silversides to be tested for mercury content, we got some of these small fish instead, which we originally thought must be herring.

Last Friday a science team marched to Wells Harbor and began a rapid assessment of marine invertebrates on and around the dock.

Danger seeps from your garden.

Fertilizer causes tomatoes to ripen larger and plants to grow taller. But applying more than your plants need can have a devastating effect.

The rain washes your excess fertilizer, either manure or chemical, down the road and into the nearest water source. There, it mixes with water traveling from other gardens, farms, and power plants to create a stream of nitrogen and phosphorus. The stream pours directly into the marsh.

The Wells Reserve is collaborating with NOAAs National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) to determine the extent of eutrophication in five northeastern reserves.

Here's a question: Do artificial substrates favor non-indigenous fouling species over natives?

It is probably a rare coastal beachfront property owner who is not aware that beaches are dynamic systems that erode and accrete in response to storms, sediment supply, rising sea level, and the proximity of sea walls, jetties, and other forms of coastal "armor." Many beachfront owners are also aware that "natural" barrier beaches and their dune systems are able to persist in the face of sea level rise by transgressing, or migrating shoreward.