REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE 



Form approved 

 OMB No. 0704-0188 



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 gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other 

 aspect ot this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and 

 Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway. Suite 1204, Arlington. VA 22202-4302, and lo the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (0704-0188) 

 Washington, DC 20503. 



1. AGENCY USE ONLY (Leave 

 Blank) 



2. REPORT DATE 



September 1 996 



3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED 



4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 



Ecology of Buzzards Bay: An Estuarine Profile 



6.AUTHOR(S) 



B.L. Howes and D.D. Goehringer 



7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESSES 



Biological Department 



Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 



Woods Hole. MA 02543 



S. FUNDING NUMBERS 



Coastal Ecological Research Institute 



at Woods Hole 

 Woods Hole, MA 02543 



8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION 

 REPORT NUMBER 



9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESSES 



U.S. Department of the Interior 

 National Biological Service 

 Washington, DC 20240 



10. SPONSORING, MONITORING 

 AGENCY REPORT NUMBER 



Biological Report 3 1 



11. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 



12a. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT 



Release unlimited. NTIS, DoDD 



12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE 



13. ABSTRACT (Maximum 200 words) 



Buzzards Bay remains one of the few relatively pristine bays in the metropolitan corridor from Washington to Boston The bay 

 and its surrounding marshes and uplands have provided a variety of biotic resources not only to European settlers over nearly 400 

 years but also to the Native Americans who relied on this estuary for thousands of years before them Today the uplands are 

 divided between 18 communities, and while the bay is still exploited for its biotic resources, its aesthetic and recreational values add 

 to the growing concern to preserve its environmental quality At the same time, it has become clear that the health of the 

 Buzzards Bay ecosystem, like almost all estuarine systems, is controlled not just by processes within the bay waters themselves but 

 also by inputs from the surrounding uplands as well. Therefore, to properly understand and manage this system, tt is important to 

 detail activities and land use patterns within the watershed as well as within the tidal reach of the bay waters This combined 

 watershed-bay system is referred to as the "Buzzards Bay Ecosystem" and is the necessary frame of reference for understanding 

 the biotic structure of the bay and for managing and conserving its resources 



This community profile provides an overview of the ecology of the Buzzards Bay ecosystem It is not intended to represent an 

 all-inclusive review of the literature, instead it is an attempt to present key features of the bay in a readily accessible form and to 

 summarize the dominant ecological processes that structure the bay environment Because the current and future environmental 

 health of these types of embayments can be directly influenced by activities within contributing watersheds, understanding the 

 interactions between land and sea is an important component to understanding the ecosystem as a whole The subjects addressed 

 in this profile, therefore, focus not only on the open bay waters but also on the ecology of Buzzards Bay within its watershed 

 including management issues and the difficulties in balancing demands for access and development while protecting water quality 



14. SUBJECT TERMS (Keywords) 



Buzzards Bay, estuarine ecology, ecosystem, watershed 



17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 

 OF REPORT 



Unclassified 



18. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF 

 THIS PAGE 



Unclassified 



15. NUMBER OF PAGES 



vi+ 141 pp. 



16. PRICE CODE 



19. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF 20. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT 

 ABSTRACT 



Unclassified 



Unlimited 



Standard Form 298 (rev 2-89) 

 Prescnbed by ANSI Std Z3918 



