Table 6. 

 1968)^. 



Principal epibenthic algal species on the Cape Cod marshes (Blum 



Lyngbya aestuarii (Mert.) Liebm. 



J^. semiplena (Ag. ) Ag. f_. ex Com 



Vaucheria c oronata Nordst. 



V^. arcassonensis Danq. 



V^. compacta (Collins) Collins 



Symploca hydnoides Kutz 



Microcoleus chthonoplastes Thur 



Ulothrix flacca Thur 



U. laetvirens (Kutz) Collins 



Anabena tortulosa Lagerh. 



A. variabilis Kutz 



Hydrocoleum sp. 



Rhizoc Ionium sp. 



Cladophora sp. 



C alothrix sp. 



A detailed description of edaphic diatoms in a stunted Spartina alterniflora 

 marsh in Delaware is given by Sullivan (1974). 



the vertical structure for the plank- 

 ton ecosystems that develop (Odum 

 1975). Phytoplankton expend little 

 energy for storage or structure; their 

 microscopic size removes them from our 

 awareness, and we focus on the occa- 

 sional fish or mammal whose concen- 

 trated biomass stands out against the 

 formless water. The marsh is more 

 like a terrestrial environment than 

 the sea, however. Marsh plants spend 

 most of their time in the air where 

 they must provide their own structure 

 and lift themselves into the vertical 

 dimension to use light energy as 

 efficiently as possible. It is the 

 grasses that capture the attention of 

 scientist and poet alike. Sidney 

 Lanier's vision of the Georgia marshes 

 in "The Marshes of Glynn" as "a league 

 and a league of marsh-grass, waist- 

 high, broad in the blade" is shared by 

 us all, though on a more modest scale 

 in New England. 



Because few large 

 animals are found in 

 the discussion of marsh 



conspicuous 



the marsh, 



is usually 



29 



preoccupied with the vegetation. In 

 his recent review of salt-marsh 

 animals, F.C. Daiber (1977) pointed 

 out some characteristics of salt-marsh 

 animals: 



"Salt-marsh animals find them- 

 selves in a particularly harsh 

 intertidal zone. They must 

 possess structural, physiological 

 or behavioral capabilities that 

 enable them to adjust to or avoid 

 wide-ranging levels of salinity, 

 temperature, humidity, desicca- 

 tion and innundation. They must 

 also adapt to the physical and 

 chemical nature of the substrate 

 .... Few species have tolerance 

 limits broad enough to accommo- 

 date such variable conditions." 



The widespread impression that 

 animals are "not important" on the 

 marshes may be traced back to the 

 well-known pioneering studies in 

 marshes at Sapelo Island, Georgia. 

 This marsh work was among the first 

 to emphasize ecological energetics in 



