higher plants. The marsh is at its height 

 of activity at this time. The mud surface 

 shows signs of feeding by the swarms of 

 crabs, snails, worms, and insects that 

 make this their home. Swallows feed in 

 the air and harriers sail over the grass 

 looking for meadow mice which eat the 

 succulent bases of the grass. 



By late summer the taller Spartina 

 has flowered and set seed. Leaf tips turn 

 yellow first in the short Spartina and 

 gradually the entire marsh turns yellow, 

 then brown. Cooling of the mud is delayed 

 by the water, now warmer than the land. 

 Migrant shorebirds feed on the small 

 invertebrates still active and present in 

 large numbers as bird migration reaches 

 its peak. But cold eventually claims the 

 marsh which enters dormancy again. 



To the south, one encounters more and 

 more winter activity. In Georgia, 

 Spartina begins to send up new shoots as 

 soon as the old ones die after flowering, 

 so that although the autumn marsh is 

 golden with dead leaves, a closer look at 

 the bases of the grasses shows the 

 beginning of next year's green. It does 

 not ordinarily get cold enough to kill 

 these shoots, although mild freezes do 

 occur along the Georgia coast. 



1.3 GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION 



1. 3. 1. Worldwide 



Spartina al terni flora marshes are 

 found along the east coast of North 

 America from the Gulf of Mexico to the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence, in Argentina, and in 

 western Europe. Their greatest abundance 

 is along the east coast of the United 

 States. Toward the tropics this type of 

 salt marsh is replaced by mangrove swamps. 

 North of the Gulf of St. Lawrence other 

 species of grasses, principally Puccinel - 

 lia phryganodes , replace S. alternif lora . 



The European S. al terni flora marshes 

 are at Southampton, England and spots 

 along the French and northern Spanish 

 coasts. Most of the Spartina marshes in 

 Europe are occupied by the native S. 

 maritima (southern England to Morocco^, 

 or by the new species, S. angl ica . 

 Spartina angl ica is a fertile polyploid 



product of the infertile S. townsendi i 

 which, in turn, arose as a natural hybrid 

 of S. maritima and introduced S. 

 al terni flora in the late 19th century near 

 Southampton (Ranwell 1972). Spartina 

 angl ica now forms salt marshes from 

 Ireland and Scotland to northwest Spain. 

 This species is still spreading naturally 

 and by human activity, thus creating new 

 marshes both naturally and artificially. 



1.3.2. Distribution in Eastern United 

 States 



The northernmost salt marshes 

 containing S. alternif lora are found in 

 Newfoundland and along the north shore of 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In these 

 regions, the coastline has had little time 

 since the retreat of the last continental 

 glacier to accumulate sediments in pro- 

 tected areas that could be the basis for 

 the formation of salt marshes. Most of 

 the salt marshes in these areas are little 

 pocket marshes that fill the head of a bay 

 or fringe the edge of a tidal flat. There 

 are, however, a few notable salt marshes 

 east of Yarmouth, and occasionally else- 

 where, in Nova Scotia. The marshes in the 

 Bay of Fundy are special exceptions. The 

 several bays at the head of the Bay of 

 Fundy lie in an easily eroded sedimentary 

 basin and have vast salt marshes. Large 

 areas of these were diked and converted 

 into hay fields in the 18th century. Small 

 marshes are the rule for much of the U.S. 

 coast north of Boston, Massachusetts, 

 although the Scarboro marshes in Maine, 

 Hampton marshes in New Hampshire, and 

 Parker River marshes in Massachusetts are 

 extensive. 



As one moves south into the regions 

 where the coast is older, salt marshes 

 occupy more and more of the coastline. 

 There are fairly extensive marshes in 

 southern New England and New York 

 although they have suffered considerable 

 destruction over the years. For 

 example, much of the Back Bay region 

 of Boston was originally salt marsh 

 that was filled in the 19th century. 

 Large parts of Kennedy Airport in 

 New York City and Logan Airport in 

 Boston were originally salt marshes that 

 were both dredged and filled to create 

 runways. 



