97 



1987) , further supporting the premise that plants near freshwater inputs 

 better survived the disease or were the first to recover. 



Analysis of eelgrass bed survival and recovery near streams after 

 the wasting disease focused on salinity (e.g. Rasmussen, 1977). Water 

 temperature is cooler by several degrees near Red Brook, where Stevens 

 observed the first beds. Furthermore, groundwater springs near some 

 areas recolonized in Little Buttermilk, locally cool seawater and 

 sediments (pers. obs) . The possible role of cooler temperature as 

 providing a refuge from the disease is addressed in the discussion. 



Stevens did not map abundance prior to the wasting disease, but he 

 described eelgrass cover in Buttermilk and Little Buttermilk Bays as 

 "notably abundant for many years and was almost completely destroyed 

 between September, 1931 and September, 1932." Stevens descriptions, a 

 1916 Eldridge nautical chart, and sediment cores taken 60 m east of Red 

 Brook, all suggest that eelgrass was abundant in Buttermilk Bay prior 

 the wasting disease. The earliest photographs (June 1943) are of poor 

 quality for vegetation analysis, but eelgrass is not as abundant in the 

 Bay as today. 



Eelgrass greatly expanded in the Bay during the 1940's, and this 

 expansion may have been facilitated by seed production from beds outside 

 the Bay (Stevens et al., 1950). By 1951, eelgrass had virtually filled 

 the central portion of Buttermilk Bay (Fig. 13)., but grew only in a few 

 areas of Little Buttermilk Bay. During the 1960's, eelgrass began to 

 extensively colonize Little Buttermilk Bay, and grew deeper in 

 Buttermilk Bay than during any other recent period (Fig. 14, 15 bottom). 

 Total eelgrass cover in the central part of Buttermilk Bay in 1966 was 



