PREFACE 



To many, the thought of walking along 

 the coastline of New England produces 

 visions of the rocky shores of Maine or 

 the sandy beaches of Cape Cod. Intertidal 

 sand and mud flats, conversely, are typi- 

 cally viewed as physically uninviting if 

 not repellent habitats filled with sticky 

 muds, foul odors, and singularly uninter- 

 esting organisms except, possibly, for the 

 soft-shell ("steamer") clam. This view is 

 probably due to a lack of understanding 

 and appreciation of these habitats. While 

 tidal flats appear at first glance to be 

 rather inhospitable portions of the coast- 

 line, they play an important role as habi- 

 tats for commercially and recreational ly 

 important invertebrates and fishes as well 

 as serving as feeding sites along the New 

 England coast for a variety of migratory 

 shorebirds. 



The purpose of this report is to 

 provide a general perspective of tidal 

 flats of New England, the organisms 

 commonly associated with them, and the 

 importance of tidal flats to the coastal 

 zone viewed as a whole. The approach is 

 taxonomically based although there is also 

 attention paid to the flow of organic 

 matter through the tidal flat habitat. 

 The method of presentation is similar to 

 that of Peterson and Peterson (1979) who 

 have described the tidal flat ecosystems 

 of North Carolina. The reader, therefore, 

 has the opportunity of comparing and 

 contrasting the physical and biological 

 functioning of the two regions. Chapter 1 

 begins with a general view of the physi- 

 cal, chemical, and geological character- 

 istics of tidal flat environments followed 

 by a discussion of organic production and 

 decomposition processes vital to these 

 systems (Chapter 2). The next three chap- 

 ters deal with the benthic invertebrates 

 (Chapter 3), fishes (Chapter 4), and birds 

 (Chapter 5) common to New England tidal 

 flats. The coverage within each chapter 

 reflects the published information avail- 



able at the time of writing in addition to 

 the author's perception about the struc- 

 ture, function, and importance of each of 

 the taxonomic groups to the overall tidal 

 flat system. The last chapter (Chapter 6) 

 considers the response of tidal flats to 

 environmental perturbation as well as 

 their value to the New England coastal 

 zone. 



The reader should be aware that this 

 report is not intended to be an exhaustive 

 survey of the literature pertaining to New 

 England tidal flats. Rather, the approach 

 and philosophy used has been to provide an 

 overall impression of the characteristics 

 of the various players and their roles 

 within the habitat. If there has been a 

 goal in the writing, it is to provide a 

 better understanding and appreciation of 

 these habitats. 



This report is part of a series of 

 "community profiles" of coastal habitats 

 of the United States. Sand and mud flats 

 are identified as habitats by the U.S. 

 Service, National Wet- 

 classification system 

 Wetlands and Deepwater 

 United States, by Cowardin 

 Cowardin et al. placed 



Fish and Wildlife 

 lands Inventory 

 (Classification of 

 Habitats of the 

 et al. 1979). 



flats in the "unconsolidated shore" class, 

 the intertidal subsystem, of the marine 

 and estuarine systems. These landforms 

 are produced by erosion and deposition by 

 waves and currents and are alternately ex- 

 posed and flooded by tides (see Figure 1). 



Comments or requests for this publi- 

 cation should be addressed to: 



Information Transfer Specialist 



National Coastal Ecosystems Team 



U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 



NASA-SI idell Computer Complex 



1010 Cause Boulevard 



SI idell, LA 70458 



(504) 255-G511, FTS 685-6511 



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