Spartina patens Is able to recover from 33 centimeters of overwash sand 

 burial. Unlike the dune species, plant recovery for Spartina patens is 

 negatively correlated to burial depth, Spartina patens recovers best from 

 shallow burial. Although there is no linear relationship between elevation 

 and recovery, quadrats at higher elevations recovered better than those at 

 lower elevations. The elevation range over which Spartina patens occurred 

 decreased from 77 centimeters in 1977 to A3 certimeters in 1978. The mean 

 elevation at which Spartina patens occurred increased by 12 centimeters. 

 Preoverwash density and cover of Spartina patens cannot be used to predict 

 postoverwash density and cover, but quadrats with high density and cover did 

 recover better than those with lower density and cover. 



In 1977 both cover and density of Spartina patens were highly negatively 

 correlated with elevation. Spartina patens grew best at the lower limits of " .., 



its elevation range. In 1978, however, there was no relationship between 

 cover and density and elevation. Plants that were able to grow, through sand *. 



burial did equally well throughout the 43-ccntimeter elevation range. Only 

 after initial colonization of the sand surface does the species respond to 

 subtle variations in environmental conditions based on elevation. 



Cover and density were highly correlated in both 1977 and 1973. Regres- 

 sion lines for 1977 and 1978 were highly significantly different. The rela- 

 tionship of density to cover, used as a measure of individual plant size, 

 indicated that plants were larger after recovering from overwash burial than 

 before burial. All the preoverwash vegetative axes did net recover from 

 burial. Plant density was reduced significantly, even in those quadrats that 

 recovered from burial. Those axe^ that reached the sand surface were probably 

 able to use a larger amount of the reallocatable resources of the buried plant 

 parts than axes unaffected by overwash burial. Spartina patens generally 

 grows poorly in areas that hud high biomass the previous year. Unlike 

 Spartina alt evni flora, much of the dead Spartina patens plant material remains ; 



in place for several years, shading newly emergent axes and reducing biomass 

 production. In overwashed areas, dead plant material is buried such that 

 emergent axes receive maximum solar radiation and grow better than plants with 

 limited light. 



Spartina patens recovers best in quadrats that in 1977 had fewest Spartina. 

 alterniflora; these quadrats were in the lower range of Spartina patens. The 



negative association of Spartina patens and Spartina alterniflora laay reflect 



the inability of Spartina patens to recover from burial at low elevations as / 



much as Spartina. patens' ability to recover from burial in the presence of 



Spartina alterniflora. A model for Spartina patens recovery in site 1 fan 

 appears in Figure 66. . j 



(b) Spartina. alterniflora . The 176 quadrats sampled at site I 

 fan in 1977 with Spartina alterniflora were buried by between 4 and 116 centi- 

 meters of washover sediment (Table 25). A total of 74 quadrats (42 percent) 

 recovered from as much as 22 centimeters of burial; 102 quadrats failed to 

 recover from burial. All quadrats with Spartina alterniflora in sites 2 and 3 

 were buried by more than 22 centimeters of overwash sand. Using only those 

 quadrats in site 1 that were buried by less than 22 centimeters of sand (133 

 cases), 56 percent of the quadrats with Spartina. alterniflora recovered. 



Ill 



