Estuaries and Salt Marshes Monitoring

Salt Marsh Monitoring in Action!

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Estuaries and salt marshes - the areas where the sea meets freshwater - are not only extremely important ecosystems in the Seashore but also extremely threatened, by both anthropogenic (human-caused) and ecological influences. An estuary is the area where a river or stream meets the ocean, making it a brackish (part salty part fresh) area that unqiuely supports organisms with minimal but not full salt tolerance. Salt marshes are also important pieces of the intertidal zones (areas often inundated with sea water but not fully marine) of Cape Cod National Seashore. You can learn more on our estuaries and salt marshes pages. These ecosystems are important focuses of restoration for the Seashore, which monitoring helps to inform.

 

Salt Marsh Vegetation Monitoring

Salt marsh vegetation is monitored within the Seashore to understand any physiochemical and vegetation changes, which helps park scientists to understand the plant communities and their long-term trends that make up these systems.

You can learn more about salt marsh vegetation monitoring by clicking on the drop-down below to view available monitoring documents.

 

Monitoring Documents
Salt Marsh Vegetation

Here you can find the available monitoring documents for salt marsh vegetation.

Source: NPS DataStore Collection 9717. To search for additional information, visit the NPS DataStore.

 

Seagrass Monitoring

In collaboration with the park's Inventory and Monitoring Network, the Northeast Coastal Barrier Network, Cape Cod National Seashore also monitors seagrasses. By absorbing nutrients and carbon as well as providing valuable habitat, these important species play a critical role in estuarine ecosystems, but are highly threatened by global changes.

How we monitor:

1. Mark a 50m transect line within each depth zone: shallow, mid-depth, and deep

2. Mark out 0.25m by 0.25m plots at 12 random locations along the transect

3. Record observations of seagrass abundance and size at each plot

4. Sample at each depth zone every year. Or, even better, collect data four times a year, once per season. Analyze data for long-term trends.