As much as we humans often wish to preserve the status quo, remembering with nostalgia how things were back when, Nature marches on at her own pace. And so, with time, our environment changes: meadows and clear-cuts are swallowed by brush, brush becomes invaded by trees, and tree types change as forests mature. Marshes and ponds are no exception to this rule of change. Especially when water quality is altered by human activity, the change can be rapid. High nutrient levels may allow some species to suddenly become invasive, displacing those that could thrive at lower nutrient levels. Two such species have become dominant parts of the landscape on Oyster Pond: the Phragmites reed and purple loosestrife.
The Shining Sea bike path between Elm Road and Surf Drive along the southern Oyster Pond
shore provides a good example of how rapidly some species can take over a landscape. About
6-7 years ago, from almost anywhere along this stretch, a walker had a clear view of the
pond all the way across to the Oyster Pond Rd and Fells Rd shore, to Spohr Gardens, to the
Ransom Rd and Treetops shore. Bay berry bushes, beach roses and poison ivy and wild flowers
comprised most of the vegetation close to the path, and low native reeds grew at the water's
edge. Three years ago, bikers could still see the pond for a good portion of this stretch,
but walkers no longer could see over the tall reeds that began to invade the shoreline from
both the east and west. This year, even bikers get a brief glimpse of the pond only where
the bench is located. For the rest of the shore, a monoculture of the tall Phragmites reeds,
their pretty plumes gracefully rustling in the breeze, blocks the view. And through this
one remaining window to the pond, in midsummer, you can see the eastern shore ablaze with
the intense purple candlesticks of another invasive plant, purple loosestrife, A very
picturesque sight it is, indeed, this purple splendor. The marsh along Oyster Pond Rd,
formerly vegetated by cat tails and other native marsh plants, is in the process of being
completely taken over by this pretty plant.
OPET is wondering whether the massive invasion of these species represents a threat to
the ecological balance of Oyster Pond. Elsewhere, including on the Cape, programs are in place to control these plants' growth. OPET has formed a committee to study the problem. Jason Hyatt, a pond resident and MIT graduate student at WHOI, has volunteered to head the committee, and will start by surveying and documenting the extent of Phragmites growth in Oyster Pond.
To Page Three of The Watershed v5 n2
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