Tag Archives: What’s killing Cape Cod’s salt marshes

What’s killing Cape Cod’s salt marshes?

A small purple crab is munching away at Cape Cod’s vulnerable marshes, thriving on unintended consequences from actions that go back nearly a century, according to a research paper released in January. The researchers found that die-off was most pronounced in areas where two factors were present: ditches dug before the 1930s to drain mosquito breeding habitat and intense shoreline development. “Development ultimately is what causes the die-off to happen,” Coverdale said. Read more