ABSTRACT
Waquoit Bay is a shallow lagoon-type estuary that lies along a glacial outwash plain on the south shore of Cape Cod (Figure 2.1). The bay covers an area of 600 ha, and it supports rich and diverse biotic communities. Although the bay only averages 1.8 m in depth (maximum depth 3 m), the water column is typically stratiÞed (D’Avanzo and Kremer, 1994). Surface water and groundwater inßows from the watershed mix with waters from Nantucket Sound and Vineyard Sound. Characterized as a multiple inlet estuary, Waquoit Bay is bounded along its southern perimeter by barrier beaches that are breached at two permanent locations (Crawford, 2002). A navigation channel trending north–south bisects the main embayment into eastern and western sections. Proceeding upestuary, the bay is bounded by salt marshes, and it gives way to brackish ponds, freshwater tributaries, freshwater ponds, and upland habitat. Flat, Sage Lot, Hamblin, and Jehu Ponds are brackish ponds, and Bog, Bourne, and Caleb Ponds are freshwater ponds.
