Marsh grass dying at alarming rate

BRUNSWICK - Coastal Georgia marsh grass is dying off by the acre, and scientists are scrambling to figure out why. <br> <br> The culprit may be a tiny snail that&#39;s eating more than just dead plants. <br> <br> A broad patch of ``balded&#39;&#39; or dying marsh that is visible from Interstate 95 between the North Newport and Jerico rivers in Liberty County is fueling a new wave of study into the marshes that contribute so much to Georgia&#39;s economy. <br> <br> The director of the Coastal Resources Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Susan Shipman, said the question is what&#39;s causing it. She said researchers have been asked to look at it. <br> <br> Hundreds of acres of salt marsh grass has died in recent years, particularly in Louisiana and Florida, according to researchers with Brown University in Rhode Island. <br> <br> Two Brown biologists found that periwinkle snails and a change in the food chain may be causing the destruction. <br> <br> Periwinkle snails usually eat dead cordgrass in the marsh, and blue crabs in turn eat periwinkle snails. But as crabs become rarer along Georgia&#39;s coast, there are more periwinkle snails. Free from predatory crabs, the snails are munching away at cordgrass until there&#39;s none left, researchers suspect. <br> <br> Cordgrass anchors Southern marshes and provides wildlife habitat. Without the plants to bind sediment and protect wildlife, the salt marsh ecosystem collapses.