Westborough author to speak about Atlantic coastline
By Ken Powers Community Reporter

Westborough resident and author Scott Shumway

Westborough - Scott Shumway's aff ection for the ocean, coastline and all things living in, on and around it began when he was a 3-year-old vacationing with his parents and grandmother in Ocean City, N.J.

Decades later, that aff ection serves as both a vocation and avocation for the Westborough resident.

Shumway is as a professor of biology at Wheaton College in Norton, where he teaches courses in marine biology, botany and environmental science.

A devoted birdwatcher and beachcomber, Shumway's avocation has manifested itself in his recently published book, "The Naturalist's Guide to the Atlantic Seashore: Beach Ecology from the Gulf of Maine to Cape Hatteras."

Shumway will be signing copies of his book as well as giving a slide-show presentation about its subject matter at Tatnuck Bookseller, Gift Gallery & Café Saturday April 26 from 3 to 5 p.m.

"What makes the book more than just an identification guide is that it talks about what's actually happening," Shumway said. "It's not just a listing of what you'll see as you walk along the beach, but why it's there and what its function and role is."

Shumway received a bachelor's degree in biology and environmental science from Tufts University. His field of study for his doctorate, which he earned at Brown University, focused on salt marshes and sand dune ecology.

A resident of Westborough for 12 years, Shumway is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Westborough Community Land Trust (WCLT) and has previously served on the Conservation Commission (six years) and the Open Space Preservation Committee (five years).

Among the topics Shumway discusses in his book are: the coastline, where the ocean meets the land; food chains and the forgotten plankton; rocky shores; sandy beaches; sand dunes; estuaries; salt marshes; tidal flats; seagrass meadows; open ocean; and the beach in winter.

Complementing Shumway's word pictures of the evolution that occurs on the coastline are more than 300 color photographs, about half taken by him, the other half taken by Garry Kessler, another member of the WCLT's Board of Directors.

Shumway's book also includes vignettes of unique experiences in certain habitats, acquired by him during his studies and during the 10 years he researched and wrote the book.

One that stood out was the spring mating event of the horseshoe crab at Delaware Bay in Cape May, N.J.

"Having read about it and studied it, I felt it was something I had to experience for myself," Shumway said. "Each spring the male and female species of horseshoe crab converge on the shores of Delaware Bay to make and lay eggs on the beach, and the top two inches of the sand become nothing but horseshoe crab eggs.

"At the same time, shore birds from as far away as the Arctic, who migrated south - some all the way to South America - are returning home," Shumway said. "They need a place to refuel and something to refuel on, and Delaware Bay and horseshoe crab eggs are the perfect combination for them."

The story doesn't have a happy ending, however, as over the years the eggs and adults have been over-harvested, forcing the migrating birds to find other food and feeding locales.

One species, the Red Knot Bird, which feeds solely on horseshoe crab eggs, is an endangered species because of the over-harvesting.