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    Estuaries and Salt Marshes: Essential Nursery Habitat

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    agungpriyanto
    Estuaries are dynamic habitats where freshwater and saltwater meet. They can form from drowned river valleys, coastal plains, subsidence, or retreating glaciers. Salinity levels vary depending on tides, topography, and freshwater input. Salt marshes border estuaries and are alternately flooded and drained by tides. They are dominated by halophytic grasses and support a productive food web of crabs, mussels, and fish. Estuaries and salt marshes provide essential nursery habitat for many commercially and recreationally important fish and shellfish species.

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    Estuaries and Salt Marshes: Essential Nursery Habitat

    Uploaded by

    agungpriyanto
    24 views26 pages
    Estuaries are dynamic habitats where freshwater and saltwater meet. They can form from drowned river valleys, coastal plains, subsidence, or retreating glaciers. Salinity levels vary depending on tides, topography, and freshwater input. Salt marshes border estuaries and are alternately flooded and drained by tides. They are dominated by halophytic grasses and support a productive food web of crabs, mussels, and fish. Estuaries and salt marshes provide essential nursery habitat for many commercially and recreationally important fish and shellfish species.

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    Estuaries are dynamic habitats where freshwater and saltwater meet. They can form from drowned river valleys, coastal plains, subsidence, or retreating glaciers. Salinity levels vary depending on tides, topography, and freshwater input. Salt marshes border estuaries and are alternately flooded and drained by tides. They are dominated by halophytic grasses and support a productive food web of crabs, mussels, and fish. Estuaries and salt marshes provide essential nursery habitat for many commercially and recreationally important fish and shellfish species.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    24 views26 pages

    Estuaries and Salt Marshes: Essential Nursery Habitat

    Uploaded by

    agungpriyanto
    Estuaries are dynamic habitats where freshwater and saltwater meet. They can form from drowned river valleys, coastal plains, subsidence, or retreating glaciers. Salinity levels vary depending on tides, topography, and freshwater input. Salt marshes border estuaries and are alternately flooded and drained by tides. They are dominated by halophytic grasses and support a productive food web of crabs, mussels, and fish. Estuaries and salt marshes provide essential nursery habitat for many commercially and recreationally important fish and shellfish species.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    of 26

    Estuaries and Salt Marshes

    Essential Nursery Habitat

    Estuaries & Salt Marshes

    Estuaries

    Dynamic habitat
    where two aquatic
    systems meet

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    Types of Estuaries

    Estuary classification can


    be based on basin
    topography or salinity
    gradients.
    Topography

    Drowned river valleys or


    coastal plain

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    Bar-built Estuary

    Sand bars
    Barrier islands
    NC

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    Tectonic Estuaries

    Subsidence
    San Francisco Bay

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    Fjords

    Retreating
    glaciers
    Sill

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    Salt Wedge

    Positive Estuary (high tide)

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    Salt Wedge

    Positive Estuary (low tide)

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    Negative Estuary

    Inverse estuary
    High salinities

    > 50
    100 or more
    during dry spells

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    Abiotic Factors of the


    Estuary

    Varying Salinity
    Substrate
    Varying Temperature
    Currents
    Turbidity
    Low Oxygen Levels

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    10

    Abiotic Factors

    Salinity

    Tides
    Topography
    Wind
    Evaporation
    Precipitation

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    11

    Physical Factors

    Substrate

    Rivers carry large


    amounts of sediment

    How is sediment particle


    size determined by
    current velocity?

    How is sediment oxygen


    concentration governed
    by sediment size?

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    12

    Living in the Mud

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    13

    Temperature & Currents

    Temperature

    Varies more due to smaller volume of water and


    fresh water input

    Water temperature also varies vertically


    Wave action and currents

    Waves are minimal due to protection


    Currents are caused by the tides and river flow

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    14

    Turbidity & Light


    Penetration

    Turbidity

    The amount of solid particles suspended in


    the water column
    Increase turbidity can decrease the
    amount of light which effectively
    penetrates

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    15

    Oxygen

    Where fresh and salt


    water mix there is
    ample oxygen in the
    water column

    Oxygen solubility does


    vary with the
    temperature
    (seasonal) of the water

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    16

    Salinity Tolerances

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    17

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    18

    Flora Composition

    Macroflora is limited due


    to unsuitable substrate
    and increased turbidity

    The dominant
    vegetation is emergent
    plants

    Occur in the upper


    intertidal

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    19

    Types of Estuarine
    Communities

    Open water

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    20

    Mud flats

    Most animals are


    infauna and are
    usually feeding on
    detritus
    Deposit feeders
    also oxygenate the
    sediment with
    their burrows

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    21

    Salt Marshes

    Found bordering
    temperate, subpolar
    estuaries and marine
    embayments
    These are communities of
    emergent grasses, or low
    shrubs rooted in soils that
    are alternately inundated
    and drained by tidal action

    Halophytes

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    22

    Salt Marsh Flora & Fauna

    Dominant plants

    Spartina, Juncus,
    Salicornia

    Dominant
    animals

    Crabs (Uca),
    mussels, oysters,
    smaller
    crustaceans,
    amphipods, juvenile
    fish

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    23

    Salt Marsh Productivity

    Most productivity is carried out by the marsh


    plants and microalgae
    Productivity is very high due to the emergent
    plants (Spartina)
    Very few herbivores, most of this productivity
    is not directly consumed

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    24

    Mangrove Forests

    Mangals
    Tropical
    equivalents of
    salt marshes
    Emergent
    Intertidal

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    25

    Estuaries & Salt Mars

    26

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