Estuary's

1. Estuary's By Mahdi Sadr 6B

2. What are Estuaries • Estuaries are places where freshwater rivers and streams flow into the ocean, mixing with the seawater. A wide variety of birds, fish, and other wildlife make estuaries their home. People also live, fish, swim, and enjoy nature in estuaries and the lands surrounding them. • Estuaries come in all shapes and sizes and are called many different names—bays, lagoons, harbors, inlets, or sounds. • http://water.epa.gov/learn/kids/estuaries/visit.cfm

3. http://www.niot.res.in/m5/mbic/me/zones/estuary.htm

4. Estuaries location • http://sharks77551.yuku.com/topic/3131

5. Dangers to Estuaries There are many dangers to the estuary. One danger to the estuary is pollution. Things like rubbish being thrown in the water, and oil and fuel spills from boats all damage the delicate environment. The pollution will cause many animals and plants to die. Pollution will destroy their home. Both tourists and local people are responsible for these dangers and need to stop polluting. • http://www.crescenthead.ps.education.nsw.gov.au/students/estuary/environment/dangers.htm

6. This is what happens to estuaries!!

7. More Dangers • Another danger to the estuary is weeds. Weeds such as bitou bush and lantana affect the estuary by taking over native plants. For example, if mangroves start to die because of these weeds, then the crabs are affected, which then affects the birds that eat the crabs. The whole balance of the ecosystem is affected. • http://www.crescenthead.ps.education.nsw.gov.au/students/estuary/environment/dangers.htm

8. Why pollute estuaries • People don’t pollute on purpose they pollute because they throw junk in the water and that factories throw oil in the rivers so they don’t have to pay to destroy it.

9. The unique community of an Estuary • The tidal waters of estuaries support unique communities of plants and animals, specially adapted for life in estuaries. Estuarine environments are among the most productive on earth, creating more organic matter each year than modern-sized areas of forest, and grassland. Many different habitat types are found in and around estuaries, including shallow open waters, freshwater and salt marshes, sandy beaches, mud and sand flats, rocky shores, oyster reefs, mangrove forests, river deltas, tidal pools, sea grass and kelp beds, and wooded swamps. • http://www.thewildclassroom.com/biomes/estuaries.html

10. Habitats of an Estuary • The productivity and variety of estuarine habitats create a wonderful abundance and range of wildlife. Shore birds, fish, crabs and lobsters, marine mammals, clams and other shellfish, marine worms, sea birds, and reptiles are just some of the animals that make their homes in and around estuaries. These animals are linked to one another and to an amount of specialized plants and microscopic organisms through complex food webs and other interactions. • http://www.thewildclassroom.com/biomes/estuaries.html

11. Animal adaptations • So what exactly are the adaptations of of animals living in a estuary and what is needed for animals to find a way to strive in the vast Estuary?

12. Introduction to adaptations • Mangrove trees and blue crabs are some of the estuarine species that have adapted to unique environmental conditions. In almost all estuaries the salinity of the water changes constantly over the tidal cycle. To survive in these conditions, plants and animals living in estuaries must be able to respond quickly to drastic changes in salinity. http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/kits/estuaries/estuaries07_adaptations.html

13. Stenohaline • Plants and animals that can tolerate only slight changes in salinity are called stenohaline . These organisms usually live in either freshwater or saltwater environments. Most stenohaline organisms cannot tolerate the rapid changes in salinity that occur during each tidal cycle in an estuary. • http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/kits/estuaries/estuaries07_adaptations.html

14. Euryhaline • Plants and animals that can tolerate a wide range of salinities are called euryhaline. These are the plants and animals most often found in the brackish waters of estuaries. There are far fewer euryhaline than stenohaline organisms because it requires a lot of energy to adapt to constantly changing salinities. Organisms that can do this are rare and special.

15. My opinion • I think that estuaries are actually quite important to us and are valuable and people need to stop polluting because as I said before estuaries include complex food webs and pollution kills most living organisms in this biome.