Florida Salt Marshes

1. Ehringer Florida Salt Marshes

2. Salt marshes • Along the coasts of Florida, salt marshes are the bridges between the sea and the land. They are very productive systems that are essential to many important species in Florida • Salt marshes border the large shallow bays and estuaries where inland rivers empty into the sea. Tidal creeks meander through them, rising and falling twice a day, flooding the marsh, then retreating. From a distance, salt marshes look like broad, flat, treeless meadows covered with waving grasses and open expanses of sand and salt.

4. Food chain • The foundation of the salt marsh food chain is the grasses, and the grasses derive their energy from the sun through photosynthesis. The overall food web for the marsh is a detrital based food web. Many other ecosystems are based on the model where primary consumer or herbivore is eaten by secondary consumer, is eaten by tertiary consumer, etc. In the salt marsh, most of the primary production (the grasses) is not passed directly to herbivore through grazing, but rather the grasses enter the food web after becoming enriched as detritus. It has been estimated that between 45 and 60% of the organic matter initially in the grasses enters the detrital food web, the rest being eaten by herbivores. The detritus is said to be enriched because the action of microorganisms, particularly bacteria, breaks down the plant cellulose and add their own protoplasm to the mix.

5. Juncus

6. Juncus • The Juncus community is usually found more shoreward from the Spartina community and is in areas that are irregularly flooded with salt water at the highest of high tides. At low tides the community is flooded with fresh water from nearby rivers and streams. It is, therefore, on the fringe of the brackish water embayment.

7. Spartina

8. Spartina • Smooth cordgrass looks like a typical "grass" having long thin shoots that grow upward from the sediment. It has a prominent ecological importance in its location along the shoreline. One of the more important roles is its ability to stabilize the shore. The roots hold the sediment in place and prevent it from washing out to sea. Because of this role, smooth cordgrass is often planted along new shorelines that are created for highways and bridges. Another role for cordgrass is that it is home for many organisms. While walking along the shoreline in the grasses two organisms are readily apparent: the sand fiddler crab (Ucapugilator) and the marsh periwinkle (Littorinairrorata).