Saltwater Coastal Wetlands:

1. Saltwater Coastal Wetlands:

2. Coastal Wetlands • are areas of coastal land that are covered all or part of the year with salt water. They include a mixture of bays, lagoons, salt flats, mud flats, salt marshes, estuaries, and deltas. Grasses are the dominant vegetation in saltwater wetlands.

3. Coastal wetlands are important for many of the same reasons as freshwater wetlands. • Breedinggrounds and habitats for waterfowl and other wildlife. • Serve as popular areas for boating, fishing, and hunting. • Help maintain the quality of coastal waters by diluting, filtering, and settling out sediments, excess nutrients, and pollutants.

4. Coastal wetlands are important for many of the same reasons as freshwater wetlands. • Protect lives and property during floods by absorbing and slowing the flow of water an. • Buffer shores against damage and erosion during storms.

5. Coastal wetlands are important for many of the same reasons as freshwater wetlands. • Serve as nurseries and habitat for shrimp and aquatic animals. • Two thirds of the US major commercial fisheries depend on coastal estuaries and marshes for spawning grounds.

6. 1. Estuary • An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal where freshwaterfrom rivers and streams mixeswithsaltwaterfrom the ocean.

7. 1. Estuary • Estuaries are protectedfrom the full force of the ocean by mudflats, sandspitsandbarrier islands. • You'll find estuaries all over the world and there are lots of different names for them. • Estuaries are sometimes called bays, lagoons, harbors or sounds. • All of these places are estuaries if fresh water mixes with salt water.

8. Importance: • Estuaries play an important role in the U.S. economy. • They attract tourists who like fishing, boating and other water sports. • They are an important part of the shipping industry because there are many industrial ports located in estuaries. iii. Estuaries are also a critical part of the commercial fishing industry. It is estimated that over 75 percent of all the fish that are caught by commercial fishing operations lived in an estuary for at least part of their life cycle.

9. Importance: • The constant water movement stirs up the nutrient-richsilt, making it important to producers. • As the tides rise and fall, estuaries provide free waste treatment as the surface runoff from the land makes its way into the ocean. • Estuaries are often called the nurseries of the ocean. Many fish species lay their eggs in estuaries. The abundant plant life in estuaries provides a safe place for young fish to live

10. Importance • Many migratory birds like the Canada Goose use estuaries as resting and feeding places when they migrate. • They also help control pollution. Water from upland areas often carries sediment and pollutants. The marshy land and plants in estuaries filter these pollutants out of the water. • The plants in estuaries help prevent shoreline erosion. • Estuaries also protect inland areas from flooding and storm surges. When a storm hits, estuaries often absorb water from the storm before it can reach upland areas

11. Estuary Ecology: • There are usually threezones in an estuary. • The first zone is where the river begins to meet the saltwater. It has more fresh water than saltwater. • Next is a middle zone where there is an almost equal mix of fresh and saltwater. • The last zone is where the water begins to flow into the ocean, and is mostly saltwater.

12. Estuary Ecology: • Estuaries are full of decaying plants and animals. This makes the soil of estuaries rich in nutrients. • Because the soil is so rich, lots of different plants grow in estuaries. The plants attract lots of different animals to the estuary and those animals attract other animals to the estuary. • Common animals include: shore and sea birds, fish, crabs, lobsters, clams and other shellfish, marine worms, raccoons, opossums, skunks and lots of reptiles

13. Estuary Ecology: • Birds are also abundant in estuaries. Between the plants and the fish and other animal life, there’s a lot for them to eat. • Long-legged birds like sandpipers, great blue herons, great egrets, and green herons are common in estuaries. • Their long legs are perfect for wading in the water and their long toes make walking in the mud easy. Their bills are adapted for catching and eating fish, worms, crabs and other invertebrates that live in the estuary.

14. Human Impacts • Pollution from upland areas often damages estuaries. Contamination is common because estuaries trap pesticides, heavy metals, and other pollutants, as they flow through, concentrating them to high levels. 37% of US coastal shellfish beds are closed to commercial or sport fishing, because of contamination from sewage treatment plants, septic tank systems, and urban runoff.

15. Human Impacts 2. Dams can block natural stream and river routes and cut off freshwater from estuaries. When that happens, the fresh and saltwaterbalance of the estuary is changed and the estuary can be seriously damaged.

16. Human Impacts 3. Development can damage or even destroy estuaries. In the past, many people thought estuaries were wasted land and many estuaries where filled in and built on. 2/3 of the world’s pop. (3.9 billion) live along coasts or within 100 miles of a coast. Since 1900 the world has lost about half of its coastal wetlands, through development. 55% of the area of estuaries and coastal wetlands in the US has been destroyed or damaged due to dredging and filling and waste contamination.

17. 2. Mangrove islands • areas along warm tropical coasts where there is too much silt for coral reefs to grow. Dominated by salt-tolerant trees or shrubs called mangroves. (There are about 55 species of mangrove worldwide.)

18. Importance • Help protect the coastline from erosion • Reduce damage from typhoons and hurricanes • Trap sediment washed off the land • Provide breeding, nursery, and feeding grounds for 2000 species of fish, invertebrates, and plants

19. Human Impacts on Mangrove islands / swamps: • Since mid-1960’s, tropical coastal countries have lost half or more of mangrove forests due to logging for timber and fuelwood, aquaculture, conversion to rice fields agricultural land and developments

20. 3. Mud flat • also called tidal flats… found next to salt marshes. Twice a day, water flows in and out with the tides, filling or draining the flat. The mud flat receives nutrients form the tidal flow and the nearby marsh. Many burrowinganimals and crustaceans live in the mud flats, and breath through tubes to get oxygen from the surface

21. 4. Salt Marsh • very similar to estuaries, but are usually found on the back sides of barrier islands, and have varying water levels due to the high and low tides. Most of the vegetation are salt marsh grasses, which are too tough for organisms to eat.

22. 4. Salt Marsh • Most of the nutrients are found in the bottom sediments, which are full of nutrients from the decaying grasses (detritus). There are many benthic organisms (crabs, snails, etc.) which feed on the detritus. This, in turn, attracts fish, birds, and other aquatic species higher in the food chain. Salt marshes are often overlooked in terms of their importance, and many are destroyed as people build their homes on the shorelines of bays and barrier islands.

23. Salt marshes are important for: • Nurseries • Filter and trap pollutants and sediments before they settle into estuaries • They also serve as a buffer to protect shorelines

24. 5. Deltas • A delta is the mouth of a river where it flows into an ocean, sea, or lake, building outwards as sediment carried by the river, deposits. These deposits form many channels to which the water flows outward into the sea. • The heavier sand materials deposit first, causing a build-up of land. These land areas form wetlands, and are important habitats to plant and animal life. • Once plant life establishes itself, the newly formed land stabilizes, and can support animal life. The finer silt particles are carried farther into the sea. • Some deltas are extremely important because they provide an oasis in areas that would otherwise be extremely dry. One example is the Okavango River Delta in Africa.

25. 5. Deltas

26. 5. DeltasImportance • Provide an oasis in otherwise barren areas