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Estuaries and Salt Marshes

Estuaries and Salt Marshes. Essential Nursery Habitat. Estuaries. Dynamic habitat where two aquatic systems meet. Types of Estuaries. Estuary classification can be based on basin topography or salinity gradients . Topography Drowned river valleys or coastal plain. Bar-built Estuary.

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Estuaries and Salt Marshes

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  1. Estuaries and Salt Marshes Essential Nursery Habitat Estuaries & Salt Marshes

  2. Estuaries • Dynamic habitat where two aquatic systems meet Estuaries & Salt Marshes

  3. Types of Estuaries • Estuary classification can be based on basin topography or salinity gradients. • Topography • Drowned river valleys or coastal plain Estuaries & Salt Marshes

  4. Bar-built Estuary • Sand bars • Barrier islands • NC Estuaries & Salt Marshes

  5. Tectonic Estuaries • Subsidence • San Francisco Bay Estuaries & Salt Marshes

  6. Fjords • Retreating glaciers • Sill Estuaries & Salt Marshes

  7. Salt Wedge • Positive Estuary (high tide) Estuaries & Salt Marshes

  8. Salt Wedge • Positive Estuary (low tide) Estuaries & Salt Marshes

  9. Negative Estuary • Inverse estuary • High salinities • > 50‰ • 100‰ or more during dry spells Estuaries & Salt Marshes

  10. Abiotic Factors of the Estuary • Varying Salinity • Substrate • Varying Temperature • Currents • Turbidity • Low Oxygen Levels Estuaries & Salt Marshes

  11. Abiotic Factors • Salinity • Tides • Topography • Wind • Evaporation • Precipitation Estuaries & Salt Marshes

  12. 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 Marshes

  13. Living in the Mud Estuaries & Salt Marshes

  14. 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 Marshes

  15. 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 Marshes

  16. 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 Marshes

  17. Salinity Tolerances Estuaries & Salt Marshes

  18. Estuaries & Salt Marshes

  19. 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 Marshes

  20. Types of Estuarine Communities • Open water Estuaries & Salt Marshes

  21. Mud flats • Most animals are infauna and are usually feeding on detritus • Deposit feeders also oxygenate the sediment with their burrows Estuaries & Salt Marshes

  22. 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 Marshes

  23. Salt Marsh Flora & Fauna • Dominant plants • Spartina, Juncus, Salicornia • Dominant animals • Crabs (Uca), mussels, oysters, smaller crustaceans, amphipods, juvenile fish Estuaries & Salt Marshes

  24. 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 Marshes

  25. Mangrove Forests • Mangals • Tropical equivalents of salt marshes • Emergent • Intertidal Estuaries & Salt Marshes

  26. Estuaries & Salt Marshes

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