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Estuaries and Wetlands
What Are Estuaries?• Where the freshwater of a river meets the
salty water of the ocean
• They mix here forming brackish water, which just means a mixture of salt and freshwater.
• You live in the 4th largest estuary system in the US.
Estuaries• Estuaries are one of the most productive
environments on Earth.
• They often contain many wetlands.
• Many marine animals, such as fish & shrimp, begin their lives in estuaries safe from predators. Without the wetlands (in the estuary) these animals would disappear.
What does an estuary look like?
CoastalCoastalHabitatsHabitats
Source: Denise Reed
Source: NOAA
Barrier IslandsBarrier Islands
Endangered species of the Mobile Bay Estuary
Federally Endangered or Threatened Species:
Mammals:• Alabama beach mouse• West Indian manatee
Birds:• bald eagle• peregrine falcon• piping plover• red-cockaded woodpecker• wood stork
Fish:• Gulf sturgeon
Federally Endangered/Threatened Species:
Reptiles:• Alabama red-bellied turtle• eastern indigo snake• gopher tortoise• loggerhead sea turtle
Insects:• American Burying beetle
Plants:• Alabama canebrake pitcher-plant• American chaffseed• Louisiana quillwort• Mohr's Barbara's buttons
Endangered Mammals, Fish, & Birds
• Alabama beach mouse
• Alabama sturgeon Peregrine falcon
Endangered Reptiles& Insects• Alabama Red-bellied • turtle (state reptile)
• The American
Burying Beetle
Pitcher plantPitcher plant
Pitcher plant bogsPitcher plant bogs
WetlandsWetlands: an area of land where the water
level is near or above the surface of the ground for most of the year.
The United States is losing more than 80,000 acres of wetland habitat annually. That's more than seven football fields each day!
Wetlands
So why are they so important?
• support a variety of animal and plant life
• control flooding by storing flood water
• Filter water ($2,000 worth of water treatment per acre annually X 160,000 acres in Mobile Bay alone!)
• replenish ground water
Two types of wetlands in the US:
a. Marshes: treeless wetland
• find them along the shores of lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, & river deltas
• plants found there depends on the depth of the water & location; grasses, reeds, bulrushes, & wild rice
• animals found there: muskrats, turtles, frogs, and red-winged blackbirds
b. Swamps: a wetland ecosystem where trees & vines grow
• occur in low lying areas & beside slow-moving rivers
• are flooded only part of the year depending on rainfall
• plants & animals found there: willow trees, bald cypress, water tupelos, oaks, elms, poison ivy, Spanish moss, water lilies, fish, snakes, birds
Freshwater MarshesFreshwater Marshes
Source: USGS
Wetlands: The EvergladesWetlands: The Everglades
Source: Susanne Moser
The Florida Everglades Wetlands Reconstruction Project
• Total Acres: 41,460
• Phosphorus Removed thru 12/03: 417.5 Tons
• 747.9 million dollars spent since the mid 90s on this restoration project
• 8 billion dollars will be spent by the end of this 30 year project
1943 versus 1991
Stormwater Treatment AreasStormwater Treatment AreasSTAs are constructed wetlands that remove
and store nutrients through plant growth and the accumulation of dead plant material in a
layer of peat.
A Stormwater Treatment Wetland
Swamps
Cypress swamp found commonly in the Southern United States. Note the Cypress “knees”. The Okefenokee Swamp is to the right. It is in southern Georgia and northern Florida.
Mangroves Mangroves in the in the EvergladesEverglades
Source: Robert Twilley
Source: USGS
Source: National Park Service
Forested wetlandsForested wetlands
Wetlands and the Ducks Unlimited Connection
• No other organization has done for wildlife habitat what DU has done.
• Began in 1937 DU has conserved more than 9.4 million acres of waterfowl habitat throughout North America. DU supporters have raised nearly $1.6 billion for conservation since 1937.
Lakes, etc. to forests
Lake to Forest
• eventually lakes fill in over time and become forest
• sediment is deposited by local rivers & streams until over time the lake is filled in and becomes a forest
PondPond
Perry Lake, AlabamaPerry Lake, Alabama
BottomlandBottomlandhardwoodhardwood
forestsforests
Source: Robert Twilley
The walking catfish
Mississippi River Drainage Basin
Coral reefs -Coral reefs -the rainforests the rainforests of the seaof the sea
Source: Mike White, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
Source: NOAA
Close up shot of coral (moon coral)
Zooxanthellae: symbiotic algae and the coral polyp
The Great Barrier Reef off of Australia
Threats to the Reef
• Can be seen from space—2900 reefs; covering 1600 miles and 134,000 sq acres
• Largest thing on earth made by living organism
• Will likely die due to global warming—coral bleaching—tourism and fishing, runoff, and crown of thorns starfish
Bleached coral and nonbleached coral
Crown of thorns starfish