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Salt Marsh Communities •Found in protected estuarine habitats • Created by grasses, which stabilize soft sediment substrate

Coastal Communities

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Page 1: Coastal Communities

Salt Marsh Communities

•Found in protected estuarine habitats

• Created by grasses, which stabilize soft sediment substrate

Page 2: Coastal Communities

Salt Marshes – Physical Characteristics

•Intertidal habitats

• Lower elevations of salt marsh are usually submerged daily for several hours, while upper border of salt marsh is only submerged once or twice a month.

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Salt Marsh-Zonation

• Few species can be good at everything. Salt marsh grasses are usually either good competitors or able to tolerate the physiologically stressful conditions of the low salt marsh.

• Grasses and flowering plants that are good stress tolerators like Spartina alterniflora dominate the low marsh.

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Salt Marsh - Distribution

Worldwide

-low seacoasts

-inside barrier bars and beaches

-in estuaries

-on deltas

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Salt Marshes Plants & Animals

• Important nursery grounds for many commercially important fishes

• Important feeding and breeding habitat for waterfowl

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Plant roots hold the sediment in and are a place for animals to hide.

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Uses • Natural filter system Natural barrier against coastal flooding

• Nursery ground for economically important species

• Beautiful!

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Human Abuses

• Construction/Development (habitat loss)

• Ditching for mosquito “control”

• Overharvesting of resources

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Dominant Animals

• Birds

• Fish

• Invertebrates– Crustaceans– Mollusks

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Geukensia demissa

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Agelaius phoeniceus

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Limulus polyphemus

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Salt Marsh Plants

• Halophytes - plants that tolerate salty water -Some push salt through pores

-Some push salt to the end of the plant and drop the end off - Salicornia

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Spartina patens

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Spartina alterniflora

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Phragmites australis – that all too common, common reed

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Salt Marsh at Low Tide

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Salt Marsh at High Tide

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To Learn More About Salt Marshes

Local salt marshes:

www.chipr.sunysb.edu/eserc/longis/flaxpond.html

Regional salt marshes:

http://www.edc.uri.edu/restoration/html/gallery/plants/reed.htm

http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/roleplaying/examples/tide.html

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/08/g35/oceans35.html

http://www.dnr.sc.gov/marine/pub/seascience/dynamic.html

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Mud (Tidal) Flats

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Mud (Tidal) Flats – Physical Characteristics

• Some areas of estuary wetlands are relatively devoid of plant matter. These Soft sediment habitats are the Tidal (Mud) Flats.

• They occur along outer edges of the salt marshes where low current flow allows fine sediment to drop out of suspension

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Who lives in Mud (Tidal) Flats?• Home to a diverse

community of invertebrates:

Snails, Clams & Segmented worms-all move through the bottom, mixing deeper, oxygen-starved sediments with surface sediments (bioturbation).

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Mud flats provide habitat/feeding ground for many invertebrates –

and their predators

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Digging Clams

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Human Uses

• Similar to salt marsh

- important nursery ground for young fish

- barrier from storm damage to land/coastal flooding

- beautiful

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Threats to Mud (Tidal) Flats• Change in current

velocity• Development of

surrounding marshes• Dredging• Global warming

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Seagrass Distribution-Shallow sub-tidal habitats created

by marine grasses-Found in estuaries and lagoons in

both temperate and tropical systems throughout the world

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Values of Seagrasses

-Modify environment by reducing current velocity, which can in turn affect sedimentation rates & soil grain size

-Help slow down storms moving inland-Increase habitat complexity, reducing

predation intensity-FOOD, SHELTER, NURSERY !!

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Values of Seagrasses continued

Increased number of individuals and species in seagrass

bed, compared to

bare or sandy areas outside the

bed.Our local seagrass is

Eelgrass

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Who Lives There?Values of Seagrasses continued

-Fish, crabs, shrimp, and scallops are much more common inside sea grass beds than outside them. Some species, such as clams and scallops, also grow faster within a sea grass bed.

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Threats To Seagrasses• Boat propeller damage

• Global warming, sea level rise

• Water quality & clarity decreases from runoff (making photosynthesis difficult)

• Brown Tide

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To learn more about Seagrasses:http://www.sms.si.edu/IRLspec/Seagrass_Habitat.htm

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/tcmweb/tcm/sglinks.htm

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Rocky Intertidal Communities

Physical Characteristics:Dependent on

tides-periodically covered by water

or exposed to elements

Rocky – cobble to boulder sized

sediment

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Value of Rocky Intertidal

Structure, habitat for economically & environmentally important species

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Threats to the Rocky Intertidal

• Global Climate Change & Sea Level Rise

• Waste disposal/sewage disposal

• Overcollecting, trampling by humans

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25F7xMVNt-w

Barnacles Feeding

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Rocky Intertidal Flora & Fauna

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Helpful Links to Communities

Salt Marsh & Rocky Shores:http://www.uri.edu/cels/bio/rishores/

home.htmBarnacles!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2ow4sB-RQs&feature=related