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Estuaries and Salt Marshes

Essential Nursery Habitat

Estuaries & Salt Marshes

Estuaries

Dynamic habitat
where two aquatic
systems meet

Estuaries & Salt Mars

Types of Estuaries

Estuary classification can


be based on basin
topography or salinity
gradients.
Topography

Drowned river valleys or


coastal plain

Estuaries & Salt Mars

Bar-built Estuary

Sand bars
Barrier islands
NC

Estuaries & Salt Mars

Tectonic Estuaries

Subsidence
San Francisco Bay

Estuaries & Salt Mars

Fjords

Retreating
glaciers
Sill

Estuaries & Salt Mars

Salt Wedge

Positive Estuary (high tide)

Estuaries & Salt Mars

Salt Wedge

Positive Estuary (low tide)

Estuaries & Salt Mars

Negative Estuary

Inverse estuary
High salinities

> 50
100 or more
during dry spells

Estuaries & Salt Mars

Abiotic Factors of the


Estuary

Varying Salinity
Substrate
Varying Temperature
Currents
Turbidity
Low Oxygen Levels

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Abiotic Factors

Salinity

Tides
Topography
Wind
Evaporation
Precipitation

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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?

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Living in the Mud

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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

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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

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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

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Salinity Tolerances

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Flora Composition

Macroflora is limited due


to unsuitable substrate
and increased turbidity

The dominant
vegetation is emergent
plants

Occur in the upper


intertidal

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Types of Estuarine
Communities

Open water

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Mud flats

Most animals are


infauna and are
usually feeding on
detritus
Deposit feeders
also oxygenate the
sediment with
their burrows

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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

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Salt Marsh Flora & Fauna

Dominant plants

Spartina, Juncus,
Salicornia

Dominant
animals

Crabs (Uca),
mussels, oysters,
smaller
crustaceans,
amphipods, juvenile
fish

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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

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Mangrove Forests

Mangals
Tropical
equivalents of
salt marshes
Emergent
Intertidal

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