Estuaries

Question 1

WHAT IS AN ESTUARY

Answer 1

• a place where salt + fresh water meet + mix
  
  • they are brackish → not as fresh as freshwater or as salty as saltwater
    
    • ex. Chesapeake Bay
  • water → mix of salty and fresh
• partly enclosed by land + occur along the coast
• specific habitat types will vary based on amount of water, tides, salinity + geology
• the mixing of salt + freshwater define an estuary

Question 2

WHY ESTUARIES ARE IMPORTANT

Answer 2

-nurseries for economically important species
-protection from storms
-ecosystem productivity
-pollution control
-migratory birds can stop there
-Ecological benefits

Question 3

nurseries for economically important species

Answer 3

organisms can hide, have more available food → better odds

Question 4

protection from storms

Answer 4

• system of plants + canals + streams (connected)
• storms → estuaries absorb massive surge from storms + dissipate it
  
  • helps protect further inland land

Question 5

ecosystem productivity

Answer 5

• don’t occupy a lot of earth landmass → costal
• productive in terms of organism they support + energy produced (photosynthesis)
• good breeding ground

Question 6

pollution control

Answer 6

• as water moves through water shed → some water moves over surface, some through ground (groundwater)
  
  • estuaries = good at pulling pollution out of water moving through them
    
    • fix ph → plants that grow pull metals out from soil solution
      
      • giant filters

Question 7

migratory birds can stop there

Answer 7

for rest as they migrate

Question 8

Ecological benefit

Answer 8

• economical
• aesthetic

Question 9

Salinity

Answer 9

salt concentration

Question 10

Salinity

Answer 10

salt concentration

Question 11

CONDUCTIVITY

Answer 11

• measure of waters ability to conduct current/electricity
• the more dissolved ions the greater the conductivity

Question 12

salinity unit

Answer 12

parts per thousand (ppt = grams/liter)

Question 13

correlation coefficient

Answer 13

• how good is the fit of the data to the graph
• smaller the value, the more variation in data, the less strong the relationship in the variables
• how good a tool do I have/how good a predictor is the standard curve
  
  • the closer to 1 the value is → the better the curve + the stronger the relationship + the better a tool it is

Question 14

Solution

Answer 14

homogenous mixture of 2 or more substances

Question 15

Solvent

Answer 15

substances that can dissolve other compounds

Question 16

Solute

Answer 16

materials that dissolves in solvent disperses into individual ions/molecules