Estuaries Flashcards
What is a bar built estuary , examples
Built by the accumulation of sediments into sand bars or barrier islands
North Carolina , cape hatteras
Tectonic estuaries , example
Formed as a result of island sinking due to movements in the earth’s crust , San Francisco Bay
Fjords , examples
Deep Channels cut in the coastal zone as a result of retreating glaciers
Alaska and Norway
Where are estuaries the best developed
Where the coastal plain is flat and the continental shelf is wide
Salinity can vary from ? Salinity varies according to?
5-30 ppt
Distance form saltwater (tides) or freshwater (river) input
Result of storms
Depth
Salinity is not uniform. Why ?
Saltwater is heavier and sinks below freshwater which forms a salt wedge
Organisms in estuaries are normally? Some are omoregulators which means ?mothers are osmoconformers …
Euryhaline can tolerate a wide variety of salinities ,
Mechanisms for keeping internal concentration stable
Internal concentrations that vary with surroundings
Fresh water heading to the sea will be deflected to the … Side in the … Hemisphere due to what effect? The left Side in turn will be more ?
Right
Northern
Coriolanus
Saline (facing sea)
Flowering plants in the estuaries either expel excess solutes such as? Or concentrate solutes in specific tissues such as ?
Spartina and mangrove trees using salt glands
Salicornia , pickle weed or glass wort
Which is further up on land chord grass or pickle weed
Pickle weed
The substrate is mostly composed of what? What is the difficulty in it ?
Mud
Hard to move through, anoxic because small particles ,and it can shift
Is their intertidal areas in estuaries ? What is similar about the two and water temperature , especially when ? What animals survive in this temperament
Yes , it varies greatly
Tides are low
Eurythermic
Water clarity is generally very ? In estuaries. Why? Who does this make life more difficult for and why?
Poor
Suspended sediments and particles from rivers
Photo autotrophs - can’t anchor, need light
Most primary production comes from
Flowering plants in the salt marsh as opposed to algae or plankton
Open water includes ? Who lives here ? What do these areas serve as ? Many species spend at least a Portion of their life in estuaries mainly as ?
Bays and tidal creeks which are always there at high and low tide
Plankton, floating algae, fish and larval forms
Nurseries
Larvae
Mudflats are especially present where ? What are they similar to? Inhabitants are mainly what and why?
Large tidal range and gently sloping bottoms, soft bottom intertidal
Primarily deposit feeders because suspension and filter feeders get clogged
What can help to distinguish species ? / example
Resource partitioning and feeding behavior
Sandpipers rely on bill to detect prey while plovers rely on eyesight (sandpiper have smaller search width and closer path walked whereas plover have larger search width and farther apart path walked)
A salt marsh is the …area of an estuary
Which plant predominates near the water and is similar to what
Vegetated , spartina/cordgrass similar to red mangrove
Give the plants in order from farthest from water to closest, how far down does it grow
Pickle weed(succulent and can survive desiccation) , salt meadow cordgrass, smooth cordgrass To mean low tide
In low salinity estuaries less than 10 ppt which plant can be found close to water
Junius/ needle rush of
Oyster reefs provide ? Where do they mainly form and why do they grow together ?, what are oysters ?
Only hard substrate
Mudflats
To stabilize self against waves
Filter feeders who clean the water
What is the most common type of estuary, how were they formed and what were examples
Drowned river valleys , drowning of low land aprind the mouths of the rivers when sea level rose after the last ice age
Chesapeake bay and Delaware river
When can sea grass beds be found in estuaries? It must be better than average estuary in order to?
When water clarity permits
Support this growth because sea grass needs light
Mangroves are found in what areas ? What do they replace, what limits latitudinal distance
Tropical and subtropical
Temperate salt marshes , exception is a mixed community
Temperature
What are zones based on for mangroves, what do pneumatophores do for a mangrove,
Salt tolerance, and where propagules can best survive
Assist in gas exchange , extended roots
Where is there a mixed community?
Gulf of Mexico and Florida
What control Zonation in estuaries ? What do tides help to circulate , what do tides expose to predators
Tides
Nutrients and detritus
Mudflats
