Estuaries

Question 1

Estuary

Answer 1

semi-enclosed area where freshwater from river runoff meets seawater (includes lagoons, sloughs, bays)

Question 2

Mudflats

Answer 2

become colonized by sea grass; sea grass traps more sediments; taller, less aquatic vegetation can colonize

Question 3

Mangroves

Answer 3

derived from terrestrial plants; adapted to the salty, anoxic shores; have pneumetophoes (root extensions above the sediment that collect oxygen); prop roots (stem from the trunk or branches); salt glands, nutrients are from the water and not the sediment

Question 4

Ecosystem services of Estuaries

Answer 4

• provide habitat for over 75% of the US commercial sea catch
• shrimp, crabs, bivalves
• commercial value in some estuarine organisms (oysters and clams as fertilizer/lime for acidic soils; horseshoe crab’s blood aids in freeing vaccines of bacterial contamination)
• plants in estuaries filter out nutrients and sediments in the coastal regions
• pollutants: herbicides, pesticides, and heavy metals

Question 5

Ecosystem services of Mangroves

Answer 5

• stabilize shorelines, protect coastal areas, inland habitats and human communities from floods and storm surges during storms
• protect streams, river channels, and coastal shores from excessive erosion
• ie. Carrie Bow Caye

Question 6

Ecosystem Engineers

Answer 6

Low oxygen?
organisms whose existence in habitat, facilitate use of the habitat by other organisms (abundant burrowers act to oxygenate deeper soils - ghost shrimp and hemichordate)

Question 7

Physical Characteristics of an Estuary

Answer 7

1. Salinity
2. Substrate
3. Temperature
4. Turbidity
5. Oxygen