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Definition
| long narrow islands built by waves along the coast |
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| ocean coastal wooded habitat on higher ground than dune areas |
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| grassy area that extends along shores of estuaries and sheltered coasts in temperate and subpolar regions |
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| species of cord grass native to Atlantic Coast. Forms large, dense colonies.. Can survive inundation in saltwater for long periods of time. LIves in anoxic (no oxygen) mud. |
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| Mangroves, Pneumatophores (“air roots”) |
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Definition
| how mangroves deal with low-oxygen sediment by using their “prop roots” which send up snorkle-like extensions to bring atmospheric oxygen into the plant. |
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| Understand the process by which the barrier islands off the coast of Georgia were formed. |
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Definition
Old sand dunes are exposed over time due to a change in water levels. The exposed sand above water level is the barrier island.
Two types of barrier islands:
Holocene: 4,000 - 5,000 years ago
Pleistocene: 35,000 - 40,000 years ago by the preceding ice age. |
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| Know (in a general way) the sorts of habitats that occur in a line from the ocean across a barrier island, to the coast. |
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Definition
Beaches are high energy intertidal environments because they are exposed to wave action.
If you walk up the beach and over the dunes, you will enter the Marine Forest (consisting of live oaks, palmettos, and magnolias).
Moving further inland, you will reach the salt marshes, which are protected from wave action. (Vegetation includes: spartina...).
Rocky intertidal zone is the place exposed to wave action
Salt Marshes
Mainland --> Barrier Island --> Ocean --> Beach (Dunes) --> Maritime Forest --> Salt Marsh |
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| Understand the environmental conditions conducive to Salt Marshes. |
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Definition
| Salt Marshes are “low energy” environments. They are found in sheltered intertidal environments. They are populated by terrestrial salt-tolerant plants. Salt marshes are subject to the same extremes in salinity, temperature, and tides that affect mudflats. Bacteria in the mud decompose dead plant material and contribute a large portion of the deritus in the estuary. |
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| Be aware of the ecological gradients that occur in the salt marsh community, and understand (in a general way) the role of physical stresses and biological interactions that result in these gradients. |
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Definition
| The stress on the intertidal environments were opposite of the rock intertidal environment. High up in the intertidal means less stress on the organisms and lower in the intertidal zone causes more stress on the organisms. |
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| Know how Spartina is adapted to live in the salt marsh. |
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Definition
| Spartina alterniflora = cordgrass. It has learned to live in the salt marshes because it is not a good competitor, so it lives where most other plants can’t. Additionally, cord grasses are not true marine plants, but they are salt tolerant. They have salt glands that excrete salt and regulate. |
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| Know the sorts of “services” that salt marshes provide to the rest of the ecosystem |
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Definition
Marsh plants provide shelter and food to many marine and land animals.
Buffers to land from storms, they soak up pollution so it doesn’t go out into the sea, and around marshes there is more seafood.
- Flood, runoff buffer
- Carbon sink
- Microbial processing of organic and inorganic waste
- Erosion control by binding sediments
- Nursery grounds for recreational and commercial fish and shellfish |
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| Know (in a general way) the level of primary productivity that occurs in salt marshes (relative to other ecosystems). |
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Definition
Salt marshes are more productive than rainforests when it comes to photosynthesis.
Salt marsh communities are dominated by a few hardy grasses and other salt tolerant land plants. There is a pronounced zonation of plants in salt marshes. The location of a given zone is related to the height relative to the tide, but it varies according to geographical location, type of substrate, and other factors. For instance, salinity may become particularly high at intermediate heights as a result of higher evaporation in marshes closer to hot, dry regions, which may result in areas bare of vegetation. |
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| Understand the kinds of environments in which Mangrove forests are found (especially in relation to where salt marshes are found). |
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Definition
| Mangrove Forests are not limited to estuaries, but in some ways they are the tropical equivalent of salt marshes. Mangroves forests, or mangals, are formed by mangroves, tropical and subtropical trees and shrubs adapted to the intertidal environment, mostly on estuaries. Mangroves require freshwater and grow on protected coasts where muddy sediments accumulate. Salt marshes: estuaries in temperate and subarctic regions worldwide are usually bordered by extensive grassy areas that extend inland from the mudflats. These areas are partially flooded at high tide and are known as salt, tidal, marshes. |
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| Know how mangroves tolerate low O2 in the mud adjacent to their roots. |
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Definition
A lot of their roots come out of the surface of the ground so they can directly get oxygen from the atmosphere instead of getting it out of the soil.
Black mangroves grow higher in the intertidal than the red mangrove, because the black mangrove develops pneumatophores (air roots), conspicuous, unbranched extensions of the shallow roots that grow upward from the oxygen poor mud to help aerate the plant tissues. |
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