Welcome to the Salt Marsh!!!

A Trip Back In Time… Estuaries – A partially enclosed body of water where saltwater and freshwater meet. – Example: Long Island Sound Fiddler Crab

Salt Marsh Estuaries are bordered by extensive grassy areas that are partially flooded at high tide – THESE AREAS are SALT MARSHES! Salt marsh – grass dominated tidal wetland that borders the land- water boundary Heron

Features of Salt Marsh Form in areas that are well protected (low energy environments) Fine grain sediment Tidal Salinity, temperature, and depth varies Muddy bottom held together by a few grasses and salt-tolerant land plants Coffee Bean Snail

Value of a Salt Marsh Salt Marshes are the most productive land on EARTH!!!!! – 50% of the CT salt marshes have been destroyed Today marshes are destroyed at about 1% per year Why?? – Housing – Mosquitoes – habitat destruction – Roads

Importance of SMs 1.) Provide food and shelter for many organisms – Fiddler crabs, ribbed mussels, etc. – Also provide food and shelter for many types of birds!!

Importance of SMs 2.) Storm buffers – Marsh is spongy and can absorb a lot of water Spongy material is called PEAT and can be 15 feet thick

Importance of SMs 3.) Natural filter systems to control pollution – Can purify industrial and agriculture waste – Scientists are trying to use artificial marshes as a way of filtering pollution

Formation of a SM Developed in the last 3,000-4,000 years – Gradual sea level rise 1mm per year Distinct vegetation pattern – Usually SM are not very diverse but high in biomass Mud in the marsh – LOW Oxygen and high salinity (40-60 ppt)

What is causing these patterns?

What leads to these patterns? Flooding, salinity, bottom material, oxygen, nutrient availability  ALL LEAD TO distinctive vegetation pattern!!!

Importance of Tides – Deliver necessary sediments for continued vertical growth of the marsh – Deliver oxygen to help plant growth – Deliver salt water – Essential for reproduction and nutrition of organisms and movement of eggs

Transition ZONE = marine to terrestrial

Marsh Plants Saltwater Cordgrass Saltmeadow Cordgrass Phragmites (Common Reed – “Cat tails”) Glasswort Marsh Elder

Saltwater Cordgrass

1 st to arrive Binds mud together Found along water’s edge but not submerged completely Adapted to living in the salt water Has salt glands to release salt

Saltmeadow cordgrass

Phragmites (“Cat tails”)

Glasswort

Marsh Elder

Marsh Cycle 1.) Many plants in the marsh – when they die, they break down – Decaying organic matter is called detritus – Detritus releases nutrients into the estuary waters during the decay it is eaten by the plankton – Plankton is eaten by the ribbed mussel and others – Mussel cilia create mini currents that increase circulation of the cordgrass

Marsh Cycle 2.) At low tide fiddler crabs emerge from the mud and feed on the organic matter – Return to the hole before high tide and plug it up Provide an ideal habitat for offspring – Fish, birds, mollusks, crabs

Decomposers Detritus – Particles of dead organic matter Decomposers – organisms that break down dead organic matter into smaller molecules – Channel dead organic matter back food chain – Extremely important to the salt marsh community because they recycle the nutrients back into the environment!!

Fiddler Crab Genus: Uca Type of Feeder: deposit feeder Deposit feeder – an organism that feeds on organic matter that settles on the bottom. – Use pinchers to scoop up mud and extract the detritus Lives in burrows in the mud and sand flats of estuaries