Mangrove Unit Vocabulary

Estuaries the wide part of a river where it nears the sea; fresh and salt water mix Amazon River Estuary reaching the Atlantic Ocean

Estuaries Fresh water meets salt water Of the 32 largest cities in the world, 22 are located on estuaries.[12] For example, New York City is located at the orifice of the Hudson River estuary.[13] As ecosystems, estuaries are under threat from human activities such as pollution and overfishing. They are also threatened by sewage, coastal settlement, land clearance and much more. Estuaries are affected by things that happen further up the river. Materials such as pollutants and sediments and domestic waste enter rivers and are discharged into estuaries. Contaminants can be introduced which do not disintegrate rapidly such as plastics, pesticides, furans, dioxins,phenols and  heavy metals.

Ecosystem ecosystem: a place where living and nonliving things exist and interact with each other.

Habitat habitat: a place where an organism lives

Organisms Upside Down Jellyfish Proboscis Monkey organism: a living thing, such as a plant or animal Hornbill

Adaptations Strong roots protect from Tsunamis adaptation: a behavior or body part of a living thing that helps it survive Ability to excrete salt crystals Propagules

Community community: a group of plants and animals that live in the same area and interact with each other

Population population: all the organisms of the same kind that live together in an ecosystem

Salt Water composes 98% of the water on Earth. This type of water is found in the world’s oceans, seas, and some of the lakes.

Fresh Water is about 2% of the Earth’s water supply. Fresh water does not have any salt in it. This is where people get most of their drinking water. It is found in some lakes, rivers, and wells under the ground.