Saltwater Aquatic Ecosystems

Where are the Oceans?

PREDICT: What percent of the earth is covered in water PREDICT: What percent of the earth is covered in water? What percent is land? Explain your prediction.

PREDICT:What percent of the earth’s water is salt PREDICT:What percent of the earth’s water is salt? What percent is fresh? Explain your prediction.

Shoreline and Continental Shelf Where do you think more organisms would live? From the shoreline to the continental shelf. Why? because sunlight can reach deep and the water is warm making food abundant.

Oceans have many types of ecosystems depending on the conditions (sunlight, temperature, depth, salinity) of that part of the ocean. shoreline is the piece of land at the edge of a large body of water continental shelf is the extended edge of each continent and is submerged under water

What kind of organisms live in the ocean? Producers – phytoplankton, algae, seaweed, coral Consumers – fish, whales, sharks, zooplankton Decomposers – bacteria, fungus, marine worms, sea slugs, brittle stars Do you think a crab would be a consumer or decomposer? While they eat fish, mollusks etc they also scavenge the ocean floor and shorelines for dead organisims. Another way to classify the ocean’s organisms is by how they live: drifters (jellyfish or seaweed), swimmers (fish), crawlers (crabs), and those anchored to the ocean floor (coral).

Where do the oceans organisms live? Some organisms live in the open ocean, near the surface or down to the deep ocean bottom. Plankton float in the upper regions of the water. Some organisms swim to the surface to find food or for air (whales, turtles, sharks) while others live closer to the bottom (lantern fish, octopus, tubeworms).

What do the arrows show?

Click here for the interactive food web

North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve www North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve www.nccoastalreserve.net Powerpoint modified by Leah Burnette A cooperative program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the NC Division of Coastal Management The North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve is a cooperative program between the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management. Pictured here are white ibises which are commonly found in NC’s estuaries. This wading bird has a long decurved red bill and red legs.

What is an Estuary? Where land, rivers, the ocean and the atmosphere intersect Brackish water 80% - 95% of commercial seafood species spend some part of its life cycle here There are 2 million acres of estuaries in North Carolina Estuaries are where salt water from the ocean and fresh water from rivers and the atmosphere (i.e. rainwater) meet. This creates what is know as brackish water, which can range in salinity from 35 parts per thousand (ocean water) to 0 part per thousand (fresh water). Estuaries are very important to NC. Not only does it serve as a nursery for commercial seafood, it also serves as a buffer against storms and hurricanes. There are approximately 2 million acres of estuaries along in NC.

What habitats are found in the North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve?

Can you find producers, consumers, and decomposers? Producers – Spartina – these are the tall grasses mostly found in estuaries and salt marshes Consumers – oysters, clams, blue crab, shrimp, mussels, copepod, coccolihophore (feeds on producers) Decomposers – bacteria and fugus – mostly feed on dead spartina Can you find producers, consumers, and decomposers?

Salt Marshes -biotic perspectives Maia McGuire, PhD Modified by Leah Burnette Florida Sea Grant Extension Agent

What is a salt marsh? A community of vegetation in areas near estuaries and sounds.

Where are salt marshes found? Along intertidal shore of estuaries Flat, protected waters From Maine-Florida, along Gulf coast from Florida-Texas In FL, most abundant north of the freeze line (70% of state’s salt marsh)

The salt marsh community Plants Marsh grasses: Smooth cord grass, Black needle rush, Swamp sawgrass, Salt meadow cord grass Plants must be salt-tolerant plants

Associated plants Many are succulent Exceptions include saltgrass Many are edible (saltwort, glasswort, sea purslane)

Resident animals Crabs Fiddler crabs Marsh crabs Ribbed mussel Marsh periwinkle (snail)

Tidal Marsh Visitors Birds Crabs Shrimp Fish Diamondback terrapin Why would animals be described as a visitor to the Salt marsh?

1 Lesser Yellowlegs 2 Rush 3 Sea-Milkwort 4 Sharp-tailed Sparrow 5 Black Duck 6 Salt-meadow Grass 7 Great Blue Heron 8 Arrow-grass 9 Common Snipe 10 Sea-Lavender 11 Glasswort 12 Raccoon 13 Salt-water Cord-grass 14 Sedge 15 Mud Crab 16 Semipalmated Sandpiper 17 Worm 18 Amphipod 19 Isopod 20 Mosquito larve 21 Mud Dog Whelk 22 Soft-shelled Clam 23 Mummichogs 24 Atlantic Silverside 25 Sand shrimp 26 Threespine Stickleback 27 Black-bellied Plover 28 Ditch-grass

The importance of Salt Marshes The majority of commercially-important marine species rely on estuaries/salt marsh at some stage of life Examples include blue crab, oysters, hard clams, shrimp, red drum, seatrout, sheepshead, bluefish, mullet Nursery Areas, Feeding Grounds

Salt marsh food web Dolphins Humans Fish Birds Oysters Insects Mussels Shrimp Crabs Snails Marsh grass Zooplankton Bacteria, fungi Detritus Phytoplankton