1. LIFE IN THE SALTMARSH

2. The meandering creeks in salt marshes are easiest to see from the air.
Life in the marsh is interconnected with life in the bay

3. Housing, marina and road built in the salt marsh.

5. Spartina (cord grass) – most important plant !!
Creates detritus

6. Dead Spartina grass washes ashore and becomes "wrack"—
it decays and provides food for small creatures

9. Phragmites (reed grass) – grows 4-10 ft tall; tasseled end; invasive
Was used for arrow shafts; roof thatching

10. Spartina with Phragmites in foreground

14. Controlled burning of Phragmites

15. Glass (salt) wort – edible; pickled by colonists

17. Snails, shrimp, crabs, mussels, mosquitoes, raccoons

18. Herons/Egrets

19. Ospreys

20. Human Impact on Estuaries
Landfill – draining & filling in to build homes, etc (destroys habitat)
Mining – for minerals, oil, sand, & gravel
Construction – dams/channel dredging (changes spawning migrations, water circulation, & local salinty)
Sediments – from construction, dredging, & erosion (increases turbidity which inhibits photosyn & smothers gill breathers)
Chemicals – pesticides/sewage (decrease species diversity)

21. Overharvesting – clams, oysters, mussels, & fish
Thermal Pollution – industries use water as coolant; heated water returned to estuary (incr. water temp = decrease O2)

22. Importance of Estuaries
Spawning & nursery grounds for many orgs
Why?
Few predators, abundant food, diversity of habitats, high turbidity
Filters pollutants from water
Buffer to mainalnd during storms (absorbs excess water)

23. Food & resting place for migratory birds
Source of commercially important species; clams, oysters, blue crabs
Food & habitat for many orgs (much detritus!)
Popular sport & recreation areas; fishing, sailing, swimming