Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Characteristics
-
They are the most productive environment on earth that they create
more organic matter than comparably sized areas of forest, grassland,
or agricultural land.
There exist different types of estuaries which are either classified on the basis of their
geomorphology or on the basis of their water circulation.
Abiotic Factors
-
Because an estuary is a transition zone, it has abiotic factors which affect the
fresh water biome such as fresh water flow and sedimentation, and also in
marine biomes such as tides and waves.
1. Salinity of water varies across the estuary from no salt to seawater,
2. Amount of sunshine plants and other organisms rely on the amount of
sunlight for photosynthesis
3. Nutrient concentration With the increased usage of fertilizer, rains can
cause the nutrients to flow into the rivers and then the bay. The addition
of too much nutrients, called eutrophication, can cause algae blooms,
which then cause the O2 concentration to drop because of the
decomposers use the oxygen.
4. Dissolved oxygen concentration organisms living in estuaries rely on the
amount of oxygen for survival
5. Climate estuaries only consists 3 seasons (Fall is not present). During the
spring season a lot of rainfall occurs in the estuaries. In the summer hot
spells occur causing estuaries to be still, low oxygen levels come about
along with high temperatures. Winter brings thin layers of ice that
removes algae and small organisms on the rocks.
ADDITIONAL:
Ecological interaction
Animal/Plant Interaction
Commensalism mosquitos benefit
from sucking the blood of animals
such as birds and mammals.
Mutualism Some crocodiles live
with small black birds which keep
them clean. At the same time, birds
benefit from having protection.
Parasitism Bacteria are abundant
in estuaries, special in waters kept
still. Bacteria coming from the
ocean may cause harmful diseases such as hepatitis, staff infections, or
dysentery.
SOURCES:
-
http://sanfranciscoestuarybiomeproject.wikispaces.com/Abiotic+and+Biotic+
Factors
https://sites.google.com/site/estuarybiomechowilawu/what-is-an-estuary