BrennanEstuaries

__**Estuaries**__

http://www.oysterbayestuarywaterquality.org/learnmore_wildlife.htm

Estuaries are a combination of fresh water and salt water ecosystems, with part of the water salty and some of it fresh.

Estuaries are filled with organisms that can survive in either fresh or salt water, so the

Here is an example picture of an estuary

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/09/estuary-power-salt-and-fresh-water-generate-electricity.php

Estuaries are, as you can see, where oceans come into contact with rivers, making some parts more full of salt water than others. Estuaries are usually located around the shores of continents, because the salt water content doesn't make it far inward to the rivers.

Here are the names of the estuary zones in the United States

As you can see, there are no estuary zones inside the coast at all. Since the rivers are constantly flowing water out to sea, the water can only mix right outside the coast.

A basic food web



http://www.somethingfishy.ie/teacherslessons/lesson7/lesson7main.htm

Organisms in generic estuary usually include:
 * all sizes of fish (consumer, carnivore, heterotroph)
 * some kinds of shellfish (consumer, omnivore, heterotroph)
 * mussels (consumer, carnivore, heterotroph)
 * crabs (consumer, carnivore, heterotroph)
 * seals (consumer, carnivore, heterotroph)
 * fish eating birds. (consumer, carnivore, heterotroph)
 * plankton (producer, autotroph)
 * animal plankton (consumer, carnivore, heterotroph)
 * stoneflies (consumer, carnivore, heterotroph)

Potential threats to this biota include loss of balance between salty and fresh water, or if a vital prey in the ecosystem were too few in number, one of the biggest examples is plankton.

Fun Facts -The higher salinity of an estuary helps protect some young creatures from predators. -Grass flats produce food. At any one time, there could be millions of tons of sea-grasses floating on the gulf stream or settling on reefs all along the east coast, fueling many food webs. Facts from: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080401175600AAqfyMN

Reflective Paragraph

Estuaries are a huge part of the world's environment. They are required for life to sustain balance. Since they are a combination of salt and fresh water, many new species can be formed in estuaries. However, the estuaries of the world are being threatened by human residence. Especially in the Louisianinan estuaries, natural disasters like hurricanes and human caused disasters like oil spills threaten the environment. The oil could get into the plants, greatly disturbing the circle of life for animals that eat those plants for energy. This kind of habitat is important to the health of the planet because they are the "nurseries" of the oceans. Many species may spawn there and many other species may live portions of their lives in estuaries, so we need to do our part to help these ecosystems survive.