Transcript Coastal Salt Marshes

Salt Marshes
Structure
Stream or ‘gut’
Low Tide
Wrack
Saltmarsh Soils
Saltmarsh Plants
Saltmarsh Cordgrass
Spartina alterniflora
• taller than Saltmeadow Cordgrass
• with flat, smooth blades
• grows along the sides of guts
(marsh creeks) and in places
flooded by the tides
• able to survive in areas flooded by
salt water because they excrete
unneeded salt on the leaf margins.
Saltmeadow cordgrass
Spartina patens
• shorter, wiry-looking
grass of the marshes
• usually found on the
higher flats of the
marsh flooded only by
the high tides
• nesting area for some
of the marsh birds
Plant Salinity Tolerance
Marsh Elder
Iva frutescens
•
•
•
•
also known as gall bush
common in the higher parts of the marsh near and often mixed in with saltmeadow
cordgrass.
most of the Atlantic coast
small, green, round flowers that appear as heads along a thin stem.
Groundsel
Baccharis halimifolia
•found along the Atlantic coast from Massachusetts southward
•light yellow flowers in late summer followed by a display of silverbristled seeds, thus the alternate name, "silvering".
• Marsh Elder's
– leaves opposite
– taper to a point at both the top and bottom with teeth along nearly the
full length of both edges
– has small, green, round flowers that appear as heads along a thin stem
• Groundsel
– leaves alternate
– are duck- foot-shaped with several irregular teeth along the upper
edges
Saltwort, Salicornia
Sea Lavender
Human Use and Influences
Wildwood, NJ
Saltmarsh Haying
Grazing
Recreation and Education
Marinas, Canal Communities, Homes
Animals of the Salt Marsh
Saltmarsh Skipper
Saltmarsh Mosquito
Greenhead Fly, Tabanus nigrovittatus
Birds
Black-crowned Night Heron
Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow
Horseshoe Crab
Limulus polyphemus
• not dangerous
• distant relatives of spiders
• probably descended from the
ancient order Eurypterida
• feeds on clams, worms and
other invertebrates.
• place a clam near the mouth in
the center of its underside
where its legs are attached and
grinds and crushes with the
burr-like sections of the legs.
• the first four of the five pairs of
legs are used for walking, while
the last pair, located near the
gills, have leaf-like flaps that
are used for pushing.
•small pincers on the last pair are also
used for cleaning the gills in the
abdomen
•males can be distinguished by the first
pair of legs which are heavier than
those of the female.
•spike-like tail (telson) serves as a
rudder and a righting device; if it is
tipped upside down, it may bend its
abdomen at the point where it hinges
the main shell (carapace) and dig into
the sand with the tail to support itself
while it turns over.
•two pairs of eyes.
•often slipper shells (Crepidula
fornicata) attach to the underside of the
crab.
Reproduction
• peaks at high tide in late
May, early June
• females come ashore to
lay eggs followed by one
or more males, sometimes
forming a chain
• she lays the eggs in pits in
the sand (200-300 per pit)
near the high-water mark
where they are fertilized
by the males.
• heavily predated by
shorebirds in one of the
great wildlife viewing
spectacles of the east coast