Estuarine Habitat

ESTUARINE HABITATS

Estuarine habitat forms where a large river meets a sea. This is where salt water from the ocean mixes with freshwater from a river to create intermediate water, brackish or estuarine.

Estuarine habitats are classified by their salinity (salt content). This is determined by distance from the ocean, high tides, dry and rainy seasons.

Types of estuaries

Estuarine Habitat

  1. Delta – Where a river splits into multiple channels before entering the ocean or sea.                                              Estuarine Habitat
  2. Lagoon – A body of ocean water entering into land via a canal. It has the possibility of mixing with river freshwater. It can also rejoin.                  Estuarine Habitat
  3. Bay – A small or large amount of seawater that enters the land and mixes it with freshwater from streams and rivers. The lagoon can join the sea at another end, while Bat cannot.

Characteristics for estuarine habitat

  • Salinity can fluctuate.
  • It is made up of soil that has been saturated and lacks oxygen.
  • It is capable of mild wave action.
  • Because of its three zones, it is restricted to several organisms.
    • The zone close to the sea is home to marine organisms
    • Freshwater organisms only inhabit the zone near freshwater
    • The true estuary is located in the middle of the zone and is home to estuarine organisms.
  • Tide affects water; at high tide, seawater flows quickly into estuaries and then swells into the ocean at lower tide.

Found in estuary

Plants

Phytoplanktons, e.g., diatoms;

Filamentous algae, e.g., Spirogyra.

Water lettuce and bacteria

Red mangrove and white mangrove are two other plants.

Animals include mudskippers (fish), barnacles, and a hermit crab.

Adaptation to estuarine organisms

OrganismsAdaptations
Rhizophora racemose (red mangrove)The parent plants are where the seeds germinate, and the seedlings fall off.The seedling’s cotyledon is large and can store food.

Seedling uses rootlets to anchor and absorb the soft mud.

The seedlings grow very quickly and have strong roots.

To reduce transpiration, plants have thick, leathery leaves.

Avicenia nitida (white mangrove)Possession of pneumatophore, which is a form of breathing root that has spongy tissue to absorb atmospheric air.The ability to excrete excess salt via the leaves reduces salt levels in the body.

To reduce transpiration, leaves have too many cuticles.

MudskipperTo escape danger, there are many ways to move, such as swimming, flapping, or wrinkling.It has gills to allow for breathing and lungs for land respiration.
Hermit crabsProtective shells that are empty of snails.

Food Chain in Estuarine Habitat.

An estuarine habitat can have three, four, or five trophic levels. The basic producers of the food chain are phytoplanktons like diatoms, detritus, and phytoplanktons. Here are some examples of food chains found in the estuarine habitat:

  1. Detritus = Worms, Snails, Birds
  2. Diatoms –-> Shrimps
  3. Phytoplanktons–> Barnacles–> Fish –> Birds

 

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