Cooper's Bayou   9/30/16      


The trip to Cooper's Bayou started at school because we had to get the kayaks and gear. When we arrived at Cooper's Bayou we had to take the kayaks off the rack holders and then get our seats setup. The path to get into the water was very muddy as well as difficult since we were carrying the kayaks. Once everything was setup and we were in the water things became easier.  Taking notes though was extremely hard to do at times.  It was also a challenge to not get the lab book wet. It was a very sunny day with no rain or clouds which is a good thing when out on the water. It wasn't even windy and the water was very calm and still. Estuaries have their salinity change  on a daily, monthly or intermittently basis of a range from fresh water to saline to supersaline. The ways that mangroves deal with low oxygen is by being out of the water. The lenticeles which are white dots on the mangroves have openings in the bark for oxygen to go back and forth. The aerenchyma tissue allows this transport of oxygen. Pneumatophores that are on black mangroves also help them deal with low oxygen. The ways mangroves deal with high salt concentrations is by excluding or extruding it. The red mangroves exclude while the black and white mangroves extrude. Red mangroves are pointy with long seeds, alive, ready to grow, and have a darker color. They are waxy and have dark green leaves. They have prop roots that are cigar looking. The black mangroves are the tallest of all mangroves. They are linear, round and look like lima beans. On the underside of the leaf is a white color. The reason they are white is because of tiny tricomes. The white mangroves are further away from water  and not as good at getting rid of salt. The leaves are more round and lighter in color. Buttonwood has white flowers that look like puff balls. Their pores alternate like buttons on a shirt. They have glands on their leaves and are pedial.  We observed all these mangroves on the coast of the water and on a few islands. The water surprising wasn't even that deep. We learned mangroves protect coastlines and are important to stop erosion. They also act as nurseries for the ecosystem.  When we were all finished we had to figure out how to get all the kayaks back on the rack holders. Then we rinsed things off back at school and called it a day.