Coopers Bayou

Diane Oganesova
09/30/16
Coopers Bayou
80 degrees (nice and sunny)

We tested the salinity in the bayou and it turned out to be 15.
Coopers Bayou is a mixture of fresh and salt water.

Mangroves deal with high salt concentrations by: excreting it from their glands. Mangroves store more carbon that terrestrial forest. They help fight coral bleaching, while also helping climate change.
Areas with shallow water, typically have more salinity.

There are four main mangrove species: red, white, black and buttonwood.

red-pointy, darker green, waxy. they float, give birth to live organisms. usually found closer to shores, considered "excluders."
black-underside is white/excretes salt. darkest color on the outside, and typically the tallest in size.
white-lime green in color and have black dots (pores). furthest from shore, and do not have many ways to deal with oxygen. they have glands to excrete salt from water.
buttonwood- excludes salt from salt water and has little white pop up flowers.

Mangroves are highly productive ecosystems.
-high dominance of organisms but very low species diversity
-high in nutrients, with producers being the main part of the food web.

Estuaries and mangroves are two main food webs: detrital and grazing.
Grazing means to eat live photosynthetic organisms.
Detrital means eating dead organisms. (Occurs when you have a location with no light to produce photosynthesis.)

Threats to estuaries and mangroves are: development, pollution, erosion and dredging.