What you can do as an individual, a homeowner, and an angler to help protect salt marshes; Classifications – the bulk of the guide, which describes many of the plants and animals you may encounter when you explore a salt marsh; Salt marshes are one of the iconic features of life in coastal South Carolina. They are marshy because the soil may be composed of deep mud and peat. Although animals do eat the bounty of fresh vegetation in salt marshes, the real food chain engine is the high volume of dead and decomposing materials that are moved in and out with the tides. Saltmarshes are amongst the most abundant and productive coastal ecosystems around the world, providing sanctuary for a great number of protected species. Native Salt Marsh Plants and Animals by John Portnoy, PhD., Park Ecologist Flora and Fauna Respond to Restoration Projects At even higher elevations, and where ditch drainage has lowered the water table, the normally waterlogged peat has become perennially drained, al- Low herbaceous plants, tall grasses, rich, muddy soil and standing water characterize the marsh biome. salt marshes Coastal saltmarshes are upper, vegetated portions of intertidal mudflats. Peat is made of decomposing plant matter that is often several feet thick. However, these plants do not grow together in the same area. It is unique in that it is the only pond/marsh turtle that can survive in a high salinity environment without access to a freshwater source. The diamondback terrapin is readily seen in the salt marsh, although usually one will only see its head poking out of the water before it quickly dives back down. Both mudflats and saltmarshes are very productive habitats in terms of animal life and are rich in mud-dwelling invertebrates. Salt marshes are covered with salt-tolerant plants, or halophytes, like salt hay, black needlerush, and smooth cordgrass. Marshes are divided into distinct zones, the high marsh and the low marsh. Marsh ecosystems can be freshwater or saltwater, tidal or non-tidal and support a wide variety of animal life from insects to egrets and even one of the largest predatory reptiles on earth, the alligator. The intertidal area between high tide and low tide provides a huge transitional zone for both aquatic and terrestrial animals, as well as for those plants capable of withstanding regular inundation of their roots by brackish water. Like phytoplankton, zooplankton are usually weak swimmers and usually just drift along with the currents. Salt marshes are coastal wetlands that are flooded and drained by salt water brought in by the tides. Peat … Saltmeadow cordgrass marshes serve as pollution filters and as buffers against flooding and shoreline erosion. During the colonial era, towns scattered from Narragansett Bay to the Gulf of Maine were often settled based on their proximity to salt marshes due to the importance of saltmeadow cordgrass for fodder.It was harvested for bedding and fodder for farm animals and for garden mulch. Marine - Salt Marsh Habitat. At the top of the marsh or on areas of raised ground, where inundation by tides is less frequent, sea beet, pungent sea wormwood and the nationally scarce shrubby seablite grow. Plankton is composed of the phytoplankton (“the plants of the sea”) and zooplankton (zoh-plankton) which are typically the tiny animals found near the surface in aquatic environments. This nutrient rich material forms the foundation of the broad web of invertebrates, fish, shellfish, birds and mammals found in and near Willapa Bay. 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