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Salt Marsh Ecology the BELLE W HOBCAW BARONY Salt Marsh Ecology THE BELLE W. BARUCH FOUNDATION Lesson Description Students begin this adventure in the Hobcaw Barony Discovery Center. Using the salt marsh exhibit’s 1200 gallon fish tank and shell midden, students listen to the instructor talk about plants, animals, tides, and other facts about the marsh. Students are engaged in thinking about the plants and animals they will see in the marsh through a question and answer session using the exhibit. At the salt marsh trail, students will break up into smaller groups, each led by an instructor, exploring the four zones of the salt marsh. In each area, many of the same plants and animals will be found, but in different quantities. Students are asked to draw the zone they are viewing before counting the number of plants & animals found inside a hoola hoop. SC State Standards covered (4th Grade) Standards Standard 4-2: The student will demonstrate an understanding of the characteristics and patterns of behavior that allow organisms to survive in their own distinct environments. (Life Science) Indicators 4-2.2 Explain how the characteristics of distinct environments (including swamps, rivers and streams, tropical rain forests, deserts, and the polar regions) influence the variety of organisms in each. 4-2.4 Distinguish between the characteristics of an organism that are inherited and those that are acquired over time. 4-2.5 Explain how an organism’s patterns of behavior are related to its environment (including the kinds and the number of other organisms present, the availability of food and other resources, and the physical characteristics of the environment). HOBCAW BARONY Salt Marsh Ecology THE BELLE W. BARUCH FOUNDATION SC State Standards covered (5th Grade) Standards Standard 5-2: The student will demonstrate an understanding of relationships among biotic and abiotic factors within terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. (Life Science) Standard 5-3: The student will demonstrate an understanding of features, processes, and changes in Earth’s land and oceans. (Earth Science) Indicators 5-2.2 Summarize the composition of an ecosystem, considering both biotic factors (including populations to the level of microorganisms and communities) and abiotic factors. 5-2.3 Compare the characteristics of different ecosystems (including estuaries/salt marshes, oceans, lakes and ponds, forests, and grasslands). 5-2.4 Identify the roles of organisms as they interact and depend on one another through food chains and food webs in an ecosystem, considering producers and consumers (herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores), decomposers (microorganisms, termites, worms, and fungi), predators and prey, and parasites and hosts. 5-2.5 Explain how limiting factors (including food, water, space, and shelter) affect populations in ecosystems. 5-3.4 Explain how waves, currents, tides, and storms affect the geologic features of the ocean shore zone (including beaches, barrier islands, estuaries, and inlets). 5-3.5 Compare the movement of water by waves, currents, and tides. 5-3.6 Explain how human activity (including conservation efforts and pollution) has affected the land and the oceans of Earth. Focus Questions 1. What is an estuary? 2. What are three plants that live in the salt marsh? 3. What are three animals that live in the salt marsh? 4. What roles do the plants and animals you listed above play in the salt marsh ecosystem? 5. What is detritus and its role in the estuarine ecosystem? HOBCAW BARONY Salt Marsh Ecology THE BELLE W. BARUCH FOUNDATION Teachers need to provide: Pencils (one per student) Clipboards (one per student) “Circle Zone” sheet o (one copy per student) o Look for the Instructor will provide: Plant/Animal cards Laminated field guide for leaders hoola hoops Lesson Plan Part One: The Saltwater Aquarium Students will be seated in front of the 1200-gallon saltwater aquarium inside the Hobcaw Barony Discovery Center for a discussion on the different species of plants and animals found in the salt marsh ecosystem. With each species, the role of each and its location in the food chain will be introduced by the instructor. Part Two: Salt Marsh Trail After traveling to the salt marsh trail, students will be immersed into the salt marsh ecosystem as they learn about its four zones. The students will identify the species previously discussed in their natural habitat and draw everything they see inside each hoola hoop. This will focus the students on how many species of plants and animals can be found in just a small area. Part Three: Circle Zones This part of the lesson still takes place at the salt marsh trail and focuses more on the variety of species found in each of the four zones. With the students being more familiar with the salt marsh species after completing the hoola hoop drawings, they will go on to counting how many of each species is present in each zone of the salt marsh. They will find that although each zone has the same species, different amounts of each will be found depending on the zone. HOBCAW BARONY Salt Marsh Ecology THE BELLE W. BARUCH FOUNDATION Teacher Preparation: An estuary is the thin zone along a coastline where freshwater systems and rivers meet, mix with a salty ocean, and become brackish. An estuary begins where fresh river water flows into coastal bays and inlets. These areas of transition between the land and the sea are driven by tides, like the sea, but sheltered from the full force of ocean wind and waves, like a river. When fresh water meets salty seawater, both liquids combine turning into a brackish mixture. Estuaries are unique places that are valuable to the environment and to society. Each having its own specific characteristics, they all play vital roles in the environment and in our lives. Estuaries change constantly, and this change is necessary for an estuary’s health. Estuarine organisms have adapted to tolerate the changing conditions of estuaries. Tides, depth and location, weather patterns, seasonal cycles, and climate change all lend to the ever changing characteristics of an estuary. Tides are necessary for healthy estuaries as they flush the systems and provide nutrients to keep the food webs functional. However, tides create constantly changing conditions of exposure to air and inundation to water. The depth and location of an estuary affects and changes conditions such as temperature and number of organisms present. The Earth’s climate is warming at a faster rate than normal. This warming is causing sea level to rise, which may ultimately result in flooded and lost estuaries. A common estuarine habitat found here in South Carolina is coastal marshes. Coastal marshes along the oceans are called salt marshes, or tidal marshes. Salt marshes prefer cool, temperate climates (winter temperatures near or below 10o C). They occur in areas that are directly affected by tidal waters. Many different types of plants such as marsh grasses, rushes and sedges grow in salt marshes. These different types of plants require different water levels, oxygen content and salinity which determine where they grow in the lower, middle or upper marsh. Salt marsh plants are highly tolerant of the salty waters. They absorb the estuary waters through their roots, and special plant cells concentrate the salt ions, freeing up freshwater to be used by the plant. Salt marshes can filter small amounts of pollutants and runoff while the marsh grass filters and traps silt. However, too much nutrient or sediment input will create an unbalanced situation causing the health of the marsh to decline. Salt marshes provide important protection and nursery areas for fish, shellfish and crustaceans. Small fish and other animals live in the shallow waters and dense grasses and hide here from predators. Salt marshes also trap decaying organic matter (detritus) that is used as food by some estuarine animals. Salt marshes provide food, fresh water and shelter for migrating birds on their long journey between nesting and wintering habitats. Salt marsh plants have strong root systems that help them withstand surges of water that come from storms. Many winding creeks and channels snake through salt marshes. They carry detritus and deposit sediment, replacing what storms, floods and tides flush out. Salt marshes develop in low energy waters, meaning that there is usually only a small amount of wave action in the area. Decaying plants, fish and animals are broken down by bacteria and fungi helping produce the ripe, rotten egg smell common in salt marsh mudflats. *Excerpted from estuaries.noaa.gov HOBCAW BARONY Salt Marsh Ecology THE BELLE W. BARUCH FOUNDATION SALT MARSH ECOLOGY VOCABULARY LIST Adaptation (adapt): a genetically-based body feature or behavior that allows an organism to be better suited to its environment. Anaerobic: without air, no oxygen. Benthic: relating to the ocean bottom. Brackish: slightly salty water with salinity between 0.5 ppt and 32 ppt. (ppt = parts per thousand) Conservation: careful preservation and protection of ecological processes and biodiversity of the environment Detritus: newly dead or decaying organic matter coated with bacteria. Estuary: a semi-enclosed body of water which has a free connection to the open sea and within which seawater is measurably diluted by fresh water derived from land drainage. Some unique Great Lakes coastal wetlands are referred to as freshwater estuaries. They occur where rivers and Great Lakes water mix in shallow wetlands located near the mouth of a river. High marsh: the area of the marsh flooded infrequently by the high tides associated with new and full moon. Intertidal: estuary habitat flooded by high tide waters only. Invasive species: non-native species of plants or animals that out-compete native species in a specific habitat. Low marsh: the area of marsh flooded twice daily by tides and dominated by Spartina alterniflora.
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