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Salt marsh during low tide, mean low tide, high tide and very high tide (spring tide). A coastal salt marsh in Perry, Florida, USA.. A salt marsh, saltmarsh or salting, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides.
Salt marshes can be generally divided into the high marsh, low marsh, and the upland border. The low marsh is closer to the ocean, with it being flooded at nearly every tide except low tide. [53] The high marsh is located between the low marsh and the upland border and it usually only flooded when higher than usual tides are present. [53]
These tides flood the salt marshes, bringing new life to one of my favorite features of a salt marsh, the salt pannes. This is also one of the best times to visit a marsh by kayak or canoe.
Few terrestrial animals inhabit the coastal salt marsh. One endangered mammal is the salt marsh harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys raviventris) which occurs in the San Francisco Bay region. Likewise, only five species of birds are resident in this habitat and four are considered rare or endangered.
Mangrove swamps and salt marshes form important coastal habitats in tropical and temperate areas respectively. Mangroves are species of shrubs and medium size trees that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes 25° N and 25° S.
Salt marshes can be generally divided into the high marsh, low marsh, and the upland border. The low marsh is closer to the ocean, with it being flooded at nearly every tide except low tide. [25] The high marsh is located between the low marsh and the upland border and it usually only flooded when higher than usual tides are present. [25]
Marshes differ depending mainly on their location and salinity. These factors greatly influence the range and scope of animal and plant life that can survive and reproduce in these environments. The three main types of marsh are salt marshes, freshwater tidal marshes, and freshwater marshes. [3]
In addition, salt marsh plants tolerate high salinities by several physiological mechanisms, including excreting salt through salt glands and preventing salt uptake into the roots. Despite having a regular freshwater presence, the Atlantic stingray is physiologically euryhaline and no population has evolved the specialized osmoregulatory ...