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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.
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.
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]
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]
The salt marshes contains glassworts and common cord grass in the most exposed regions, with a succession of plants following on as the marsh becomes more established: first sea aster, then mainly sea lavender, with sea purslane in the creeks and smaller areas of sea plantain and other common marsh plants. [2]
Florida salt marsh vole. Microtus dukecampbelli (Woods, Post, and Kilpatrick, 1982) rare; endemic to salt marshes in Waccasassa Bay in Levy County [200] Woodland vole. Microtus pinetorum (Le Conte, 1830) uncommon; central portion of northern third of peninsula [201] Round-tailed muskrat. Neofiber alleni (True, 1884)
Mats of salt hay grass are inhabited by many small animals and are an important food source for ducks and seaside sparrows. Newburyport Meadows, c. 1872–1878, by Martin Johnson Heade Sporobolus pumilus in a high marsh area. Saltmeadow cordgrass marshes serve as pollution filters and as buffers against flooding and shoreline erosion.