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Other types of estuaries also exist and have similar characteristics as traditional brackish estuaries. The Great Lakes are a prime example. There, river water mixes with lake water and creates freshwater estuaries. [16] Estuaries are extremely productive ecosystems that many humans and animal species rely on for various activities. [17]
Other types of estuaries also exist and have similar characteristics as traditional brackish estuaries. The Great Lakes are a prime example. There, river water mixes with lake water and creates freshwater estuaries. [20] Estuaries are extremely productive ecosystems that many humans and animal species rely on for various activities. [21]
Estuaries are hotspots for biodiversity, containing a majority of commercial fish catch, making the impacts of eutrophication that much greater within estuaries. [21] Some specific estuarine animals feel the effects of eutrophication more strongly than others. One example is the whitefish species from the European Alps. [22]
Estuaries provide habitats for a large number of organisms and support very high productivity. Estuaries provide habitats for salmon and sea trout nurseries, [43] as well as migratory bird populations. [44] Two of the main characteristics of estuarine life are the variability in salinity and sedimentation.
Estuaries are also commonly used as fishing grounds and as places for fish farming or ranching. [5] For example, Atlantic salmon farms are often located in estuaries, although this has caused controversy, because in doing so, fish farmers expose migrating wild fish to large numbers of external parasites such as sea lice that escape from the ...
The biotic characteristics are mainly determined by the organisms that occur. For example, wetland plants may produce dense canopies that cover large areas of sediment—or snails or geese may graze the vegetation leaving large mud flats. Aquatic environments have relatively low oxygen levels, forcing adaptation by the organisms found there.
Although not aquatic animals, these birds are supported by the food and habitat the harbor provides, particularly Jamaica Bay and the Pelham Islands. Many of these birds will fly within sight of the Manhattan skyline and the estuary is a very important point for the East Coast because of its location: it is dead center in the Atlantic Flyway and many raptors and waterfowl use this spot as a ...
The Columbia River Estuary is an extremely biodiverse system, playing host (at some stage in their lifetime or another) to over 70 species of fish, hundreds of species of birds and many reptiles, mammals and amphibians. The number of invertebrate species has not been counted. [15]