Estuaries are arguably the most important coastal biome in regards to human settlement and use of resources. They provide us with a variety of services, assets, and benefits. Estuaries are partially enclosed bodies of water found along coasts. A body of water can only be classified as an Estuary if its waters are brackish. They occur when freshwater from a river or stream meet and mix with salt water from the ocean, Estuaries and the land surrounding them are places where land transitions to sea, and freshwater transitions to salt water. Estuaries are places for not only scientific research but for recreational use as well. They are important commercially to humans, their assets revenue money through tourism, fisheries, recreational activities,
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Over half of the United States populations are located in coastal areas, along the shores of estuaries. Coastal areas of the U.S are growing at a rate of up to 3 times faster than that of any other area in the nation. Unfortunately this surplus in humans in the area is leading to the upset of the natural balance of these estuaries, which are very delicate to change to begin with. If a river that connects to an estuary flows through an agricultural area, for example, the pesticides, and fertilizers from these areas can potentially contaminate the water and flow straight into the estuary, negatively affecting all marine life within. Estuaries are one of the most productive ecosystems in the world only trailing behind rain forests. Estuaries are absolutely vital to humans, seeing as how Estuaries are home to 90% of the fish caught commercially. They fall prey to human degradation, which is almost inevitable because 60% of human population worldwide live on or near one. They are prone to overfishing and vast amounts of …show more content…
In an estuary, for example, an oyster reefs provide homes/shelter for many species, like flounder, and these oysters also clean the ecosystem, acting as some sort of natural water filter. Since Estuaries act as nurseries/shelters, and are known as safe havens, the amounts of predator-prey relationships are near zero. One of the few predator-prey relationships seen in the ecosystem are that of the many bird species that reside around estuaries and the fish within the water like, striped
Over half of the United States populations are located in coastal areas, along the shores of estuaries. Coastal areas of the U.S are growing at a rate of up to 3 times faster than that of any other area in the nation. Unfortunately this surplus in humans in the area is leading to the upset of the natural balance of these estuaries, which are very delicate to change to begin with. If a river that connects to an estuary flows through an agricultural area, for example, the pesticides, and fertilizers from these areas can potentially contaminate the water and flow straight into the estuary, negatively affecting all marine life within. Estuaries are one of the most productive ecosystems in the world only trailing behind rain forests. Estuaries are absolutely vital to humans, seeing as how Estuaries are home to 90% of the fish caught commercially. They fall prey to human degradation, which is almost inevitable because 60% of human population worldwide live on or near one. They are prone to overfishing and vast amounts of …show more content…
In an estuary, for example, an oyster reefs provide homes/shelter for many species, like flounder, and these oysters also clean the ecosystem, acting as some sort of natural water filter. Since Estuaries act as nurseries/shelters, and are known as safe havens, the amounts of predator-prey relationships are near zero. One of the few predator-prey relationships seen in the ecosystem are that of the many bird species that reside around estuaries and the fish within the water like, striped