Without estuaries there might not be enough oxygen for humans to breathe. Estuaries perform a vital role in filtering small amounts of pollution and run off from the environment. They also protect land from huge surges in the oceans caused by storms and tsunamis. Estuaries are a source for recreational opportunities to hike, swim, sail, fish, and bird watch. Another reason estuaries are important to protect is over half of the U. When are Estuaries under threat?
Estuaries are threatened for many reasons. As a popular location for homes and communities, land reclamation is a big threat. Estuaries are filled in for housing and industry, destroying the fragile balance and habitat for many living species of plants, birds and animals. In highly dense urban populations such as Jakarta, Indonesia, fish populations have decreased and the local fishing industry has suffered.
Because estuaries form a natural barrier from the ocean, their disappearance results in more flooding. Coastal communities lose their buffer, causing erosion, and making them more susceptible to tsunamis and hurricanes. Another threat to estuaries is pollution caused by garbage, oil spills, sewage and other waste, as well as run-off from agricultural chemicals. When pollutants get into the rivers it endangers the bird, animal, and plant species dependent on this habitat.
Estuaries are extremely valuable. Nature of science Scientific research sometimes reveals environmental problems — such as human impact on estuaries. Related content The main impacts affecting estuaries are sedimentation and pollution from run-off. Activity ideas Students can use the Hubbub Estuary activity to identify estuarine impacts and protection actions. These activities below are simple but effective hands-on models, demonstrating the land and water interface and potential impacts: Constructing an aquifer model Groundwater contamination Nutrient impact experiment.
Go to full glossary Add 0 items to collection. Download 0 items. Twitter Pinterest Facebook Instagram. Organize a stream or beach cleanup. Encourage your local newspaper to write a story, or ask an expert to speak at your community organization or school. Take a few minutes to learn more about estuaries and perhaps visit your nearest National Estuarine Research Reserve. Estuaries and their surrounding wetlands are bodies of water usually found where rivers meet the sea.
Estuaries are home to unique plant and animal communities that have adapted to brackish water—a mixture of fresh water draining from the land and salty seawater. Many animals rely on estuaries for food, places to breed, and migration stopovers. Do Your Part: Help Protect Our Estuaries Simple things you can do to help protect and conserve our nation's fragile estuarine ecosystems.
At Home Keep septic systems working properly. Did you know? Find a site. Evaluate the potential impacts of water diversions from the estuary e. Prioritize basins for the acquisition of sufficient instream flows.
Water quality in estuaries is degraded by both point and non-point sources of pollution both within the estuary and from its contributing watershed. Runoff from residential, agricultural, and forest land, failing septic systems, animal waste, and storm events can affect water quality. Water temperature can be affected by dredging or sedimentation and stormwater runoff. Oil discharge and spills also affect water quality.
Other discharges, such as runoff from boat and ship yards and fish processing operations, can also be a factor. Among other issues, estuaries are susceptible to increased bacterial loads. Low dissolved oxygen levels are often an additional concern. Estuaries are also affected by acidification effects from terrestrial input, which combined with ocean water acidification, can decrease water quality for some marine organisms in estuaries. Continue current efforts to consider impacts on estuarine water quality in land use planning.
Support efforts of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality DEQ to assess water quality and develop Total Maximum Daily Loads and water quality management plans where necessary to address issues. Continue coordination to ensure that plans and goals consider impacts to water quality sufficient to protect fish and wildlife in addition to other goals i.
Non-native invasive plants and animals can easily disrupt the estuary environment. Invasive plants can alter water circulation and sediment patterns. Common cordgrass has been documented in two Oregon estuaries and is well-established in Washington and California. Where it occurs, it reduces mud flat habitats, disrupts nutrient flows, displaces native plants and animals, alters water circulation, and traps sediments at a greater rate than native plants, thus altering the elevation and the resulting habitats.
Invasive plants can alter ecological community dynamics, such as competition, predation, or even parasitic relationships with native species. Estuaries are one of the most vulnerable habitats for invasive species due to ship traffic and release of ballast water.
Ballast water can also carry invasive animals, algae, protists, and potentially, bacteria. Invasive species can also be introduced into estuaries through aquaculture, recreational or commercial boating, or the aquarium trade. Emphasize prevention, risk assessment, early detection, and quick control to prevent new invasive species from becoming fully established. Monitor estuaries for potential invasive species, and use site-appropriate methods to control newly-established species for which management can be most effective.
Work with partners to implement existing ballast water regulations. Develop methods to treat ballast water. Work with partners to limit the spread of invasive species that are established. Allow increased harvest of species suitable for human consumption such as purple varnish clams. KCI: Invasive Species. Many jurisdictions and agencies have management authority and interest in estuaries, which can make management more complex and difficult.
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