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Class:
Eagleridge Elementary
Question
How deep is Padilla Bay?
Answer: At high tide it is an average of 8 feet and at low tide it is empty.
Class:
8 202 Barnard
Question
How do icebergs melting affect are estuary?
Answer: Because icebergs are made of freshwater by melting they could
change the salinity of the ocean. This could affect what is able to live in the
salt waters all over the globe including estuaries like Padilla Bay.
Class:
Menard, Waddell, Guckert 3rd Gr Sandpiper Elem.
Question
How long do estuaries last? Tucker
Answer: There are lots of kinds of estuaries. Some fill in with in a few
thousand years while others could last forever! As long as there is salt water,
fresh water, and a semi-enclosed body of water it is considered an estuary.
Class:
Eagleridge Elementary
Question
How often do you measure the sediment?
Answer: Usually they use the sediment elevation table to measure in Padilla
Bay about twice a year. This happens once in the spring and again at the end
of summer. The tide doesn’t go out far enough to take measurements in the
winter.
Class:
Ms Beitlers, grade 8, Barnard Environmental Studies Magnet
Question
I have noticed that a lot of storms have been going on does that involve
estuaries getting the same amount of storms as the cities
Answer: Yes, the estuaries do get storms just like cities. Healthy estuaries
are able to withstand the storms with much less damage than most cities.
Class:
Eagleridge Elementary
Question
Are there estuaries like Padilla Bay all over the country?
Answer: Yes! An estuary is any place where fresh water meets salt water
and it is partially enclosed by land. Estuaries are found on the west coast,
east coast, and even in the Gulf of Mexico.
Class:
Mrs.beitler, 8th,Barnard environmental school
Question
What makes the sea level rise?
Answer: Most of the sea level rise is due to the expansion of the water itself
as the temperature of the ocean waters rises. Secondary to that is the water
being added from the melting of glaciers.
Class:
8 202 Barnard
Question
How big is the estuary
Answer: The estuary is 1200 acres and at high tide it is about 8 feet deep.
Class:
Menard, Waddell, Guckert 3rd Gr Sandpiper Elem.
Question
Do sharks live there? Devon How many seagull types live there? Deena
Answer: We do have some small sharks such as Dogfish. As for gulls we
have 12 different species including Western, Glaucous, Bonaparte's,
California, Herring, Ring Billed, and Hearman’s gulls.
Question
You were talking about crabs. How many crabs do you think live in Padilla
Bay?
Answer: There are seven species of crabs including two types of Shore
crabs, Dungeness, Hermit, Rock, Decorator, and Helmet crabs. As for how
many crabs call Padilla Bay home, it is likely thousands, possibly more.
Class:
Millicoma Intermediate Coos Bay Oregon
Question
We were wondering what type of species of plankton and shore birds use
your eelgrass habitat?
Answer: There are two categories of plankton phytoplankton and
zooplankton. In the bay there are likely thousands of different species in
both categories and we are currently doing research to try and identify them
all. As for shore birds there are hundreds that use the eelgrass in various
ways but the Black and Artic Brant are the only two species that actually eat
the eelgrass itself.
Question
How is Padilla Bay doing with regards to the rising sea level? Are there any
concerns to this ecosystem?
Answer: Our two main concerns are sediment accretion and shoreline
erosion. Both of these are due to sea level rise. If the accretion of sediment is
too rapid the eelgrass will not be able to adapt and we will lose one of the
most important species here in our estuary. So far we haven’t seen any such
affects but expect them to come in the future.
Class:
6th period Science, 8th grade, Daniels Middle School in Raleigh, NC
Question
What is the salinity of Padilla Bay?
Answer: It is between 25 and 30 international salinity units.
Class:
Cascade Middle School.
Question
How do you monitor pollution? Nathan Jones
Answer: We are constantly doing numerous water quality tests both in the
bay and in the sloughs that enter into Padilla Bay. One important test is for
fecal coliform that comes from warm-blooded animals and is an indicator
that feces are polluting our water. We are surrounded by lots of farms so it is
important for us to make sure they are not polluting our bay.
Class:
4th grade Madison Elementary in Olympia, WA
Question
How does the ocean life cycle work? What plant or animal stays put when
the tide goes out?
Answer: The ocean life cycle is much like that of any creature. Many of the
animals start as microscopic zooplankton that go through several growth
stages before they are big enough to even be seen with the naked eye. They
eat, grow, breed, and die. How long each of these steps takes depends on the
species. Lots of animals are intertidal meaning they live in the area that is
underwater during high tide and exposed at low tide. Some for example
include barnacles, sea stars, limpets, shore crab, and various types of algae.
Class:
Discovery School
Question
What is the measurement tool called that you are using in the marsh?
Answer: The tool used to measure sedimentation in the estuary is called a
sediment measurement table.
Class:
Eagleridge Elementary
Question
Why is eelgrass called eelgrass? Do eels really live there?
Answer: That’s an excellent question! No one really knows why it is called
eelgrass, maybe because it is long, skinny, and green like an eel? What do
you think? Eels actually don’t live there but gunnels do. They are long
skinny green fish that look a lot like eels.
Class:
Eagleridge Elementary, Max
Question
How does the tide come in? What causes it, and how fast does it change in
Padilla Bay. Another question; why do you measure how tall the water level
is?
Answer: Tides are a complicated combination of the balances of the
gravitational pulls from the sun and the moon. I would recommend looking
for a book or website about tides. Every six hours the tide goes out or in. In
Padilla Bay high tide averages around 8 ft and at low tide there is no water
in the bay. We measure the height of the water so that we can use the data to
compare changes over long periods of time. For example we can use data
collected today to compare it to data collected 100 years form now to see
how sea level rise is effecting our bay.
Class: Eagleridge Elementary
Question:
How much beach is exposed between tides?
Answer:
It depends on the tide! Neap tides are not as big as spring tides.
During Spring tides, at low tide, the beach is often exposed for
3-4 miles!
Class: Eagleridge Elementary
Question:
How many storms are there each year that change the shoreline? Has that
number changed over the time you have been studying the Bay?
Answer:
The number of storms varies greatly from year to year. Sometimes in a
given year there will be NO storms big enough to change the shoreline, other
years there will be lots of shoreline change caused by storms. Shorelines
will continue to change and the number and frequency of storms is expected
to increase as climate changes.
Class: Eagleridge Elementary, Will St. M
Question: Have you ever noticed that freshwater floats above salt water?
How does that impact the animals and plants at Padilla Bay?
Answer: Yes, sometimes you can see the layering of fresh water over salty
water! This usually occurs where there is minimal mixing of water, though,
and is pretty rare in Padilla Bay and usually doesn't last longer than one tidal
cycle. When it does occur however, it causes plants and animals to be
"stressed", and they cannot function as well as usual.
Class: Eagleridge Elementary
Question: What are sandbags and how do they work?
Answer: Sandbags are bags made of either burlap or polypropylene. They
are filled with sand. The bags are then placed along a low bank where
flooding may be an issue, to build up and stabilize a stream, river, or
wetland's banks. They work like a temporary dam or dike to keep the water
out.
Class: Eagleridge Elementary, Cole
Question: What kinds of predatory birds live in Padilla Bay? What animals
do they eat?
Answer: There are several predatory birds that live in Padilla Bay! Some of
the highest birds on the food web that nest near the margins of the Bay
are: Bald Eagle, Great Blue Heron, Red-tailed hawk, Northern Harriers,
Sharp-shinned hawk, Cooper's hawk, Osprey, and several species of owls
(Great horned, barn, pygmy). Many of these birds eat fish, other birds,
carrion, crabs, small mammals (rodents, etc.).
Class: Eagleridge Elementary, Will P.
Question: Why to starfish stick to rocks? Do you have many starfish in
Padilla bay in the eelgrass?
Answer: We have two species of starfish in Padilla Bay--the Six-rayed sea
star and Sunflower sea star. They get stuck to rocks when the tide goes out
because they need water in order to regulate the suction of their tube feet.
Class: Menard, Waddell, Guckert 3rd Gr Sandpiper Elem.
Question:
In the wetlands how many animals are humans hurting?
Answer: Human actions that cause pollution, can make the estuarine
habitats in which animals live change and can make it very difficult for
animals to function in a healthy manner. This can affect all or some of the
animals living in an estuary.
Class: Menard, Waddell, Guckert 3rd Gr Sandpiper Elem.
Question:
How does a flood hurt a wetland?
Answer: Flooding can cause increased erosion, which can affect the animals
that live in and on the mud and sediments of an estuary. Flooding can also
increase the amount of sediment entering an estuary, which can cause a
plethora of problems for animals living in a bay, such as increasing water
temperature, increased levels of pollutants entering the bay, etc.
Class: Menard, Waddell, Guckert 3rd Gr Sandpiper Elem.
Question:
How can you tell where the wetlands end and the ocean begins?
Answer: Sometimes it is difficult to tell where the wetlands end and the
ocean begins. It doesn’t change suddenly from one to the other.
Characteristics such as water depth and the organisms that live there will be
different for the two but it’s not like there is a line between the two.
Class: Menard, Waddell, Guckert 3rd Gr Sandpiper Elem.
Question:
What made you want to become a Wetland's Scientist?
Answer: I became interested in wetland ecosystems while experiencing and
exploring the outdoors, Wetlands are wonderful places to ask questions and
research some possible explanations!
Class:
Eagleridge Elementary, Maverick
Question
How old is the Bay?
Answer
About 10,000 year ago because the glaciers retreated 20,000 years ago and
the river delta took bit to get hear.
Class:
Eagleridge Elementary, Maverick
Question
What is the most common fish that comes up after high tide? What might I
see if I were looking in the water at high tide in Padilla Bay?
Answer
There are lots of fish the like Padilla Bay some of the most common are star
flounder, bay pipefish (a relative of the seahorse), sculpin and at times
salmon fingerlings.
Class:
Question
Why is an estuary important?
Answer
Estuaries are important because they are nurseries for many animals that
could not survive in the ocean.
Class:
Eagleridge Elementary, Daniel
Question
How do high tides and low tides switch?
Answer
The sun and moon have a gravitational pull on the ocean so as the earth
orbits around the sun and the moon orbit around the earth the gravitational
pulls the water back and forth.
Class:
Eagleridge Elementary
Question
The shore is going away. How fast is the sediment in the Bay changing and
is it increasing or decreasing?
Answer
There are a lot of factors that affected sediment so this is a hard question to
answer. Some of the main factors the affected Padilla Bay sediment are
rebound from the glacier ice sheet that was here about 20,000 years ago and
the fact that Padilla is a orphaned river delta so are only source of sediment
come from the ocean. We are currently researching sediment in the bay and
will have more information in time.
Class:
Eagleridge Elementary
Question
How far do you hammer the poles called yards down?
Answer: The Sediment Elevation Tables (SET) are attached to rods that are
pounded way down into the mud. We drive them in as far as they will go, usually
about 30 feet.