Download Habitat Notes

Habitat Notes
Habitat
• A place where organisms naturally live
& grow.
• Plants & animals that interact &
depend on each other & require
similar growing conditions.
Benthic
• Pertaining to the ocean floor.
8 Habitats
in the Chesapeake Bay
1. Open Water
2. Piers, Rocks & Jetties
3. Ocean Beach
4. Sand Dunes
5. Maritime Forest
6. Intertidal Flats
7. Salt Marsh
8. Oyster Bars
1. Open Water
• Deep water environment which houses a
variety of organisms – from dolphins to
clams.
• Challenges: Breathing underwater, lots
of predators
• Adaptations: Counter shading, torpedo
shape, transparency, small size, gills
2. Piers, Rocks & Jetties
• Solid structures in the surf zone that
animals attach & cling to.
• Challenges: Pounding waves, competition
for space, low tide – drying out &
predators.
• Adaptations: Holdfasts,
sturdy shells,
streamlined bodies
Piers, Rocks & Jetties
3. Ocean Beach
• Where the ocean touches the shore.
• Challenges: Erosion from wind & waves,
very little shelter from elements, not
many plants.
• Adaptations: Ability to burrow,
streamlined body for burrowing
(clams), shells, ability to move quickly
4. Sand Dunes
• Wind-built, shifting hills of sand by the
beach. Plants anchor & preserve the dunes.
• Challenges: Erosion from wind, very little
shelter from elements, hot & dry.
• Adaptations: long roots to get water, long
thin leaves to minimize exposure, thick
waxy leaves for protection, tall so it won’t
get buried, animals - ability to burrow
Sand Dunes
5. Maritime Forest
Maritime Forest
• Forest w/ conifer & deciduous trees,
scrub & flowers. Often close to or
part of an old Dune area.
• Challenges: Salt spray, storms,
erosion, salt water flooding, not much
fresh water
• Adaptations: Camouflage, deep roots,
waxy leaves
• First Landing State Park & Back Bay
6. Intertidal Flats
• Muddy environment that emerges &
submerges with tides.
• Challenges: Shifting mud & sand, low
oxygen, predators during low tide.
• Adaptations: Ability
to burrow, siphons
opening to air, shells,
ability to live inside
another animal.
7. Salt Marsh
• Also called wetlands which provides
protected spawning, nursery, &
feeding grounds.
• Challenges: changes in salinity, tides.
• Adaptations: plants can excrete salt,
ability to move up & down grasses
during tide changes.
Salt Marsh
8. Oyster Bars
• Community of oysters that help filter
pollutants out of the water & house
many other organisms.
• Challenges: exposed during low tide
• Adaptations:
thick shells