Smooth Grass

Smooth Cordgrass (top)

Example of Food Chain (middle)

Locations of Smooth Cordgrass (bottom)

Smooth CordGrass is one of it common names. More names of Smooth grass are Saltmarsh/Saltwater Cordgrass. Smooth Grass is known as in scientific world as Spartina Alternifora lois. It can be found in high and low lands of the marsh. In addition, smooth cord grass can be grow in freshwater, it does not need saltwater to grow. In some cases, its proven that smooth cordgrass is extremely hard to remove when its located in freshwater area than saltwater.

Physical/Geology Interactions

Smooth cordgrass is know to being an invasive plant. Some people call it a"weed" because it grows and spreads so fast.Because it growth characteristics, smooth grass can be found in high and low land of the salt marsh. Smooth grass can be use to block erosion near the banks or shoreline of the salt marsh enabling sediments to collect building up sediments to the point of land is formed. Smooth grass prevents natural erosion of land by its complex roots growing outward to hold the sediment together. To add on to that, Smooth cordgrass's never really stop growing.During the summer you can see proof of it growing above the soil but in the winter season its roots continue grow. While above the soild, the plant turns brown. Smooth cordgrass also add to sediment when it decomposes, adding a layer of nutrient to sediments around it.

Chemical interaction

Smooth grass do not really do any chemical action other than conducting photosystis for creating food and growing. However, the chemical make of the water do effect its growth. For example the ppt level effects the growth of the plant. If the ppt level is low, the growth of the plant is greater. Converly, if the ppt is high, the growth of the plants seem to decrease.

Eco interaction

Smooth cordgrass is at the bottom of the food chain. It's seed are eaten by marshbirds, songbirds,sharp-tailed sparrows and several species of the salt marsh. During the winter, Geese are know to eat the root stocks. Also smooth cordgrass is know to provide shelter to species in the juvenile stages.

Sources

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=SPAL

http://www.dnr.sc.gov/marine/mrri/acechar/specgal/smoothgr.htm

http://www.edc.uri.edu/restoration/html/gallery/plants/smooth.htm

http://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/pg_spal.pdf

Images

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Spartina_alterniflora.jpg

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=SPAL

http://www.dnr.sc.gov/marine/mrri/acechar/specgal/smoothgr.htm

http://www.edc.uri.edu/restoration/html/gallery/plants/smooth.htm

http://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/pg_spal.pdf

Snail Larvae

Chemical and Geological Influences

Snail Larvae ( or Veliger Larvae) are known as meroplankton. This means that they are temporary plankton and spend only a portion of their life as a zooplankton. The larvae uses its oceanographic surroundings to its advantage by hitching a ride on currents to transport itself around. It does this so that it can find new food sources and find a proper place to settle and begin its metamorphic transformation into its final shape. This process also helps to distribute the larvae more evenly throughout the habitat. This way, no one area is too densely populatedThe larvae can sense food amounts in the area via a chemical reaction that is released from the food. This is how the larvae knows where to settle if given the opportunity.

Physical Influences

Snail larvae and other meroplankton are produced in very large quantities. This is because the larvae are virtually defenseless in their early life stages. The larvae then become a food source for many other zooplankton in the habitat. Luckily, only a small number of larvae need to survive to keep the species going.

Fiddler Crabs (Uca pugnax) and Their Interactions

Chemical

The fiddler crab, unlike the blue crabs you will find in a bay, need a clean, chemical free environment to survive. If a contaminant such as polychlorinated biphenyl, a chemical formerly used for electric insulation and coolants, gets into the water a fiddler crab will take this out of the seawater and concentrate it for food. They find this chemical most often in the sediments, and once they ingest it they pass it on to any animal that eats them, creating a chain of sick animals. As well, when there is an oil spill, years later the fiddler crabs of the nearby salt marshes have been observed to change their habits. They will not dig any more that a few centimeters into the sediments if they are near a place that was highly contaminated, and when they go through and eat from sediments that are or have been previously contaminated with the oil, they react to everything slower and move sluggishly. Finally, any heavy metals like mercury, zinc or copper are toxic to fiddler crabs and can cause slow development and deformities in young crabs.

Geological

Fiddler crabs in habit coasts from Mass. down to Florida. They use the soft sand of salt marshes to their advantage. They make burrows into the sand roughly 12 to 18 centimeters deep on average. These burrows are very useful to the fiddler crab; they provide protection when running from a predator, when the tide comes in they take a small piece of mud and plug the top of their burrow so the water doesn't flood the burrow because unlike most crabs fiddlers breath air, they provide a place to stay wet when the tides go out and the ground at the top of the burrow has no water above it, when the sun gets to be too much for them they go and cool of and wet their gills at the bottom of the burrow, and finally they use these burrows to procreate. After the male crabs do their displays with their large claws, a female that is attracted to him follows him back to his burrow "where the magic happens". When they burrow, the fiddler crab brings organic material up to the surface, which helps the overall health of the environment.

Physical

The fiddler crab is very tolerant of temperature differences as shown by how they habit almost anywhere on the east coast from Mass. and south. Their difference in color is also related to their area, which connects as well with the amount of sunlight in that area. Similarly, the fiddler crab is known to inhabit areas of many different salinities (.2 to 36.2 ppt), but they are much more common in high salinity areas. In fact in salt marshes with very high salinities you are likely to find hundreds of these little guys living together.

Random Facts

• When a male loses it's large claw in a fight, to a predator, etc. its small claw grows and becomes the big one and a small claw appears where the former big one was.
• Adults molt once or twice a year, during which time they remain very close to their burrows.
• Fiddler crab burrows can reach up to 2 feet deep.

Sources

http://www.dnr.sc.gov/cwcs/pdf/FiddlerCrab.pdf

http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=12467&tid=282&cid=25746

http://www.sms.si.edu/irlspec/Uca_pugila.htm

http://www.chesapeakebay.net/fiddler_crab.htm

*All text sources I found were experiments, thesis papers and information that wasn't usable

Diamondbacks And Their Interactions

Chemical Interaction

Terrapins from 4 sites in South Carolina and a superfund site in Brunswick, Georgia were used to measure levels of mercury in the surrounding areas. Blood and scute samples were taken from each captured specimen and used to measure the levels of mercury. Mercury levels were much higher in the terrapins caught near the superfund site in Georgia than the terrapins caught in South Carolina. The terrapins eat lots of periwinkles and other scavengers such as small fish which directly absorb mercury from being so low on the food chain and coming into direct contact with the chemical by means of being scavengers. There were also seasonal fluctuations of blood mercury levels from the terrapins collected in South Carolina. Levels of mercury were significantly lower in August than in April, June or October. However the levels of mercury in the scute samples did not vary seasonally. 90% of the mercury found in the terrapins is in an organic form.

Geological Interaction

The habitat range of the Diamondback Terrapin stretches from the Gulf Coast of Texas, around Florida, all the way up the East Coast to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. I have personally seen one of these terrapins on Cape Cod during the summer. It was crawling through some sea grass during low tide in Cape Cod by, just south of Campground Beach in Eastham, Ma. Although these terrapins are near threatened, the highest concentration of their total population can be found in the Maryland, Delaware, Chesapeake Bay area. Along the coasts of the Carolinas is also another hot spot for these creatures.

Physical Interaction

The Diamondback Terrapin is very sensitive to changes in salinity as well has big changes in water levels. They are directly impacted by their habitat which include coastal salt marshes, some estuaries and sea grass along beaches. Their habitat is very vulnerable to changes in salinity and large variations in water level. Drastic levels in salinity could kill the vegetation they use for protection, as shelter, and to look for food around. Too much or too little salinity could kill off this grass, leaving the terrapins with no places to live. Also the tides and level of water plays a big factor on their habitats. If the water level rises too much the salt marshes and other places they live will flood too much making it impossible for the terrapins to survive there in all that water. They prefer sandy beaches to nest on, so again if the water level rises too much the nests are put in jeopardy of being flooded out. This would result in the population of terrapins not being replenished and even less of these animals left in the world. Another aspect to be considered is if the tide sinks too low. During the winter months these terrapins hibernate like most reptiles. They dig down into the mud of the salt marshes and spend the winter hibernating down there. If the water were to sink to low it could expose the mud and cause it to freeze over. This in return would also freeze the turtle hibernating in that mud to death. As a fun fact the Diamondback Terrapin is the only turtle in the world that can tolerate Brackish Water. In other words they are the only turtles that can tolerate both fresh and low salinity salt water. That is why salt marshes make the perfect habitat fro them, there is some salt but not full blown salt water from the open ocean.

Sources:

Gaëlle Blanvillain, Jeffrey A Schwenter, Rusty D Day, David Point, and et al. "DIAMONDBACK TERRAPINS, MALACLEMYS TERRAPIN, AS A SENTINEL SPECIES FOR MONITORING MERCURY POLLUTION OF ESTUARINE SYSTEMS IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA, USA. " Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 26.7 (2007): 1441-1450. ProQuest Science Journals, ProQuest. Web. 20 Apr. 2011.

Group Member: Brandon Stubbs

Hi. My name is Brandon Stubbs and I am a freshman Environmental Science major at Norwich. Along with being in the Corps, I also play lacrosse here fro the Cadets. I will be researching the vertebrae of the salt marsh ecosystem, with an added focus on the Diamondback Terrapin. This unique species of turtle ranges from the U.S. Gulf Coasts, through the Florida keys and up to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Their main diet consists of crabs, snails, small fish, worms, and plant material. **to whoever is reviewing our blog, I had this posted before the due date but it was in the wrong spot, so it did not show up. Please do not mark off as it was done on time, just not in the right spot.**

Meet The Team

Hi.

My name is Phillip Turner. I am a freshmen Accounting/ Business management major in the Corps of Cadets. I be researching Pytoplankton for the group and i have selected Smooth Cordgrass (picture to the left ). Marsh Orach are also know was Spartina Alterniflora Lois, they can grow up to 6 to 80 in. They are usually found high land and the low of the salt marsh.

helpful links

Salt Marsh & SMooth Grass

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=SPAL

http://des.nh.gov/organization/commissioner/pip/publications/wd/documents/wd-04-19.pdf

http://www.edc.uri.edu/restoration/html/gallery/plants/smooth.htm

http://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/pg_spal.pdf

Group Member: Brett Sewing

Hello my name is Brett Sewing. I am freshman civil engineering major in the corps as well as playing Lacrosse. I will research an invertebrate, specifically the fiddler crab, which are often found in salt marshes. The male fiddler crab is most well known for its completely disproportional claws, the bigger being used to find food, fight other males, and attract mates, while the other is used to pick up food.

Fiddler Crab:

photo:http://www.peconicestuary.org/PhotoContest.html

fiddler crab info:

1) http://pelotes.jea.com/fidcrab.htm

2) http://www.chesapeakebay.net/fiddler_crab.htm

salt marsh info:

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Salt_marsh