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Salt marshes of Wrightsville Beach
The salt marshes in North Carolina are known for their teaming amounts of biodiversity and the ecological roles that they play in the oceanic environment.
The marsh is home to several different species of plants and animals that each fill certain ecological niches for that ecosystem. An example of this would be the cordgrass (Spartina alteriflora) that is all over the marsh. These plants have special adaptations that allow them to deal with high amounts of salt and low amounts of water during the day, due to the tidal patterns and the high salinity content of the salt marshes themselves. There are also larger amounts of oysters (crassostrea virginica) which help filter out toxins and other harmful things in the waters. The oysters also aid in the process of adding calcium carbonate to the ocean when they die. This calcium carbonate works as a pH buffer which can help resist a change in pH if an acidic or basic solution is present in the environment.
Sources: plants.usda.gov
Salt marshes of Wrightsville Beach
The salt marshes in North Carolina are known for their teaming amounts of biodiversity and the ecological roles that they play in the oceanic environment.
The marsh is home to several different species of plants and animals that each fill certain ecological niches for that ecosystem. An example of this would be the cordgrass (Spartina alteriflora) that is all over the marsh. These plants have special adaptations that allow them to deal with high amounts of salt and low amounts of water during the day, due to the tidal patterns and the high salinity content of the salt marshes themselves. There are also larger amounts of oysters (crassostrea virginica) which help filter out toxins and other harmful things in the waters. The oysters also aid in the process of adding calcium carbonate to the ocean when they die. This calcium carbonate works as a pH buffer which can help resist a change in pH if an acidic or basic solution is present in the environment.
Sources: plants.usda.gov