watershed

a. My site is right at the convergence of two watersheds as all of the water from the surrounding mountains and hills in Butano watershed and Pescadero converge and enter the ocean. As an estuary it is where all the runoff usually enters into the ocean.

b. The water moved down from the surrounding ridges and hills into creeks and into the estuary and ocean.

c. There is Highway 1 and a bridge crossing the creek west of the site as well as a road on the south of the site. Most of the close development is on the west side in parking lots for the beaches.

d. There is agriculture on the east side both grazing land and farming and runoff in the creeks can bring nitrogen from fertilizer and phosphorous from livestock waste can enter the creeks. Carbon enters the ecosystem from decomposers respiration as well as from organic material.

e.They may be concentrated in the water and in the aquatic plants that are in the marsh where all the water accumulates before going out to the ocean.

f. These nutrients leave the location out of the estuary into the ocean.

g. The site is mostly water and wetland, so whether an organism is terrestrial or aquatic and living there is dependent on the geographic landscape. Also there are a few roads which do not allow for organisms to live there because they are hazardous. But because the site is a wetland, a wide variety of animals are able to find a habitat suitable for them in the site.

h.Organisms up stream such as cattle cause erosion and sedimentation downstream, which in turn causes the estuary to close earlier than needed which blocks off the mouths of the rivers creating a whole different abiotic scenario. When the mouth is closed, the the marsh is mostly freshwater which allows for different organisms to survive there than when it is more brackish. Also the mouth closure from sedimentation can be detrimental to fish species such as the steelhead that need to return to the ocean after spawning.

Done