Marshes on deal isl

type amount

Marshes are a primary feature of the Deal Island peninsula, How much? These tidal marshes are influenced by fluctuating water levels driven by tides and are characterized by salt tolerant plants such as black needle rush, smooth cordgrass, and salt marsh hay.  Salt tidal marshes have one of the highest rates of primary productivity associated with wetland ecosystems resulting from the inflow of nutrients and organics from surface and/or tidal water.

 

What is a wetland

 

Why care about marshes

Wetland functions include:

• flood control - the capacity of a wetland to store large volumes of water during floods; wetlands modify the flow in streams by decreasing peak discharge (volume of water over a given time) and increasing time of concentration (time between rainfall/flood event and release of water to streams). function as natural sponges that trap and slowly release surface water, rain, snowmelt,groundwater and flood waters. Trees, root mats, and other wetland vegetation also slow the speed of flood waters and distribute them more slowly over a floodplain. This combined water storage and braking action lowers flood heights and reduces erosion. The holding capacity of wetlands helps control floods and prevents water-logging of crops

• improved water quality - removal of suspended and dissolved solids and nutrients from surface and ground water and conversion into other forms, such as plant and animal biomass or gases

• stabilization and retention - the capacity of processes in a wetland to cause the deposition and retention of inorganic and organic sediments from the water column, primarily through physical processes Wetland plants hold the soil in place with their roots, absorb the energy of waves, and break up the energy flow of bay waters

• fish and wildlife habitat - the capacity of a wetland to produce an abundance and diversity of plant and animal species and communities and habitats for animals that spend all or part of their life cycle in wetlands. Many other animals and plants depend on wetlands for survival.

• hunting and fishing 

 

Changing conditions

A wetland’s characteristics evolve when hydrologic conditions cause the water table to saturate or inundate the soil for a certain amount of time each year. Any change in hydrology can significantly alter the soil chemistry and plant and animal communities. Common hydrologic alterations in wetland areas include:Deposition of fill material for development;Drainage for development, farming, and mosquito control;Dredging and stream channelization for navigation, development, and flood control;Diking and damming to form ponds and lakes;Diversion of flow to or from wetlands; andAddition of impervious surfaces in the watershed, thereby increasing water and pollutant runoff into wetlands.put together summary of study area and what results tell us....

 

what/how do we study?

Our study area is composed of four study sites on the Deal Island peninusla, two sites at the MD DNR EAV Wildlife Management Area, and one site at the Chesapeake Bay NERRS Monie Bay component. We are collecting data at fourty sampling stations at each of the four Deal and Monie Bay sites and thrity stations at the EAV Wildlife area.

 

each of the following sections include description of what is being collected and what that data will tell us