The Estuary ft. Mangrove Forests

Hey Everyone.

Today we will be focusing on a type of biome known as the Estuary. (pronounced ES-chu-airy)
Even more specifically, we will be focusing on Estuaries that are home to Mangrove Forests.

http://estuaries.noaa.gov/Teachers/images/estuaries/world-estuaries-map-960.png

Located above is a map of the main estuaries loacted around the world. When compared to the map below, which shows the amount of estuaries that house mangrove forests, only half of the estuaries shown above contain mangroves.

http://estuarymangrove.wikispaces.com/Estuaries+and+Mangroves

As you can see from above, Estuaries with Mangrove forests are rare in todays world. A majority of today's mangrove forests are located in the Americas (both north and south), Africa, and Asia/Oceania. Few Mangrove forests can survive up north due to the low temperatures that hinder their growth.

Before we focus on Mangroves, and why they are so important. Let us begin by explaining some facts about Estuaries.

http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/elwha/estuary.html
An image of the Elwha river estuary

Estuaries are partially enclosed bodies of water where the fresh water from rivers and streams flow in to meet the salty sea water of the ocean. Most estuaries are shallow regions of water and mange to collect a lot of mud and sediment from the tides constantly pulling in and out. The soil in most estuaries is muddy, and are often low on oxygen. Temperatures of the air and water can vary due to the high number of places that estuaries are located in. Like temperatures, weather patterns and precipitation vary greatly depending on the location of which the estuary is located in.

Estuaries are home to hundreds of species of animals and plants. In fact, Estuaries are the most productive biome in the whole world, for they have the highest % of life per square inch. Estuaries have many types of birds who walk through the shallow waters in search of pray, fish who take refuge in these calmer areas in order to reproduce, and many tiny creatures that like to burrow through the mud.
A list of animals in estuaries can be found here: http://excitingfacts.weebly.com/estuary-animals.html

http://excitingfacts.weebly.com/estuary-animals.html
Mud Shrimp, an example of the tiny creatures that burrow through the mud

Estuaries are home to smooth cordgrass, which is a type of marsh plantlife (estuaries have both fresh water and salt water marshes), large lands of sea grass, and other underwater aquatic plant life. Most of these plants are able to adapt to living under water due to Aerenchyma which allows oxygen to travel from the shoots to the roots even under water.
A list of plant life in estuaries can be found here: http://excitingfacts.weebly.com/estuary-plants.html

Mangrove forests, like the other above mentioned estuary plant life have been adapted to the harsh living conditions of Estuaries: varying salinity and oxygen deprived soils.
But before we get into all of that, Mangroves are actually more specific in where they can be then estuaries are.

http://blog.africageographic.com/africa-geographic-blog/files/2014/02/Mangroves-1.jpg

On average, mangroves tend to lie withing the latitudes of 25 degrees North and 25 degrees South. They prefer warm tropical and subtropical weathers usually averaging to around 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Mangrove forests usually receive around 1000-1500 mm of precipitation each year, and can be subject to extreme conditions like tsunamis, long droughts, and heavy rains.

The soil around mangrove forests are usually muddy, waterlogged, and low in oxygen. The reason for the constant muddiness is due to the tides that constantly flow in and out, moving sediment on and off the coast along with it. In many Mangrove forests, the soil releases a strong "rotten eggs" odor due to anerobic sulfur reducing bacteria like the Desuifovibrio. Mangroves have adapted to this through aerial roots called pneumatophore, which have special pores that allow in air.

Mangroves are also able to deal with varying levels of salinity in the water through a special adaptation. Mangroves are able to store the salt that is absorbed into its leaves, and as the salt levels rise in the plant, its leaves begin to turn yellow. Then, when levels reach a high, the mangrove simply releases the leaf, and allows it to decompose back into nature. Mangrove forests have been found in areas where salinity is between 40-90 ppt.

http://wondercreation.blogspot.com/2013/12/in-mid-december-i-was-out-with-naked.html
an example of the symbiotic relationship between mangroves and crabs. Mangroves provide leaves which the crabs eat, thus eventually allowing the nutrients to be returned back into the soil.

These leaves are also special because they are a main part to the food web in Mangrove forests. After these leaves drop, they are often decomposed by bacteria and filter feeders, which are given nutrients from the fresh water that flows into estuaries. These leaves are also food to many crabs that like to burrow in the mud. In turn, these crabs and prawn feed the numerous birds and fish that live in the area, and the fish are then captured by many fisherman.

Mangrove forests although not common knowledge, are extremely important in society. Many villages form around mangrove forests because of the wide variety of animals and plants that it houses. The bark and roots of mangrove trees have been used as wood material, and even medicine in some cases. Mangroves also offer protection from strong storms and waves, because the roots of the mangroves trap sediment that would otherwise be washed away by the waves.

Pill Bugs

Abstract: In this lab, my partner, Daniel, and I decided to set up two different experiments in order to study the different reactions and behaviors that pill bugs produce after being put into different environments. In our first test, we placed 12 pill bugs into a double chambered environment, and watched as they began to migrate between the dry environment and the moist environment. In our second test, we played with the pH of our two chambers, one dampened with ammonia, and the other kept neutral with water. From our experiments we found that pillbugs prefer dry and basic environments. However, with more time, this may be disproved.
Introduction:

Question: How do pillbugs react to changes in their environment? Does it prefer a moist environment or a dry one? a slightly basic one or a neutral one?

Background: Ethology is the objective and scientific study of animal behavior, or the way an animal responds to internal and/or external stimuli. Behavior can be any action of an organism that disturbs its relationship to its environment. Behaviors are either learned or innate.

            There are usually two ways to ask questions about behaviors: a proximate question, which asks how the behavior occurs, and an ultimate question, which asks why the behavior occurs. In the case of a bird song, one may ask “How is the bird able to produce sound?” as a proximate question, while asking “What purpose does a bird have to sing?” is an example of an ultimate question.

            As mentioned earlier, behaviors can either be learned or innate. An example of an innate behavior is a fixed action pattern. Fixed action patterns can be explained as instinct. They occur when an organism respond to identifiable stimuli, and instinctively perform an action. An example of a FAP in animals would be the egg rolling behavior of a Graylag Goose. When an egg in the goose’s nest is displaced, the goose begins to roll the displaced egg back to its nest. Even if the egg is taken away, the animal still continues with the behavior, and pulls back its head as if there is an imaginary egg. Sometimes, it will even roll objects like a golf ball, door knob, or a foreign egg. In humans, an FAP is the action of yawning. None of us learned how to yawn, yet when someone around us yawns, we have a tendency to follow.

            An example of a learned behavior is imprinting, which is very important to wolves. Imprinting can be defined as rapid learning that happens in a brief period of time, usually after birth. When a mother gives birth to wolf pups, she will begin to take care of them. These pups will eventually open their eyes which begins the imprinting. The mother is not able to imprint her pups until they open their eyes because that is when they are most sensitive to outside influence. In many wolf breeding programs, when a captive wolf is about to give birth. They try to find a wild wolf that is also about to give birth. Within the first few days, these programs switch a pup from both families in order to ensure diversity in the wild. As long as a wolf keeps its eyes closed, and opens them with the new mother, it is able to imprint with that mother wolf, and is thus adopted into the family. In the case of geese, a proximate cause of why they imprint may be the mother goose calling out to its babies to follow its example. An ultimate cause may be the fact that the young geese are able to learn survival skills by following their mother.

            Another type of instinctive behavior is kinesis and taxis movements. Kinesis movements are indirect motions in response to a stimulus. An example would be cockroaches scattering in every direction after being exposed to light. Taxis movements are more specific movements in response to stimuli. An example of taxis movements may be a male moth’s attraction to the release of pheromones from a female moth.

            There are also ways to alter these types of behaviors, through classical conditioning or operant conditioning. Classical conditioning focuses on linking a natural reaction to a neutral stimulus, so the neutral stimulus can trigger the natural reaction. Operant conditioning focuses on connecting the reaction through rewarding or punishing.  

Hypothesis: If pill bugs are able to choose between a moist or dry environment, then they will choose the moist environment, because they have gills like other crustaceans and may be able to survive in moist conditions. If pill bugs are able to choose between a neutral or basic environemnet, then they will choose the neutral environment, because soils in Southern California tend to be slightly acidic. In the first experiment the independent variable is the dampness of the environments, and in the second, the independent variable is the acidity of the environments. In both experiments the dependent variable is the amount of pillbugs that end up on each environment.

Methodology:

Materials:

1.      12 Pillbugs

2.      Chamber with two separate portions

3.      Water

4.      Cover for Chamber

5.      Ph level 9 ammonia

6.      Clock

7.      4 Petri Dish papers

Procedure:

1.      Place two petri dish papers in each portion of the chamber.

2.      Part 1: on one chamber keep dry

In other chamber, add water until the whole paper is moist. Make sure to keep other one dry.

Part 2: in one chamber add water until the whole paper is evenly moist

In other chamber add ammonia until the whole paper is evenly covered.

Add 6 pillbugs to each chamber and cover with a separate empty chamber.

Record the number of pillbugs on each side for 7 minutes every 30 seconds.

Data:

Part 1:

Time (min)	# In Wet	# In Dry
0	6	6
.5	3	9
1	5	7
1..5	5	7
2	5	7
2.5	3	9
3	5	7
3.5	6	6
4	6	6
4.5	7	5
5	5	7
5.5	6	6
6	6	6
6.5	7	5
7	7	5

Part 2:

Time (min)	# In Water (ph 7)	# In Ammonia (ph 9)
0	6	6
.5	4	8
1	2	10
1..5	4	8
2	4	8
2.5	4	8
3	5	7
3.5	5	7
4	4	8
4.5	5	7
5	5	7
5.5	5	7
6	6	6
6.5	7	5
7	6	6

Conclusion:

            In part one, on average, more pillbugs preferred the dry side as opposed to the moist environment. In part two, more pillbugs preferred the basic side as opposed to the acidic environment. Both cases did not prove my hypothesis correct; however in both cases, a trend can be seen. In both cases as time moved on, more pillbugs began to move to the side that was less preferred in the beginning. If I could do this lab again, I would like to increase the amount of time that the pillbugs are kept in the chambers to examine if they would continue to follow the trend. During our experiment, we noticed that the pillbugs usually only got up and moved after being stimulated by the light from us uncovering the cover. It could also be possible that this is a form of instinctive behavior that may have affected our experiments.