Name: _____________________
Chapter 12: Estuaries: Where Rivers Meet the Sea
Answer two (2) of the following four (4) essays in an organized, concise essay. Please use
complete sentences and be careful of grammar and spelling.
1. Of the 32 major cities in the United States, 22 are situated on estuaries. What
characteristics of estuaries would have made them desirable places for the
establishment of an urban area? What impacts do humans living in these areas exert
on the surrounding estuaries?
2. The Chesapeake Bay is a coastal plain estuary that exhibits classic estuarine flow at
least 50% of the time. Explain classic estuarine flow. How and why does the
Chesapeake Bay deviate from this classic pattern so often?
3. Larval blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) can only survive in salinities at or near that of
seawater. Adult crabs are osmoconformers at salinity extremes, but osmoregulators
in brackish water. Consider the movements of crabs into and out of the bay as well
as up and down the bay. How does this pattern of osmoregulation match with the life
history of a blue crab?
4. Mangrove forests and salt marshes are two examples of estuarine habitats. Compare
and contrast the ways that plants and animals in these habitats have adapted to deal
with salt water inundation, anoxic sediments, and a dynamic environment.