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Title
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The Role of Aquatic Plants
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Type
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Primary: Mission Briefing Article
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Operation
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Resilient Planet
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Mission:
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Mission 3: Paradise Lost
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Print Page
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54
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Subjects
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Science | History and nature of science | Historical perspectives | Life science | Plants | Personal and social issues | Humans and the environment | Conservation
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Grades
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5 | 6 | 7 | 8
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Keywords
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Aquatic, plant, salinity, tolerance, SAV, Water Stargrass. Southern Naiad, Wild Celery. Muskgrass, Coontail, Hydrilla, Sago Pondweed, Waterweed, Milfoil, Redhead Grass, Horned Pondweed, Widgeon Grass, Eelgrass, Chesapeake Bay, floating, emergent, submerged, root, submerged aquatic vegetation, water lily, water hyacinth, cattail, cordgrass, rush, duck, fish, muskrat, beaver, turtle, invertebrate, bacteria, algae, Sylvia Earle
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Duration
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00:15:00 (HH:MM:SS)
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Audience
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Teachers | Elementary Grades | Junior High
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Created On
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4/20/2008
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Copyright
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USGS; FDACS, Division of Plant Industry; NOAA Photo Library; Clayton Antieau; USDA; FWS; EPA
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From: Resilient Planet Mission 3: Paradise Lost (pp: 54) |
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The Role of Aquatic Plants Aquatic plants have an essential role in estuaries. This article describes the role of SAVs and shows a diagram of various types of plants that occur at different salinities. |
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One reason the Bay is so productive is because it is shallow. When the water is clear, aquatic plants receive plenty of sunlight—even those that live on the bottom. Aquatic plants are grouped into three categories based on the way they grow - floating, emergent, and submerged. Floating plants have roots that dangle in the water or anchor in the bottom sediment. Long stems allow the leaves to float on the water's surface. Water lilies and water hyacinths are common floating aquatic plants. Emergent plants are rooted at the water's edge, but their stems and leaves grow above the surface of the water. Cattails, cordgrass, and rushes are examples.
Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) is critical for maintaining the cycle of gases in the water through the process of photosynthesis. There are more than 15 common species of SAV in the Chesapeake. Historic accounts report a "carpet" of SAV in the Bay and its tributaries. However, in the 1960s, scientists noticed SAV dying in the upper parts of the Bay around the cities of Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. Since that time, a large percentage of SAV all over the Bay and in its tributaries has died off.
SAV is an important food source to ducks, fish, muskrat, beaver, turtles, and a large variety of invertebrates. Other animals feed on the bacteria, algae, and small invertebrates that live on and around the SAV. The structure of the SAV provides shelter and substrate, or places where other plants and animals can attach. The Virginia Institute of Marine Science uses aerial, ground, and underwater surveys to monitor the number of SAV in the Chesapeake Bay.
SAV slows the movement of water and helps to protect the ecological community during storms. Roots hold the settled particles in place. Clearer water improves plant growth and nutritional sediment traps. Sylvia Earle considers SAV to be critical in the recycling of nitrogen and phosphorous that would otherwise dissolve in the water. By trapping the nutrients, SAV controls the population of algae. SAV is dependent on a steady addition of sediment to the Bay by water flowing from its tributaries. Too much sediment will choke the plants; too little sediment will cut off the supply of nutrients that the plants need to live.
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