1. Habitat Notes

2. Habitat A place where organisms naturally live & grow.
Plants & animals that interact & depend on each other & require similar growing conditions.

3. Benthic
Pertaining to the ocean floor.

4. 8 Habitats in the Chesapeake Bay
Open Water
Piers, Rocks & Jetties
Ocean Beach
Sand Dunes
Maritime Forest
Intertidal Flats
Salt Marsh
Oyster Bars

5. 1. Open Water
Deep water environment which houses a variety of organisms – from dolphins to clams.
Challenges: Breathing underwater, lots of predators
Adaptations: Counter shading, torpedo shape, transparency, small size, gills

6. 2. Piers, Rocks & Jetties
Solid structures in the surf zone that animals attach & cling to.
Challenges: Pounding waves, competition for space, low tide – drying out & predators.
Adaptations: Holdfasts,
sturdy shells,
streamlined bodies

7. Piers, Rocks & Jetties

8. 3. Ocean Beach Where the ocean touches the shore.
Challenges: Erosion from wind & waves, very little shelter from elements, not many plants.
Adaptations: Ability to burrow, streamlined body for burrowing (clams), shells, ability to move quickly

9. 4. Sand Dunes
Wind-built, shifting hills of sand by the beach. Plants anchor & preserve the dunes.
Challenges: Erosion from wind, very little shelter from elements, hot & dry.
Adaptations: long roots to get water, long thin leaves to minimize exposure, thick waxy leaves for protection, tall so it won’t get buried, animals - ability to burrow

10. Sand Dunes

11. 5. Maritime Forest

12. Maritime Forest
Forest w/ conifer & deciduous trees, scrub & flowers. Often close to or part of an old Dune area.
Challenges: Salt spray, storms, erosion, salt water flooding, not much fresh water
Adaptations: Camouflage, deep roots, waxy leaves
First Landing State Park & Back Bay

13. 6. Intertidal Flats
Muddy environment that emerges & submerges with tides.
Challenges: Shifting mud & sand, low oxygen, predators during low tide.
Adaptations: Ability
to burrow, siphons
opening to air, shells,
ability to live inside
another animal.

14. 7. Salt Marsh
Also called wetlands which provides protected spawning, nursery, & feeding grounds.
Challenges: changes in salinity, tides.
Adaptations: plants can excrete salt, ability to move up & down grasses during tide changes.

15. Salt Marsh

16. 8. Oyster Bars
Community of oysters that help filter pollutants out of the water & house many other organisms.
Challenges: exposed during low tide
Adaptations:
thick shells