How do plants survive in intertidal zones?
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How do plants survive in intertidal zones?
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✐ANSWER
In almost all estuaries the salinity of the water changes constantly over the tidal cycle. To survive in these conditions, plants and animals living in estuaries must be able to respond quickly to drastic changes in salinity. Plants and animals that can tolerate only slight changes in salinity are called stenohaline.
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Intertidal Zone
The intertidal zone or “littoral zone” is the term used to describe the seashore which is covered during high tide and exposed during low tide, revealing a unique biome which survives under such fluctuating conditions (see below). The size and location of the intertidal zone varies with the region and provides a habitat for a wide variety of plant and animal species. Moreover, the intertidal zone is characterized by unique environmental conditions, including the temperature, ecological factors, and microclimates
The temperature of the intertidal zone is extremely variable depending on the time of day and the status of the tide. It is common for the temperature to change by as much as 20°C within a time span as short as six hours. Such fluctuations in temperature impose a substantial physiological stressor on the various species which reside within the intertidal zone. For example, the Crassostrea gigas is a species of Pacific oyster which inhabits the intertidal zone. This species of oyster must adapt to massive temperature fluctuations. While various stress responses within the organism enable it to survive in this habitat, the metabolic rate is heavily influenced by the temperature, as is the ability of the organism to reproduce. Since the massive temperature fluctuations is poses such a stress, there is increasing concern that climate change will increase the temperatures of this region to a point which limits survival of the organisms which inhabit the intertidal zone.
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