The Chesapeake Bay provides food, water, cover, and nesting or nursery areas to more than 3,000 migratory and resident wildlife species. Habitat types range from hardwood forests of the Appalachian mountains to saltwater marshes in the Bay.
How many habitats are in the Chesapeake Bay?
There are six types of habitats in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
What is Chesapeake Bay surrounded by?
The Bay is spanned twice, in Maryland by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge from Sandy Point (near Annapolis) to Kent Island and in Virginia by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel connecting Virginia Beach to Cape Charles.
| Chesapeake Bay | |
|---|---|
| Average depth | 21 ft (6.4 m) |
| Residence time | 180 days |
| References | |
| Ramsar Wetland |
What are the different types of aquatic habitats in the Chesapeake Bay?
There are two general categories of wetlands in the Chesapeake Bay watershed: tidal and non-tidal. Tidal wetlands, found along the Bay’s shores, are filled with salt or brackish water when the tide rises. Non-tidal wetlands contain fresh water.
What are the 2 types of wetlands found in the Chesapeake Bay?
Two broad categories of wetlands are found in the Chesapeake Bay watershed:
- Tidal, or estuarine, wetlands are flooded with salt or brackish water when tides rise.
- Non-tidal, or palustrine, wetlands contain fresh water and make up 86 percent of the wetlands in the watershed.
What type of biome is the Chesapeake Bay?
Estuaries
Estuary Basics
The Chesapeake Bay is an estuary (leaving MDE) and is the largest ecosystem of its kind in the United States. Estuaries are partially enclosed coastal bodies of water that occur where freshwater from streams and rivers mixes with saltwater from the ocean.
What animals live near the Chesapeake Bay?
Some of the most iconic Bay species—and perhaps the most important to the region’s recreation, economy, and way of life—include the blue crab, Eastern oyster, striped bass (also known as rockfish or striper), and Atlantic menhaden.
What is Chesapeake Bay known for?
The Chesapeake Bay has the largest land-to-water ratio (14:1) of any coastal water body in the world. More than 100,000 streams and rivers thread through the watershed and eventually flow into the Bay. Everyone within the Chesapeake Bay watershed is just minutes from one of the streams or rivers.
Is the Chesapeake Bay saltwater or freshwater?
The Chesapeake Bay is an estuary—a partially enclosed body of water where fresh water from rivers and streams mixes with salt water from the ocean. About half of the water in the Bay comes from salt water from the Atlantic Ocean. The other half drains into the Bay from its enormous 64,000-square-mile watershed.
What is Chesapeake known for?
Chesapeake contains more miles of deepwater canals than any other city in the country. Chesapeake is a hotbed for professional athletes and notable people, including… Michael Cuddyer, professional baseball player for the Minnesota Twins, raised in Chesapeake.
What plants are in the habitat in the Chesapeake Bay?
Five of the most common are wild celery, found in freshwater; sago pondweed, redhead grass, and widgeon grass found in more estuarine water; and eelgrass found in the lower Bay in saltier water. Salinity, water depth, and bottom sediment determine where each species can grow.
Why is the Chesapeake Bay an estuary?
Based on its geology, the Chesapeake Bay is classified as a coastal plain estuary or a drowned river estuary because it began life when rising sea levels flooded into its major tributary following the end of the last ice age.
What makes up the Chesapeake Bay watershed?
The Chesapeake Bay watershed, or draingage basin, encompasses six states – New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. A drainage basin is a giant system of creeks, streams, and rivers that all flow into a common outlet, which in this case is the Chesapeake Bay.
Is Chesapeake Bay a wetlands?
Tidal, also called coastal or estuarine, wetlands, are found along the shoreline of the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers. These areas fill with water when the tide rises. Inland or non-tidal wetlands contain fresh water and make up 86 percent of the wetlands in the watershed.
What are the 3 major causes of habitat loss in the Chesapeake Bay?
The three major causes of habitat loss in the bay are increased pollution, development, and climate change (Habitat Degradation).
Is there biodiversity in the Chesapeake Bay?
3,600+ species of plants and animals
More than 3,600 plants and animals call the Chesapeake Bay home! The Bay supports an impressive diversity of flora and fauna including 348 species of finfish, 173 species of shellfish, more than 2,700 plant species, and more than 16 species of underwater grasses.
What is an estuary biome?
Estuary biomes are normally located along coasts, where freshwater rivers meet saltwater oceans. Each day as the tide rises, salt water flows into the estuary. Likewise, freshwater flows down the rivers and creeks and mixes with the saltwater.
What is in the ecosystem?
An ecosystem is a geographic area where plants, animals, and other organisms, as well as weather and landscape, work together to form a bubble of life. Ecosystems contain biotic or living, parts, as well as abiotic factors, or nonliving parts. Biotic factors include plants, animals, and other organisms.
Why is the Chesapeake Bay an important ecosystem?
The Chesapeake Bay’s ecosystem impacts the quality of the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. It’s wetlands protect communities from extreme weather such as erosion, flood waters and storm surges. And the trees that sprawl from the Bay shores and forests cool our communities.
What mammals live in the Chesapeake Bay?
Mammals
- American Black Bear. Ursus americanus.
- American mink. Neovison vison.
- Beaver. Castor canadensis.
- Bobcat. Lynx rufus.
- Bottlenose Dolphin. Tursiops truncatus.
- Delmarva Fox Squirrel. Sciurus niger cinereus.
- Eastern Cottontail. Sylvilagus floridanus.
- Eastern Gray Squirrel. Sciurus carolinensis.
Are sharks in Chesapeake Bay?
According to the Chesapeake Bay Program, there are at least 12 species of sharks found in the Bay. While some are quite abundant, others are very rare. The five most common sharks in the Bay include the sandbar shark, bull shark, sand tiger shark, smooth dogfish, and spiney dogfish.