Introduction
Coastal plant communities are broadly defined as those habitats shaped by terrestrial and marine influences. Many, though not all, coastal habitats can be defined as wetlands; the ecology and management of those habitats are covered in this chapter. Wetlands are defined by the United States Army Corps of Engineers by the presence of three features: (1) wetland hydrology, inundation or saturation for at least part of the growing season; (2) hydric soils, soils that are anoxic (containing little or no oxygen for at least part of the growing season; this condition usually develops when soils are inundated with water); and (3) hydrophytic vegetation, vegetation adapted to wet conditions.
The coastal wetlands covered in this chapter are often located within estuaries . An estuary is a semi-enclosed body of water where freshwater from rivers or streams mixes with oceanic waters, creating brackish(slightly salty) conditions. Tidal movement and riverine freshwater input are...
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Further Reading
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Armitage, A.R. (2014). Coastal Wetland Ecology and Challenges for Environmental Management. In: Monson, R. (eds) Ecology and the Environment. The Plant Sciences, vol 8. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7501-9_19
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7501-9_19
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