[4] Salt Marsh Plants

• Salt marshes mostly have shrubs and grasses as primary producers
• Compared to seagrasses which are fully submerged, salt marsh plants must be exposed to the air
• Higher temperature fluctuations leads to higher evaporation
• Salt marsh plants can tolerate greater salinity levels
• Term referring to organisms that can survive in both fresh and salt water

  Facultative halophytes
• Term referring to organisms that can only survive in salt water

  Obligate halophytes
• Salt marsh plants have succulent leaves to provide greater amounts of water in their tissue
• Structure that allows for salt crystal formation on salt marsh plant leaves

  Salt glands
• Ecological role of salt marsh plants:

  1. Sediment stabilization
  2. Refugia, nursery, breeding ground of commercially-important fishes
  3. Primary producers