Estuaries Crossword

____________ varies within an estuary from nearly fresh water to ocean water.
Estuaries receive ____________ dumped into streams and rivers that feed them.
_____ _______ estuaries occur when the mouth of a river flows directly into salt water.
______ estuaries have deep elongated basins that are U-shaped with a ledge or barrier that separates the basin from the sea.
Deeper estuaries such as Puget Sound and San Francisco Bay are examples of ________ _________ estuaries.
A partially mixed estuary is ________ stratified.
A vertically stratified estuary is ______ _______.
Well-mixed estuaries have strong tidal mixing and low ______ _______.
In a well-mixed estuary, mixing is so complete that salinity is the same top to bottom and ________ from the ocean to the river.
___________ estuaries do not contain saltwater.
___________ ____________ are a common estuarine habitat.
In an estuary, primary producers include ___________, algea, sea grasses, and salt-marsh plants.
___________ graze on phytoplankton and become food for the carnivore plankton-eating fishes.
Bottom-dwelling, or _______, are other important links in estuarine food chains and webs.
Oysters and _______ are examples of benthic organisms.
_________ __________, such as worms, move over and through bottom sediments where they find food deposited in or on the sediments.
Kelp forests must be in relatively shallow water because they depend on light for __________.
Kelp forests are rich in ________ species.
Many different benthic communities or _________ ________ flourish in the soft shores and bottoms including burrowing worms, snails, crabs, and clams.
_________ __________ __________ are beds of leafy rooted, grass-like plants with tiny flowers, found in shallow waters where light can penetrate.
________ __________ can be composed of cattails, grasses, and sedges.
Mangrove forests grow along the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico and in the _________ .
__________ __________ are spits of sand that form parallel to the shore.
A _______ ________ is a wetland flooded regularly by tidal, bradkish water.
Estuaries filter out __________ and pollutants from rivers and streams before they flow into the ocean, providing cleaner waters for humans and marine life.
_________ ___________ is an example of a plant invasive species.
An example of an animal invasive species is ________ _________ .
A ________ _________ pollutant has a clearly defined, localized input.
__________ __________ compete with native plants and animals and weaken the ecosystem.
In an estuary, the most _________ tree is low numerous crowded branches.