Linda Green is the Program Director for University of Rhode Island Watershed Watch and a member of The Volunteer Monitor editorial board. An estuary is a partially enclosed body of water formed where freshwater from rivers and streams flows into the ocean, mixing with the salty sea water. Although influenced by tides, estuaries are protected from the full force of ocean waves, winds, and storms by fingers of land, mud, or sand that buttress their vulnerable seaward sides. Estuaries support unique communities of plants and animals, specially adapted for life at the margin of the sea. Tens of thousands of birds, mammals, fish, and other wildlife depend on estuaries as places to live, feed, and reproduce.
Estuaries transform with the tides.
At high tide, seawater submerges the plants and floods creeks, marshes, mudflats, or mangroves, until what once was land is now water. The incoming waters seemingly bring back to life organisms that have sought shelter from their temporary exposure to the non-aquatic world. As the tides ebb, organisms return to their protective postures. Sample Collection Pole Paul Krawczyk, a volunteer with the Coalition for Buzzards Bay, holds his sampling pole. Photo by Tony Williams.