Question

Littoral habitats are very productive but there are also challenges living in these habitats. Explain the benefits, challenges and solutions of living in mud flats, rocky shore and coral reefs/mangrove.

Answer 1

Mudflats are lands which remain flooded at high tide and are establised by a buildup of residue carried in by tides and rivers. They are found worldwide in areas such as estuaries and bays. They are also called intertidal zones which are rich ecosystems and are a home to native and migratory birds and a vareity of fish species.

Challenges faced in mud flats are as below:

• There many seasonal and day wise fluctuations in the saltiness of mud flats. This salt content is variable because freshwater enters from rivers which increasing in quantity during rainy season. The salitness goes up when temperature rise and evaporation increases.
• The daily flooding causes vulnerable to desiccation to the organisms living in these mudflats This flood leaads to its soil to become scarce in oxygen
• Habitat destrution by humans
• High levels of pollution
• Changes in flow of the tides
• Overexploitation of these habitats
• Climate change

Adaptations and solutions for these challenges:

• The fishes cope with salinity by sensing the level of salt in their surroundings by eliminating excess fresh water and by eliminating excess salt from blood
• They avoid desiccation during low tide some of the shelled organisms shut their shells to keep water inside them and helping them breath.
• They cope with low oxygen content in the water by moving away from there to an area with more oxygen or try to move minimal inorder to save on the oxygen
• Reduction in the use of artificial feeds and chemical additives
• Reducing human encroachment to these habitats
• Increasing awaremeness and teaching people the importance of the coastal ecosystems
• Integrated coastal zone management and protection of these habitats

Benefits of living in mudflats are:

• Importance in human use- it comprises of many invertebrates and molluscs which are harvested by humans as food. It is reported that food provision in tidal flats in 10-20 times higher than in deeper coastal waters.
• Productive systems: They have a high productivity in biomass which provide livelihood to invertebrates, fish, shore birds and wading birds. The inflow of freshwater enhance the nutrient levels in these areas thus promoting high levels of photosynthesis.
• Enhance coastal biodiversity
• They serve a medium for food to migratory birds during their stopover
• They serve as water restention basins and provide protection from floods
• They also help in preventing erosion

Rocky shores are also intertidal areas consisting of solid rocks it is the place where land meets the sea and comprises of diverse algae and invertebrate.

The Challenges faced are: day to day changes in their environment, tolerating extreme changes in temperature, salinity as well as moisture. Pollution, climate changes and destruction of habita by human beings .Along with that they face challenges due to human intervention which is similar to that of mud flats

The benefits are similar to those for mud flats and provide food to many fishes and to a lot of threatened species as well like marine turtles

Solutions to protect these habitats are similar to that of mud lands.

Mangroves are a group of trees and shrubs which live in the coastal area of intertidal zone.

The Challenges faced by them are: increasing population, converting these habitats to aquaculture ponds, using timber from these mangroves for industrial developments.

Solutions for protecting mangroves are: Reviewing the remaining mangrove forests, maintaining viable limits in terms of logging and harvesting athe habitats resources, keeping protective buffers, Raising public awareness and educating people about the same and devising forest protection schemes.

The benefits are : They provide home to a large number of fishes and water organisms, they are used for timber and have medicinila benefits, they protect the coastal lines fr om erosion, they provide potential tourism attractions and help people generate revenue out of it, enable better water quality ,they help in providing aid against global warming by removing Carbin dioxide from the environment and give protection from floods.