AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -In estuaries, the salty ocean mixes with a freshwater river, resulting in brackish water.

Detailed explanation-2: -Estuaries are home to unique plant and animal communities that have adapted to brackish water-a mixture of fresh water draining from the land and salty seawater.

Detailed explanation-3: -The aquatic biomes considered brackish are estuaries, mangrove swamps, and salt marshes. Estuaries are areas along the coast, sometimes in coves and bays, where bodies of freshwater empty into bodies of saltwater.

Detailed explanation-4: -Freshwater biomes have less than 1% salt and are typical of ponds and lakes, streams and rivers, and wetlands. Marine biomes have more salt and are characteristic of the oceans, coral reefs, and estuaries.

Detailed explanation-5: -This unique combination of salty and fresh water creates a variety of habitats. Some common estuarine habitats are oyster reefs, kelp forests, rocky and soft shorelines, submerged aquatic vegetation, coastal marshes, mangroves, deepwater swamps, and riparian forests.