Sea Island Life Magazine Spring/Summer 2014 | Page 54

Marshes provide food and breeding sites for herons, wood storks and other shorebirds.

the mainland,” explains Paul Medders, a
marine biologist with the Brunswick-based
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
Coastal Resources Division. “That’s a sigsalt marsh on the East Coast, so we need to
appreciate it.”
Medders, a Brunswick native involved in
marine research, education and outreach,
explains that salt marshes are like nurseries

points out that the nation’s coastal wetlands are critical to the survival of diverse
resting, feeding and breeding habitat for
75 percent of the nation’s waterfowl and

depends on Spartina as it grows and then
Plant life in the marsh is all about eleva-

the report, wetlands help to improve water

Slight changes in elevation under water and
-

the effects of severe storms and sustain

ever covered with salt water, and how often

recreation industries.
In the remaining wetlands, a species of

factors determine which plants live where,”
he explains. These plants range from

-

sea oxides and black needlerushes at the
edges of higher ground, to red cedar and

ted sea trout, red drum, whiting, grouper

out-competes other plants and survives in a
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

called glasswort thriving in drier areas.
Marsh animals, whether aquatic, terrestrial or avian, feed on marsh plants or other
marsh animals. “You’ll see herons, wood

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