Monitoring Estuaries Lesson Plan

“Coastal monitoring” refers to periodic measurements of physical, chemical, biological, and meteorological factors that may affect the use and quality of coastal resources. For example, such factors may include temperature, salinity, presence of chemical contaminants, biological species, life stages of these species, rainfall and storm events.

Coastal ecosystems provide many benefits to human communities, including food, ports, recreational opportunities, habitats for diverse plant and animal life, and minerals.

Students will retrieve and interpret data on the distribution of selected estuarine animals at various stages in the life history of these animals and relate these distributions to salinity conditions as well as compare the distribution of selected species in two or more estuaries, and to draw inferences about the ecology of these estuaries.