Question

1. What causes the extreme differences in salinity in the intertidal zone?

Answer 1

1) during daylight, especially around noon, the relatively high air **temperature** and low humidity caused high evaporation, extracting pore water from the beach and leaving the **salt** behind, thereby resulting in high salinity near the beach surface (intertidal zone)

2) • algae and other intertidal plants grow in the abundant sunlight and support an entire food chain of animals
• constant wave action supplies the tide pool with **nutrients** and oxygen
• food is abundant
• a varied substrate provides hiding places and surfaces to cling to

3) the intertidal zone is one of a number of **marine** biomes or habitats, including: estuary (spray zone), neritic (lower/shallow zone), surface (middle zone), deep zones (high zones)