What is a Coastal Ecosystem?

Besides oceans and their beaches, a coastal ecosystem can extend for miles beyond its immediate habitat. The streams you see along the picnic areas on the Blue Ridge Parkway flow into rivers, some of which are in the Piedmont area. These rivers in turn dump into an estuary near the coast, a large river of water that mixes the freshwater of the river with saltwater from the approaching ocean. The estuary eventually finds its way to the ocean.

In short, a coastal ecosystem includes the following:

• Streams
  
• Rivers
  
• Estuaries
  
• Beaches
  
• Oceans
  

Marine plants, fish and mammals

The Ocean Watershed

All of the water that drains into the ocean, whether from streams, rivers, lakes, estuaries, wetlands or groundwater, and its surrounding land make up the ocean's watershed. The section on watersheds will give you more information on what watersheds are, how they influence the main body of water and how human actions can affect them.