Chesapeake Bay and its Wetlands - Facts and Quiz

Are you Bay-wise or all wet?
Bay Buddies / By Karl Blankenship - Bay Journal

It's time to check the depth of your knowledge of the Chesapeake Bay and its wetlands.


1.How many acres of wetlands border the Bay and its tributaries?


A.less than 500,000
B.about 1 million
C.about 1.5 million
D.more than 2,000,000


2.Which of the following are wetlands?


A.swamps & bogs
B.marshes & tidal flats
C.floodplain forests & fens
D.all of the above


3.Wetlands are important because they:
A.are a primary source of drinking water for nearby cities.
B.filter out sediments & nutrients
C.provide outstanding habitat for plant and animal life.
D.both B & C


4.The greatest threat to wetlands is:
A.spring freshets
B.El Nino
C.man
D.droughts


5.Which type of wetland is most likely to contain all of the following plants and animals: skunk cabbage, red maple, prothonotary warbler and dusky salamander?
A.salt marsh
B.freshwater swamp
C.marsh meadow
D.tidal flat


6.Which type of wetland is most likely to contain all of the following plants and animals: slender glasswort, groundsel tree, periwinkle, planthopper and northern diamondback terrapin?
A.salt marsh
B.freshwater swamp
C.salt bog
D.tidal flat


7.Which type of wetland is most likely to contain all of the following animals: least sandpiper, horseshoe crab, red-gilled mudworm and saltmarsh amphipod?
A.salt marsh
B.freshwater swamp
C.dune plain
D.tidal flat


8.Which mammal, by chewing up thousands of acres of marsh plants, is a threat to the Bay?
A.muskrat
B.raccoon
C.nutria
D.marshmot







Bay Buddies - Answers




1.C
2.D
3.D
4.C
5.B
6.A
7.D
8.C


Karl is the Editor of the Bay Journal.




Are you Bay-wise or all wet?
Bay Journal - March 1998