| Term | Definition |
| Anaerobic | little or no oxygen |
| Brackish water | mixture of salt and freshwater |
| Consumers | organisms that consume decomposed things in the marsh |
| Decomposers | break down wastes and remains of other organisms |
| Estuary | where sea water meets and mixes with freshwater from coastal rivers and runoff from uplands |
| Halophytes | plants that live in high saline/salty soil |
| Hammock | cool, shady place (native American), Island of trees in the marsh (European) |
| Hydric soil | different physically and chemically from dry soils, spaces between soil grains are filled with water |
| Hydrophytes | plants that have special adaptation's to allow them to live in areas often saturated by water |
| Open wetland system | flow of material in and out of the system |
| Salinity | amount of salt in the water |
| Salt pans | area with so much salt nothing can live there |
| Spartina | marsh grass SPARTINA ALTERNIFLORA (A.K.A. CORDGRASS) |
| Black needle rush | sharp, black grass |
| Detritus | Known as natures soup, made of dead animals, animal waste, decomposed marsh grass |
| Plankton | Small animals/plants that live near surface of water |
| Zoo plankton | Tiny vegetation plankton that fish feed upon |
| Epiphyte | Known as resurrection fern, is in maritime forest, detects moisture levels, grows back from dead state when watered |
| Bivalve | 2 hinged, matching shells that from ocean |
| Univalve | One shell found everywhere except mountains |
| Wind shearing | When trees are blown backwards and dehydrated from salty ocean wind |