PUGET SOUND

Country: Washington
Capital: Olympia

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ANIMALS

• Fish: there are over 200 species of marine fish in the Sound, including species of salmon, steelhead, herring and ground fish like Pacific cod, spiny dogfish and many species of rockfish.
• Invertebrates: Puget Sound has over 3,000 species of invertebrates, including geoduck, clams, oysters, octopi, sea urchins, Dungeness crabs and sea stars.

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• Birds : the Puget sound has hundreds of species of seabirds ,shorebirds and waterfowl, including the tufted puffin, buffleheads, western sandpiper, bald eagles, pigeon guillemot, common loon, harlequin duck, rhinoceros ankle,cormorants, scoters and grebes.
• Mammals: marine mammals of the sound including orcas, sea lions, sea otters, grey whales, humpback whales and harbor seals.

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• Aquatic Vegetation: underwater plants provide food, breeding areas, nurseries and resting places for wildlife in the sound. 26 species of kelp provide habitat for young rockfish, sea otters and birds and food for sea urchins and other species. Beds of seagrass, called eelgrass, are spawning grounds for herring, important corridoors for migrating salmon and a food source for waterfowl.

PLANTS

• Towering red cedar (tree)
• Douglas fir
• Waist high evergreen huckleberry
• Sword fern
• These plants have adapted over thousand years to Puget sound weather, soil and topography.

CLIMATE AND SEASONS

• The mountain ranges greatly affect the weather and wind patterns. Most of the precipitation and wind patterns depend on the surrounding mountains.
• The changes in the climate are so severe that it's causing the animals to have difficulties.
• It's famous for record breaking precipitation. The seasonal changes in the moisture means the laden air collides with Olympic and Cascade mountains creating rain to fall down the mountains.

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• The climate changes depend on the Aleutian Low Pressure Pattern. An intense Aleutian Low means relatively warm and dry winters. A weak Aleutian Low means a cooler and wetter winter.
• Mostly consists of large scale wind patterns and weather changes.

UNIQUE CONDITIONS

• The modern shoreline of Puget Sound developed as rates of global sea-level rise began to slow during the last 5,000 to 6,000 years.
• Wave action has eroded the coastline and transported sediment, forming beaches, and leading to the evolution of a wide variety of coastal landforms.