Aquatic (freshwater) biomes By geovanny Pineda

An aquatic biome Water is link to any other biome, it is fundamental for all of them as it makes up the largest part of the biosphere, covering nearly 75% of the earth's surface. In fact, this is where life first started billions years ago when amino acids started to get together. Without an aquatic biomes life forms would be unable to sustain themselves.

The aquatic (freshwater) biome regions the freshwater biome is divided in three regions, streams and rivers, lakes and ponds, and, freshwater wetlands. In general These three regions are characterized for having low concentrations in salinity, usually less than 1%. Also, animals and plants have adapted to this low concentration of salt which makes it difficult for them to survive in places with a high concentration of salt, the ocean, for example. The temperature of this regions ranges from 65°f-75°F in the summer and 35°f-45°f in winter.

Streams and rivers These are bodies of flowing water moving in one direction that can be found everywhere. Streams/rivers are created by melting of snow or lakes. Then they travel to another water channel or the ocean. The characteristics of a river or a stream varies during the journey from the source it's created by to the water channel(mouth) or the ocean they travel to. The temperature is cooler at the source than it is at the mouth where it's traveling to. Oxygen concentration is higher and water visibility is Clearer in the start of the stream/river; trouts and heterotrophs are usually found here. At the middle part of the stream/river the width increase as well as specie diversity. Towards the mouth/end of the river or stream the water visibility is really dark, less sunlight penetrates the water making life difficult however species such as catfishes and Carp can be found.

Ponds and lakes These regions range in size from just few square meters to thousands of square kilometers. Ponds are usually seasonal just lasting few months while lakes are permanent lasting hundreds of years or more. Ponds and lakes have limited specie diversity since they're isolated from one another and from waters sources such as rivers or oceans. Lakes and ponds and divided into three different zones- littoral, limnetic and profundal zones; determined by depth and distance from shoreline. Littoral zone: it's near shore area, this is the warmest of all since it is shallow and absorbs more of the Sun's heat. It sustains and fairly diverse community like snails, several species of algae and fishes. Most of the vegetation and animals living in the littoral zone are food for other creatures like turtles, big fishes and ducks.

Ponds and lakes Limnetic zone: the open water area, light doesn't penetrate to the bottom but it's still well-lighted. This zone is dominated by plankton, both phytoplankton and zooplankton. Plankton are small organisms that play a crucial role in the food chain. Without this organism there would be fewer species of other organisms in the world and probably humans would not exist. Several of freshwater fishes occupy this zone as well. Profundal zone: the deepest part of the lakes, this zone is much colder and denser, little light penetrates from the limnetic into the profundal zone. The fauna are heterotrophs that eat dead organisms and use oxygen for cellular respiration.

Freshwater wetlands Wetlands are areas of standing water that support aquatic plants. Plants adapted to moist and humid conditions are called hydrophytes. This includes pond lilies, cattail, sedges, tamarack and black spruce. Wetlands have the fight specie diversity of all ecosystem. Many species of amphibians, reptiles , birds and furbearers can be found in the wetlands. Wetlands are not considered freshwater ecosystems as there are some marshes that have high concentration of salt.

Food web

Why is aquatic biome important to humans? It provides large amounts of food for the survival of humans. It helps with the economy by selling fishes or using its water to create other products. It is the main source of water humans drink.

How have human impact this biome. Pollution is one of the most significant environmental impacts human have upon aquatic biome, free radicals that form in the air can cause difficulty in growth for both plants and animals. Also, human Waste and chemicals are cases of pollution that affect the animal and plants living in freshwater homes. Global warming, it causes less water to be available , limiting animals and plants. Also, parts of the aquatic biome have or are drying every year threatening animals and plants to lose their habitats and it can cause animals and plants to extinct in the future.