Aquatic Biomes

Factors that Affect Aquatic Biomes In an aquatic ecosystem the most important non-living factors are water temperature, amount of sunlight present, and amount of dissolved oxygen in the water

Factors that Affect Aquatic Biomes - All living things in the water “breathe”, they just do it in a different way than land creatures

Factors that Affect Aquatic Biomes - Fish, worms, octopi, clams, corals, frogs, and many, many others all breathe oxygen

Factors that Affect Aquatic Biomes The oxygen needed by these biotic factors is dissolved - This means that oxygen gas is mixed into the water the same way carbon dioxide is mixed into soda pop

Factors that Affect Aquatic Biomes There are areas within the water that don’t receive sunlight - This greatly impacts the food chains that can form there

Factors that Affect Aquatic Biomes Water temperature affects the amount of dissolved oxygen a body of water can hold and can be determined by the amount of sunlight present

Freshwater Ecosystems

Freshwater Ecosystems The freshwater ecosystems include rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, and wetlands

Rivers and Streams

Green River, UT MacArthur-Burney Falls State Park, CA Brooks River, AK Trout

Rivers and Streams - Rivers and streams are flowing water - As the water moves, air mixes in, changing the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water

Rivers and Streams - Fast-moving streams usually have a higher dissolved oxygen level than slow moving streams

Rivers and Streams - Most of the nutrients found in rivers and streams have been washed there from land - Where the water slows nutrients are left

Rivers and Streams - This area is home to more plant growth and slower moving animals like minnows and leeches

Lakes and Ponds

Lakes and Ponds - Lakes and ponds are formed when low places fill with rainwater, snowmelt, or water from streams

Manzanita Lake, CA A pond in Idaho Great Blue Heron Paranagat Lake, NV

Lakes and Ponds - This water is standing water because it hardly ever moves - Plant growth usually takes place around the edges where it is shallow and warm

Lakes and Ponds - Few, if any plants grow on the bottom of lakes because sunlight cannot reach there

Lakes and Ponds - Some plants will grow on the bottom of ponds because they are shallower and light can reach the bottom - Ponds tend to be high in nutrients because they are high in plant life

Lakes and Ponds - Floating on the upper levels of ponds and lakes is a mixture of microscopic plants, algae, and animal- like organisms called plankton

Lakes and Ponds - This is a major food source in aquatic environments

FYI: Pond Scum is NOT a plant FYI: Pond Scum is NOT a plant. It is a plant-like protist called algae; this is related to the plant-like protists in plankton.

Wetlands

Wetlands Regions that are wet for all or most of the year are wetlands - They are also called swamps, bogs, and fens

Wetlands Only plants adapted to water-logged soil can grow there

Wetlands Wetlands animals include beavers, muskrats, alligators, and bog turtles - Many migratory bird populations use the wetlands as breeding grounds

Human Impact Rivers and streams were once used for many activities

Human Impact - However, many factories and people thought that they were places to dump sewage and pollutants - Now, treating sewage and restricting pollution have led to improvements in water quality

Ponds and Lakes These areas are often victim to run-off from land - Fertilizers, sewage, and other pollutants run off into the water

Ponds and Lakes This reduces the dissolved oxygen and makes the water unfit to live in Fines and regulations are helping prevent some pollution of ponds and lakes

Wetlands These areas were once considered useless and full of disease They were drained to make way for human engineering

Wetlands Now, the wetlands are being saved and protected Some products that come from the wetlands include cranberries, fish, shellfish, and plants

Saltwater Ecosystems

Saltwater Ecosystems 95% of the water on earth is salty - The concentration of salt in the water is called salinity

Saltwater Ecosystems Saltwater ecosystems are found in oceans, seas, coastal inlets, estuaries, and a few inland places

Open Oceans

Open Oceans Scientists divide the ocean into regions based on where light can penetrate to

Amberjack fish Brain coral and sea fan Mussels, worms, and spider crabs in Gulf of Mexico

Open Oceans The photic zone is only about 200 m deep - There plankton is the major food source because most plankton are able to produce their own food

Open Oceans The aphotic zone is below 200 m deep - There organisms feed on dead material sinking from the photic zone

Open Oceans - They also eat each other because few can make their own food

Coral Reefs

Coral Reefs One of the most diverse ecosystems in the world is the coral reef In the Red Sea Fanning Island Reef Florida Keys

Coral Reefs Coral reefs are formed by microscopic animals secreting shells of calcium carbonate - These shells build up over hundreds of years and form the reef

Coral Reefs Reefs do not adapt to long-term stress well - Run-off from fields, sewage, and increased amounts of sediment have polluted the reef, killing some areas

Sediments from land can cause large amounts of damage to reefs.

Blast fishing off the coast of Indonesia not only killed the fish but also the reef.

Coral Reefs - There are regulations in place to protect the reefs and the areas that surround them

Coral Reef transplant after Indonesian tsunami of 2004.

Seashores

Seashores All of earth’s landmasses are boarded by ocean water - These shallow salt-water environments are influenced by the tides and waves

Seashores - The gravitational pull of the moon on the earth causes tides to move water in and out over the shoreline

Seashores The intertidal zone is an area that is covered with water at high tide and exposed to the air during low tide

Bay of Fundy

Seashores - Organisms that live here must be adapted to large changes in salinity, moisture, temperature and waves

Estuaries

Estuaries There a river meets the ocean, causing freshwater and saltwater to mix, an estuary forms - They are also called bays, lagoons, harbors, inlets, and sounds

Tidal stream near Charleston, SC A mangrove forest in Florida Salt marsh near Georgetown, SC

This estuary is off the coast of Florida.

Estuaries - Here salinity and temperature change often

Estuaries - These regions are extremely fertile because of nutrients being brought in by the freshwater

Estuaries - They are rich in nutrients and are a place where many organisms raise their young

Estuaries Estuaries are home to algae, salt-tolerant grasses, shrimp, crabs, clams, oysters, snails, worms, and fish

Estuaries - They are home to much of the seafood consumed by humans