1. Living in Water

2. -Just as climate affects organisms on land there are factors that affect organisms that live in the water as well leading to diversity, or variety, of organisms from habitat to habitat! -The 3 broad divisions in the types of aquatic habitats are: 1)Lakes and Ponds: fresh water bodies, affected by the local climate, water temperature is usually fairly consistent from top to bottom, are home to fish, insects, amphibians and many larger animals such as beavers, ducks and muskrats. 2)Rivers and Streams: constantly moving, alternate between areas of calm water (pools) and quick moving water (riffles), tend to be full of sediment, to live here the organisms must be good swimmers (fish) or be able to attach to a rock or bottom of the riverbed. 3)Oceans: salty, HUGE, have much movement due to currents, tides and waves, very deep, most organisms are found in the top 200m because this is how deep light penetrates, most life is found on the continental shelves. Why? -Plants need light to survive thus they must be able to reach it, if it is only found in the top 200m then they much attach somewhere where they can still get some light! Plants provide food for animals thus the animals are there too.

3. -PAY ATTENTION! YOU WILL BE DOING A PROJECT ABOUT THIS!!!!!!!!! -Problem #1 – Breathing! -Most fish have gills. These can be found inside the fish or outside!! -Others gulp their air from the surface or trap it next to their body Marine mammals have lungs so they too gulp air and usually have blowholes to exhale!

4. -Problem #2 – How do we not get washed away by tides, currents, etc.? -Some like to bury themselves down past where the currents could affect them, like clams. -Many attach themselves to the bottom or to a rock. -Others have special feet that let them hold tight when they need to!

5. -Problem # 3 – Being able to overcome the resistance of the water to move! -Large aquatic animals create much drag so they need a streamline shape -Problem #4 – Buoyancy -Being able to go up and down at will is a difficult task. Usually the lungs or gills play a role but some fish eat rocks! -Plankton are tiny animals in lakes and oceans that just float around and wait to be eaten (ok they do more than that!). They are abundant and are the base of the food chain! -Phytoplankton are tiny photosynthesizing organisms -Zooplankton are tiny animals that usually eat the phytoplankton! -These are VITAL creatures in aquatic life and are the start of most food chains! Everything from water fleas to whales eat it!!

6. -There are 2 broad categories of aquatic plants 1)Attached: plants attach themselves either by roots or in the case of seaweed by something called a holdfast. -Plants in shallow water have root systems almost identical to land plants -Plants in deeper water have to get oxygen a different way as opposed to through their roots because the soil is saturated. They have long, open channels throughout that begin at stomata on the top side of their leaves. -Aquatic plants are usually much more flexible in order for them to adjust to changing tides and currents. -Most float on the surface and have no real stalk thus collapse when you put them on land!

7. 2) Floating: These plants are not attached to anything and have different mechanisms to keep them buoyant Phytoplankton are tiny (0.002 to 2mm long) and have adaptations such as spines and irregular bodies to stop them from sinking. They are vital for ALL life on the planet as they are a major producer of oxygen! -One of these things is not like the other!!! Which is it???? The far right picture is actually Euglena a type of protist -Alga is also a marine plant that is not attached to anything! It just floats around on the surface! Red tide is actually an algal bloom, some are toxic and kill life in the area

8. They are a type of ALGAE!!!! - They still get their energy from the sun via photosynthesis -There are 3 major categories of algae based on the pigments found in them: 1)Red ( Rhodophyta) 2)Green ( Chlorophyta) 3)Brown ( Phaeophyceae ) These three genera originated from Cyanobacteria, also known as Blue-Green algae! It is most likely the very first photosynthetic lifeform on Earth 3.5 billion years ago -The most amazing of these is called Kelp which is a brown algae. -This seaweed makes enormous forests in the ocean and grows at an incredible rate of up to half a meter per day!!! -How does it get sunlight then if it is sooooo tall? (up to 80m) -It has a float – a huge air bubble at the top, kind of like a life jacket!

9. Nostoc - Green Kelp - Brown Sea Lettuce - Green Red Algae Brown Algae Did you know that algae is part of the questionable kingdom Protista not Plantae!

10. -All of these aquatic plants need nutrients to live but where do they get them from?? -They are washed in from the land via rivers and also get recycled via detritus, which is the decaying of dead plant and animal matter. -The amount of nutrients available to these “surface” dwelling plants varies through the seasons, more in the spring, less during the winter. -Through ocean currents, waves and wind nutrients from the bottom can be brought up to the top again. -This can also happen through temperature fluctuations – the weather gets colder thus so does the surface water which increases its density thus mixing with the thermocline below releasing oxygen as well as nutrients. -So with a constant flow of nutrients in then why is the ocean not getting saltier?? -Some are released back into the atmosphere by salt sprays produced by waves, some react with suspended solids and sink to the bottom as sediment, and others are removed by creatures making shells or bones.

11. Fertilizers: After we fertilizer our lawn and there is a massive downpour of rain all we tend to think of is the money we just wasted as all our precious fertilizer is washed away but where does it go? Streams which eventually lead to lakes and oceans! What happens when it gets there? The aquatic plants go nuts and create something called an algal bloom. When they die bacteria break them down but so much algal matter means lots of bacteria which use the oxygen from the water sometimes resulting in animal death! Fishing: Aquatic food webs are possibly even more intricate than the ones on land and just like the ones on land there are key species that are a vital link in the chain. Herring are one example and also an example of a resource that humans like to remove from the ocean. Many other species plan their movements and breeding around this fishes movement so when humans deplete the population the result could be catastrophic. It could result in a dependent species reduction or in a preys overabundance! Example: bivalve farmers (oysters, clams, mussels, etc) were annoyed that sea otters were cleaning them out of their product so had them shipped away but as a result the sea urchin and starfish, food sources of the otter, flourished out of control!

12. - When toxins are released into any environment the primary producers tend to soak them up and store them in their bodies. -These plants are then eating by a primary consumer and stored in their body -There animals are then eaten by bigger animals and so on in the food chain -BUT at each step of the way, these toxins are being passed along and the concentration magnifies. -Sure the primary producer only absorbs a little but think about how much grass a cow eats. -The same holds true in aquatic environments. Phytoplankton Zooplankton Water flea Whale How much does each have to eat?

13. -With new technology such as submarines, underwater cameras, and deep sea dive suits deep-sea explorers were able to venture far past where they ever could before. -What they found in the 1970’s astonished them and is still quite amazing today! -LIFE! At 2.5km below sea level. -How? There is definitely no sunlight down there! -The basis of the food web starts from bacteria that get their energy from sea-floor vents that release hydrogen sulfide gas. -These bacteria are called chemosynthesizers. -They in turn are eaten by larvae, worms, crabs and many other mysterious creatures many of which we don’t even know about!