1 / 33

Aquatic Ecosystems

Reminder: HW3 Part II due Wednesday! Midterm Thursday. Aquatic Ecosystems. Monday, August 22nd. Ecotone: the transition zone between two diverse communities. WHAT DID YOU FIND??????. Kelp Effect on Waves. Kelp forest ecosystem. Otters eat sea urchins. Kelp provides otter habitat.

kioko
Download Presentation

Aquatic Ecosystems

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Reminder: HW3 Part II due Wednesday! Midterm Thursday Aquatic Ecosystems Monday, August 22nd

  2. Ecotone: the transition zone between two diverse communities WHAT DID YOU FIND??????

  3. Kelp Effect on Waves

  4. Kelp forest ecosystem Otters eat sea urchins Kelp provides otter habitat Sea urchins eat kelp

  5. Kelp forest ecosystem & human values

  6. Kelp Effect on Waves

  7. Impact of Kelp on Low Productivity Terrestrial Env’ts • Example: Channel Islands • Kelp detritus = nutrient input to intertidal communities • Marine bird and mammals • feed on intertidal organisms • Feces/guano provide nutrients • to terrestrial organisms • Biggest impact where ratio of • shoreline to area is high

  8. Kelp forest ecosystem • 30-40 m water depth • Determined by light availability • Require high concentrations of nutrients • Occur mostly in areas of upwelling • Provide primary production (food) and • habitat!

  9. Selective Pressures in Intertidal Zones Tides Salinity Waves

  10. Rocky Intertidal Zonation Where to snorkel, rocky shore or sandy beach? Why?

  11. Aquatic Ecosystems • Oceans • Lakes • Streams and Rivers • Estuaries • Freshwater wetlands

  12. Some General Questions: • Where does the energy to support aquatic life come from? • How productive are each of the aquatic environments? • What is the limiting factor in each aquatic environments? • How are nutrients cycled? • How have humans changed these environments?

  13. The open ocean is most like… • a tropical rain forest • the boreal forest • the desert • chaparral …with regard to productivity.

  14. Where is the ocean most productive? Where sunlight is available: Top 100 meters (euphotic zone) Where nutrients are available: • near the coast • From upwelling • rivers bring nutrients • Polar upwelling • Short, intense productivity

  15. Net Primary Productivity (NPP) by Biome

  16. Atmospheric/Ocean Coupling surface currents are driven by wind

  17. Ocean: surface currents

  18. Ocean Primary Productivity

  19. Coastal Upwelling • Most upwelling occurs in response • to longshore winds. • Upwelling: increased nutrients, • increased primary production • good fishing! • El Nino brings warm water, shuts down • upwelling, bad for fisheries

  20. Coastal Upwelling

  21. Is Primary Production always good for upper trophic levels? Red tide Harmful algal blooms: toxicity or increase in BOD suffocation, starvation

  22. LA Times: Altered Oceans Pulitzer Prize

  23. The open ocean is most like… • a tropical rain forest • the boreal forest • the desert • chaparral …with regard to productivity.

  24. Coral reefs • Coral reefs are extremely productive • Visibility is great! • But we know that nutrient-rich water is murky How is this possible? Where are the nutrients? What terrestrial biome does this remind you of?

  25. Coral reefs • Efficient cycling of nutrients • Complex relationships between organisms • Corals: plants or animals? • zooxanthellae in coral • intricate food webs

  26. Freshwater Ecosystems Lakes, streams and rivers

  27. Light Penetration in Lakes Euphotic zone Aphotic zone Sediment Secchi disk eu: well or good a: without

  28. Oligotrophic vs. Eutrophic Lakes

  29. Thermal Stratification of Lakes Summer Epilimnion Hypolimnion Thermocline Sediment

  30. Thermal Stratification of Lakes (wind) Summer Fall Well-mixed profile Epilimnion Hypolimnion Thermocline Sediment Sediment

  31. Thermal Stratification of Lakes (wind) Cooling Fall Summer Well-mixed profile Epilimnion Hypolimnion Thermocline Sediment Sediment Cooling Winter Frozen Well-mixed profile Warmer Well-mixed Hypolimnion Sediment

  32. Thermal Stratification of Lakes (wind) Cooling Fall Summer Well-mixed profile Epilimnion Hypolimnion Thermocline Sediment Sediment Warming Cooling Winter Spring Frozen Well-mixed profile Well-mixed profile (4°C) Hypolimnion Warming Sediment Sediment

  33. Summary • Aquatic Ecosystems • Limiting factors (light, nutrients, dissolved oxygen) and Temperature • Rocky Intertidal • Zonation and adaptations • Oceans • Productivity: euphotic zone/thermocline/nutrients/BOD/algal blooms • Open ocean vs. coast • Nutrients: upwelling and coastal inputs • Coral Reefs (zooanthellae, coral bleaching, ocean acidification, dynamite fishing) • Lakes… seasonality of: • Light penetration (euphotic vs. aphotic zones) • Temperature (epilimnion vs. hypolimnion) • Oxygen (aerobic vs. anaerobic/anoxic) • Nutrients (oligotrophic vs. eutrophic)

More Related