1 / 12

Aquatic Plants and the Environment

Aquatic Plants and the Environment. First mid-term review Oct 6, 2005. Hydrologic Cycles. Water transformations and movements through the environment. Types of wetlands.

rlovell
Download Presentation

Aquatic Plants and the Environment

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. Aquatic Plants and the Environment First mid-term review Oct 6, 2005

  2. Hydrologic Cycles • Water transformations and movements through the environment

  3. Types of wetlands Characteristics of a wetland are determined by the hydrologic cycle and its impacts on the plants, soils, and timing of water coverage Swamps Riparian wetland Freshwater marsh Peatland Tidal FW marsh Mangrove Salt marshes Seagrasses

  4. Hydrologic cycle impacts: Vegetation - hydrophytes Obligate Hydrophytes are dependent on saturated soils Facultative hydrophytes can survive saturated soils Soils - hydric Hydric soils are those with saturated pore spaces and develop anaerobic conditions Standing or flowing water Water covering surface of soil for significant portions of the year. Typically enough to support hydrophytic plants and hydric soils.

  5. Hydrophytes Plants which are adapted to saturated (hydric) soils and standing or flowing water. A morphological and physiological description. Not taxonomic, as many different families of plants have hydrophytic examples.

  6. Hydric Soils Hydric Soils will often have a hydrogen sulfide odor (rotten egg smell). The are usually a black or grey color. Plant roots will often have reddish stain along the root channel caused by iron oxide formations.

  7. Water saturating and covering the surface • Possible to have wetlands, even in areas with little precipitation if soils remain saturated. • If water is present for enough time for soils to be saturated and develop anaerobic conditions, hydrophytes will begin to grow.

  8. Wetland delineation • Delineation – to determine the exact geographic boundaries of the wetland. • Use field sampling, GPS and GIS to map the wetlands • May require repeated mapping during the year to determine proper boundaries

  9. Hydrological models • Simple version are flow chart models or box diagrams Precipitation (10 mm/week or 400 liters/week) Evaporation (1.5 mm/day) Stream-flow out (30 liter/hour) Wildcat Lake Stream-flow in (20 liter/hour) Groundwater flow out (20 liters/day) Groundwater flow in (40 liters/day)

  10. Hydrological models • Complex version will include many more factors Precipitation (snow, rain, fog) City water supply out Evapotranspiration Irrigation water out Sewage in Surface flow Stream-flow out Wildcat Lake Stream A in Stream B in Groundwater flow out Groundwater deep aquifer in Shallow aquifer in

  11. Tools to measure water flows • Precipitation – rain gauge • Flowing water – flow meters - weir - floating object and cross section • Groundwater – markers (dyes, isotopes, and pollution) • Evapotranspiration - hook gauge • Surface runoff or sheet flow – very difficult (catchments, models)

  12. Review • Extent of a wetland is determined by hydrophytes, hydric soils, and water saturating or covering substrate. • These factors are affected by the hydrology • Hydrologic models are constructed to study movement of water and other compounds in aquatic ecosystems. • There are a variety of equipment and techniques available to measure flow rates.

More Related