Aquatic Ecosystems

1. Aquatic Ecosystems

2. What are the 2 deciding factors that affect land biomes? • Would this be the same for aquatic biomes? • Salinity • Nutrients

3. Freshwater Ecosystems • Rivers • Streams • Lakes • Ponds • Marshes • Swamps • Wetlands

4. Flowing Water: Rivers and Streams • Along the river, different populations of organisms are found due to: shading, depth, temperature, current and energy sources.

5. Watersheds • describes an area of land that contains a common set of streams and rivers • drains into a single larger body of water, such as a larger river, a lake or an ocean

6. Human Impacts • Dams- change the populations at the site of the dam as well as downstream from the dam. • Water Pollution- affects downstream populations • Urbanization

7. Standing Water: Lakes and Ponds • Three Zones • Littoral Zone- shallow water area, most productive • Limnetic Zone- Open water beyond literal zone, less vegetation, includes larger fish • Profundal Zone-bottom, deepest part of the lake.

8. Thermal Stratification • Dependent on sunlight penetration • Turnovers mix nutrients

9. Wetlands, Marshes, Swamps • Wetlands: saturated for at least part of a year and have high organic matter, HIGHEST SPECIES DIVERSITY, HIGHEST PRODUCTIVITY OF ALL ECOSYSTEMS • Swamps and Marshes: permanently saturated, includes grasslike plants • Provide invaluable ecosystem services: replenish water supply, clean and filter water, stores floodwater, and provide food and shelter

10. Estuaries: A salt and freshwater mix • Shifting water level • Changes in salinity • Organisms uniquely adapted • Very fertile, high productivity • Constant influx of nutrients • Tidal action circulates nutrients • High level of light pentration • Large plant mass traps detritus, which fish feed upon

11. Mangrove forests and salt marshes • Often seen as worthless, but they provide valuable services • Salt marshes: Habitat, traps pollution and sediment, groundwater supply, buffers storms • Mangrove forests: breeding ground for fish and crabs, nesting sites for birds, stabilize soils, storm protection

12. Chesapeake Bay • Largest, richest estuary in US • Provides oysters, crabs, fish • Home to more than 17 million people • Suffers from pollution from agriculture, automobiles, homes, industry • Massive campaign to reduce pollution

13. Marine Ecosystems: Ocean • Intertidal Zones: • Biologically productive • occur on coast • Stressful conditions

15. Marine Ecosystems: Oceans • Benthic Environment • Ocean Floor • Mostly sediments • Borrowing organisms: worms, clams • Lots of bacteria • Abyssal benthic zone and the hadal benthic zone include life without sun

16. Oceans

18. Impact of Human Activities on the Oceans • Development destroys coastal ecosystems • Pollution: from rivers, dumping, spills, atmospheric pollution • Agricultural runoff • Increased fishing technologies

19. Coral Reefs

20. Coral Reefs : The Underwater Tropical Rain Forest • Found in warm, shallow sea waters • Some consist of red coralline algae • Some consist of colonies of tiny coral animals and their symbiotic zooxanthellae • Grow slowly, new polyp colonies attach and grow on old coral. • 3 types: fringing reefs, atolls, barrier reefs

21. Coral Reefs • Fringing Reef: • Submerged platforms of living coral extending from the shore into the sea • Barrier Reef: • Follow the shore but are separated from it by water • Great Barrier Reef is world’s largest • Atoll: Ring-shaped islands of coral in open sea • Form on submerged mud banks or volcano craters • Surround a seawater lagoon • Channels connect lagoon to the sea

22. = Coral Reef Coral Reefs of the World

23. The Great Barrier Reef • 1500 species of fish • 400 different types of coral • 4,000 mollusks • 500 species of seaweed • 215 species of birds • 16 species of sea snake • 6 species of sea turtle • Whales visit during winter • World’s largest coral reef • Over 1257 mileslong • Off the northeast coast of Australia • Only grows about one inch per year

24. Human Impacts on Coral Reefs • 30-50% of coral species rare or endangered in the tropical western Atlantic • Deforestation erosion increased silt  upsets balance and inhibits new growth • Diverting fresh water  increased salinity • Pollution, building, overpopulation • Dredging

25. The Everglades

26. The Everglades • Haven for wildlife • Sawgrass wetland ecosystem • Designated national park, International Biosphere Reserve, World Heritage Site, and a Wetland of International Importance • Affects the Florida Bay and Keys • Local economies rely on fisheries and tourism

27. The Everglades • Human Influence: • Agricultural pollutants- nitrogen and phosphorus- change plant community • Hoover Dike prevented water from lake Okeechobee to drain into the everglades • Canals, levees, pump stations divert water to the Ocean • Urbanization- pollutants and habitat fragmentation

28. The Everglades • Farmers clean runoff to reduce phosphorus and nitrogen • Some agricultural land bought and restored to wetlands • Re-engineer canals, levees, pumps • Drill into the aquifer and pump excess water into it in the rainy season