Post on 14-Jan-2016
Aquatic Ecosystems
4 things determine aquatic ecosystems:
1. Depth
2. Flow
3. Temperature
4. Chemistry
• Only 3% of the Earth’s surface is fresh water.
Two types of freshwater ecosystems:
Flowing water ecosystems
Standing water ecosystems
Flowing Water Ecosystems
1. Rivers
2. Streams
3. Creeks
4. Brooks
Animals that live in Flowing –Water ecosystems:
Catfish
Trout
Beavers
River Otters
Standing Water Ecosystems
• Lakes
• ponds
Plankton• General term for the tiny, free-floating or
weakly swimming organisms that live in both fresh and salt water environments.
• Phytoplankton – single celled photosynthetic algae
• Zooplankton – small animals, usually microscopic, that feed on the phytoplankton.
Wetlands• Wetlands are productive because they are
shallow with a lot of organic plant matter in the water that serves as breeding grounds for insects, fishes and other aquatic animals, amphibians, and migratory birds.
Wetland Bogs • Form in depressions left by sheets of ice.
• Thick mats of sphagnum moss grow and the bogs tend to be very acidic.
Bog Finds
• Many ancient bodies are preserved in the acidic / oxygen free bogs.
• This man found in
1950 is estimated to
be over 2000 years
old.
Venus Flytrap
Pitcher Plants
Wetland Marshes are shallow wetlands along streams that
remain wet at least half the year.
Sawgrass marsh in the Everglades
Wetland Swamps
• Wet year round
• Often look like flooded forests with trees and shrubs.
Okefenokee Swamp
Estuaries are wetlands formed where rivers meet the sea.
They contain a mixture of fresh and salt water.
Estuaries
• Freshwater and saltwater mix - brackish
Estuary Examples
1. Salt marshes: temperate zone estuaries dominated by salt-tolerant grasses above the low tide line, and by seagrasses under water.
2. Mangrove swamps are coastal wetlands that are widespread across tropical regions, including southern Florida and Hawaii.
Salt Marsh
Marine Ecosystems
• Contain salt water
• Photic zone: well lit upper layer down to 200 meters where algae and other producers can grow.
• Aphotic zone: permanently dark area where no photosynthetic organisms live, but some chemosynthetic organisms live.
Marine zone based on depth of water & distance from shore:
1. Intertidal zone
2. Coastal ocean
3. Open ocean
Tides• The portion of the shoreline that lies
between the high and low tide lines is called the intertidal zone.
Intertidal zone
• Barnacles
• Seaweed
• Snails
• Sea urchins
• Sea stars
Intertidal Zone
Coastal ocean• Kelp forests
• Snails
• Sea urchins
• Sea otters
• Fishes
• Seals
• whales
Coral Reefs
• Corals are relatives to the jellyfish that secrete a hard substance called calcium carbonate.
• They live in symbiosis with algae contained within the body of each coral animal.
• Almost all grow within 40 meters of the surface.
Coral Reefs
Open Ocean
• Begins at the edge of the continental shelf and extends outward.
• Largest marine zone• 500 meters to 11,000 meters.• Swordfish, octopus, dolphins, whales
Plankton• Small organisms that live in
the waters of the photic zone.
• phytoplankton–microscopic plants and bacteria
• zooplankton–microscopic animals
Benthic Zone• Ocean floor• Organisms that live near or
attached to the bottom• Sea stars, anemones, marine
worms – all referred to as benthos.• Clams, sea cucumbers
Harris Neck NWR
Baby Alligator
Sapelo Island
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