Aquatic Biodiversity

Brittney arellana Nicolette BenedettiNairelis Real

Salt water or marine Fresh water

Oceans, estatuaries, coastal westlands, shorelines,coral reefs, magrove forest

-lakes, rivers, streams, and inland wetlands

Aquatic equivalents of biomes= Aquatic life zones

Aquatic life zones

Types of plankton: -phytoplankton-algae, support most aquatic food webs-Zoo plankton- consumers, feed on phytoplankton's-Ultra plankton- photosynthetic bacteria 20 %of the primary productivity near ocean surface

Why are marine aquatic systems important

~ Oceans provide ecological and economic services:- Oceans provide enormously valuable ecological and economic

services

Cool fact: one estimate of the combined value of these goods and services from

all marine coastal ecosystem is over $12 trillion per year, nearly equal to the U.S

gross domestic product

Cool fact: one estimate of the combined value of these goods and services from

all marine coastal ecosystem is over $12 trillion per year, nearly equal to the U.S

gross domestic product

Marine aquatic systems are enormous reservoirs of biodiversity. They include many different ecosystems, which host a great variety of species , genes and biological and chemical processes.

Coastal zone Open sea Ocean bottom

warm ,nutrients ,shallow water that extends from high tide mark on land to gently sloping, shallow edge of the continental shelf (submerged continents)

sharp increase in water depth at the edge of the continental shelf it seperates the coastal from vast volumes of the ocean

major life zone contains enough nutrients

More about coastal wetlands…

Some of the earths most productive ecosystem because of high nutrients inputs

Provide important ecological and economic services

Help maintain water quality in tropical coastal zones by filtering toxic pollutants, excess plant nutrients and sediments

- they provide food, habitat, and nursery sites.

Cool facts:

#1. the UN food and agriculture organization estimated that between

1980 and 2005 atleast 1/5 of the worlds mangrove forest were lost mostly

because of human coastal development

#2. coral reefs are among the worlds oldest, most diverse and productive

ecosystem, the biodiversity is equal to tropical rainforest coral reefs provide homes for ¼ of all marine species

Why are fresh water ecosystems important?

water stands in some fresh water systems and flow in others.

fresh water life zones include standing bodies of fresh water such as:

-lakes -ponds - inland wetlands and flowing systems such as streams and rivers * Although these fresh water systems cover less

then 2.2% of the Earths surface, they provide a number of important ecological and economic servies

Lakes are large natural bodies of standing fresh water

Fresh water lakes very tremendously in size, depth and nutrient content

-deep lakes normally consist of four distinct zones that are defined by their depth and distance from shore

Littoral zone ( near the zone)

Limnetic zone ( sun light layer )

Profundal zone(a layer of deep water, to dark for photosynthesis

Benthic zone ( inhabited mostly some species of fish)

Did you know lakes have more nutrients than others?

*ecologist classify lakes according to their nutrient content and primary productivity

- Glaciers and mountain streams supply water to many lakes, bringing little in the way of sediment or microscopic to could the water and small population of fish species because of their low level of nutrients. These lakes have a low net primary productivity

* a lake with a large supply of nutrients needed by producers is called eutrophic ( well nourished)

Fresh water streams and rivers carry water from the mountains to the ocean

In many areas streams begin in mountains or hilly areas. Which collect earths surface as rain or as snow melts during warm seasons

Dams, deltas, wetlands, hurricanes

- coastal deltas, mangrove, forests, and coastal wetlands provide considerbale natural protection agaisnt flood and wave damage from coastal storms, hurricans, typhoons, and tsunamis

- humans have built damns to control water flow and provide electricity

New Orleans has begun a

project to protect and restore wetlands in the Mississippi Delta in order to increase

resilience against flooding, hurricanes, and rising sea

levels caused by global warming. This is a reversal of previous tactics, which relied

solely on dams and river levees. Research has shown that wetlands play a crucial role in the defence against

flooding. 

Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when the dams of New Orleans burst, was the worst civil engineering disaster in US history and one of the country’s worst natural catastrophes. Eighty percent of

New Orleans was flooded after the hurricane ripped through, 1,500 people died, and almost a million people were

displaced. Some 16,000 offices and factories were flooded, and 40 schools

were destroyed. The city’s recovery has been slow – the current population in the city proper is still almost half as

large as it was before the disaster. 

Questions

What is the Biotic responses of Rate of water level fluctuation?  Macroinvertebrates are vulnerable to what?   List the 5 examples of the most commonly cited abiotic

determinants of aquatic macrophyte.  Flow regulation by dams, are often compound by what? And

explain.  Physical disturbance from floods is thought to be a major

determinate of?  The viability of populations of many species of fully aquatic

organism depends on?