Transcript Aquatic Biomes

Aquatic Biomes
Environmental Science
Instructor: E. Ennis
Water on the Earth
Land
22%
Water
78%
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75% - 78% of the Earth’s surface is covered in water
What factors influence the kind of
life an aquatic biome contains?
 Salinity
 Depth
 Speed
of water flow
Major types of aquatic biomes
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Salt Water
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Estuaries**
Coastlines
Coral Reefs
Coastal Marshes**
Mangrove Swamps**
Oceans
** May be brackish
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Fresh Water
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Streams
Rivers
Lakes
Ponds
Wetlands (inland)
Types of Life in An
Aquatic Biome
Phytoplankton
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“Plant Plankton”
Free Floating
Microscopic
Cynobacteria or algae
Producers
Contain cholorphyll photosynthetic
Support most aquatic
food chains and food
webs
Did you know????
•Plants in the ocean produce over half the world's oxygen.
• The most important plants in the ocean are too small to
be seen without a microscope.
• They float near the surface and drift with the currents,
so they have been named phytoplankton (phyto=plant,
plankton=drifter).
• Phytoplankton are the 'grass' of the sea. Where they
grow there is food for marine animals.
• Ocean color tells you how much phytoplankton there is in
the water.
How do plankton stay afloat?
Empty cavities
Increase buoyancy
Spines – increase
Surface area
Flagella allow weak
Swimming or movement
Chains or linking increases
Surface area
Zooplankton
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“Animal Plankton”
Non-photosynthetic
Consumers (herbivores)
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Feed on phytoplankton
Single Celled Protozoa to
larger invertebrates such
as jellyfish
Many zooplankton are
larval stages of familiar
animals
Larval
Stages
Adult
Stages
Strong Swimmers
Consumers
Fish, turtles, Whales
Nekton
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Bottom Dwellers
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Benthos
Anchor to one spot:
barnacles, oysters
Burrow in mud or sand:
worms
Walk on bottom: Lobsters,
crabs
Habitats:
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Intertidal zones, rocky
shores, tide pools
Muddy Sandy communities
Deep ocean/ coral reefs
Hydrothermal vent areas
• archaebacteria
Decomposers
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Break down organic
compounds into
simple nutrients that
can be used by
producers
 Break down dead
bodies and waste
Characteristics of an
Aquatic Biome
Ocean Zones
Characteristics of an Aquatic Biome
 Have
more complex and longer food
chains and food webs
Physical support from water
buoyancy
Organisms take
advantage of
water's buoyancy
to transport
themselves to
nearby or distant
habitats with little
energy
expenditure
 A fish
will float on top of the water if it
weighs less than the amount of water it
displaces (pushes away).
 Most fish weigh more than the water they
displace and would sink to the ocean floor.
But, most fish do not spend their lives on
the ocean floor.
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 They
can do this because of an organ
called a swim-bladder ( a built-in gas filled
chamber) that helps the fish get off the
ground and up in the water.
 Some fast-moving fish and sharks do not
have a swim bladder and therefore must
keep moving or they will sink.
 A big
difference between fish and dolphins
is that a fish's tail moves from side to side
and a dolphin's moves up and down.
The more slender the body shape,
the faster the movement
Fairly constant temperature
Water Availability
 Oceans
cover 139,400,000 square miles
of the Earth’s surface
 The average depth of the oceans is
12,238 feet
Ocean
Area (square
miles)
Average Depth (ft)
Deepest depth (ft)
Pacific Ocean
64,186,000
15,215
Mariana Trench,
36,200 ft deep
Atlantic Ocean
33,420,000
12,881
Puerto Rico
Trench, 28,231 ft
deep
Indian Ocean
28,350,000
13,002
Java Trench,
25,344 ft deep
Southern Ocean
7,848,300 sq. miles
(20.327 million sq
km )
13,100 - 16,400 ft
deep (4,000 to
5,000 meters)
the southern end
of the South
Sandwich Trench,
23,736 ft (7,235 m)
deep
Arctic Ocean
5,106,000
3,953
Eurasia Basin,
17,881 ft deep
Why are oceans important?
71-75% of earth’s surface
 Make up 99.5% of earth’s habitable
volume
 Contain 250,000 known species of plant
and animals
 Provide important and ecological and
economic services
 Covers
Mangrove Swamps (Forest)
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Mangrove swamps
are found along
tropical seacoasts
on both sides of the
equator
Estuaries
Where river
meets ocean
Brakish water =
salt and freshwater
Major ecological and
economic services provided
by marine systems
Food
Transportation
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Ocean transport is the
backbone of internal
trade
Coastal Habitats and Employment
for Humans
Recreation
Offshore Oil and Natural Gas /
Minerals
Freshwater is water that has no salt in it.
Examples included in freshwater are ponds
and lakes, streams and rivers, and wetlands.
How much freshwater?
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Of all the water
available on Earth…
 Only 3% is freshwater
 Of the 3% freshwater,
2% is tied up in
glaciers and
icebergs…
 Only leaving less than
1% available to
humans.
1%
2%
97%
Limnology
The study of fresh water and its ecosystems
The study of freshwater ecosystems can be
divided into 2 systems
1. Lentic – standing water
(little or no current)
2. Lotic – flowing water
Examples of Lentic Systems
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Standing water
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Lakes
Ponds
Wetlands
• Marshes
• Swamps
• bogs
Water Lilly
Cattail
There are many different plants in a freshwater biome.
A few examples are water lilies, algae, cattails, and duckweed.
Turtle
There are a variety of animals that live in freshwater biomes.
A few examples are fish, birds, insects, turtles, and frogs.
Fish
Freshwater Biomes
Streams and Rivers
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have low salt concentration
 water flows down a slope
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the greater the slope, the
faster the current and the
lower the nutrients
higher concentrations of O2
 plants include algae,
cattails, shrubs,
 animals include fish, birds,
snails, flatworms, insect
larvae,
Freshwater Biomes
include ponds, lakes,
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have low salt concentration (most freshwater
biomes have less than 1% salt)
 plants include lilies, algae, rushes, cattails
 animals include birds, fish, otter, beaver
 two types:
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Eutrophic = rich organic matter and
nutrients, and murky
Oligotrophic = very little organic matter
Bogs,
swamps,
and
marshes
Dilute
pollution
and
protect
against
flooded