Aquatic Biomes

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Aquatic Biomes
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Water on the Earth

• 75 - 78 of the Earths surface is covered in
  water

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How much freshwater?

• 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.

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Types of Life in An Aquatic Biome
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What factors influence the kind of life an
aquatic biome contains?

• Salinity
• Depth (Sunlight)
• Speed of water flow
• Dissolved oxygen levels

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Major types of aquatic biomes

• Salt Water
• Estuaries
• Coastlines
• Coral Reefs
• Coastal Marshes
• Mangrove Swamps
• Oceans
• May be brackish

• Fresh Water
• Streams
• Rivers
• Lakes
• Ponds
• Wetlands (inland)

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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

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Examples of Lentic Systems

• Standing water
• Lakes
• Ponds
• Wetlands
• Marshes
• Swamps
• bogs

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Lakes

• Oligotrophic poorly nourished
• Eutrophic richly nourished

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Examples of Lotic Systems

• Moving water
• Rivers
• Streams

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Life Found in Aquatic Systems
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Phytoplankton

• Plant Plankton
• Free Floating
• Microscopic
• Cynobacteria or algae
• Producers
• Contain cholorphyll - photosynthetic
• Support most aquatic food chains and food webs

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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
  (phytoplant, planktondrifter).
• 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.

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Zooplankton

• Animal Plankton
• Non-photosynthetic
• Consumers (herbivores)
• Feed on phytoplankton
• Single Celled Protozoa to larger invertebrates
  such as jellyfish
• Many zooplankton are larval stages of familiar
  animals

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Nekton
Strong Swimmers Consumers Fish, turtles, Whales
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Benthos

• Bottom Dwellers
• Anchor to one spot barnacles, oysters
• Burrow in mud or sand worms
• Walk on bottom Lobsters, crabs
• Habitats
• Intertidal zones, rocky shores, tide pools
• Muddy Sandy communities
• Deep ocean/ coral reefs
• Hydrothermal vent areas
• archaebacteria

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Decomposers

• Break down organic compounds into simple
  nutrients that can be used by producers
• Break down dead bodies and waste

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Characteristics of an Aquatic Biome
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• Have less pronounced and fixed physical
  boundaries
• Makes it difficult to count and manage
  populations
• due to the size of the ocean and many organisms
  are largely hidden from view

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Catch and release
Tagging with electronic monitors
Acoustics used to measure Krill Populations
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Characteristics of an Aquatic Biome

• Have more complex and longer food chains and food
  webs

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Ocean Biomes
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High tide
Sun
Coastal Zone
Open Sea
Sea level
Low tide
Photosynthesis
Euphotic Zone
Estuarine Zone
Continental shelf
Bathyal Zone
Twilight
Abyssal Zone
Darkness
Fig. 6-5, p. 130
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Biological Zones in the Open SeaLight Rules

• Euphotic zone brightly lit surface layer.
• Nutrient levels low, dissolved O2 high,
  photosynthetic activity.
• Bathyal zone dimly lit middle layer.
• No photosynthetic activity, zooplankton and fish
  live there and migrate to euphotic zone to feed
  at night.
• Abyssal zone dark bottom layer.
• Very cold, little dissolved O2.

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Advantages of living in the ocean
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Physical support from water buoyancy
Organisms take advantage of water's buoyancy to
transport themselves to nearby or distant
habitats with little energy expenditure
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Fairly constant temperature
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Nourishment from dissolved nutrients
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Areas of pronounced upwelling

• -Deep oceanic currents colliding with sharp
  coastal shelves
• Temperature differences / changes
• Surface Winds

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Water Availability

• Oceans cover 139,400,000 square miles of the
  Earths surface
• The average depth of the oceans is 12,238 feet

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Easy dispersement of organisms, larvae and eggs
Water propulsion
Water propulsion
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Hydrofoils - use of flippers
Up/Down movement of pectoral fins
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• 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.

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The more slender the body shape, the faster the
movement
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Advantages

• Less exposure to harmful radiation
• Dilution and dispersion of pollutants

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Disadvantages

• Can tolerate a narrow range of temperatures
• Exposure to dissolved pollutants
• Fluctuating populations size for many species
• Dispersion separates many aquatic offspring from
  parents

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Why are oceans important?

• Covers 71-75 of earths surface
• Make up 99.5 of earths habitable volume
• Contain 250,000 known species of plant and
  animals
• Provide important and ecological and economic
  services

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Ecological Services
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Ecological Services

• Climate moderation
• Carbon dioxide absorption
• Nutrient cycling
• Reduced storm impact (mangrove swamps, estuaries,
  barrier islands)
• Habitats and nurseries for species (shrimp, crab,
  oysters, clams, fish)
• Genetic resources and biodiversity

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Mangrove Swamps (Forest)

• Mangrove swamps are found along tropical
  seacoasts on both sides of the equator

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Estuaries
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Barrier Islands
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Economic Services
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Food
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Pharmaceuticals
Algae Astaxanthin is a powerful natural
antioxidant / dietary supplement
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Transportation

• Ocean transport is the backbone of internal trade

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Coastal Habitats and Employment for Humans
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Recreation
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Offshore Oil and Natural Gas / Minerals
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Coastal Zones
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What is a coastal zone?

• The coastal zone is the warm, nutrient rich,
  shallow water from high tide area on land to the
  edge of the continental shelf.
• Contains 90 of all marine species
• Site of most commercial fisheries
• Ample supply of sunlight and nutrients

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Estuaries / Coastal Wetlands

• Part of coastal zone
• Brackish (mixture of salt and freshwater)
• Usually due to the movement of the tides
• Salinity and temperature vary due to
• Daily tides
• Seasonal variations and its affect of water flow
• Unpredictable flows of water from flooding or
  storms
• Constant movement of nutrients due to flow of
  water

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Estuaries / Coastal Wetlands

• Covered with water all or part of the year
• River mouths (deltas)
• Inlets
• Bays
• Sounds
• Mangrove forest swamps
• Salt marshes

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Major life zones in an ocean
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Continental Rise
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Oceans
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