Aquatic Biomes

1. Aquatic Biomes

2. 75% - 78% of the Earth’s surface is covered in water Water on the Earth

3. 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.

4. Types of Life in An Aquatic Biome

5. What factors influence the kind of life an aquatic biome contains? • Salinity • Depth (Sunlight) • Speed of water flow • Dissolved oxygen levels

6. Salt Water Estuaries** Coastlines Coral Reefs Coastal Marshes** Mangrove Swamps** Oceans ** May be brackish Fresh Water Streams Rivers Lakes Ponds Wetlands (inland) Major types of aquatic biomes

7. 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

8. Examples of Lentic Systems • Standing water • Lakes • Ponds • Wetlands • Marshes • Swamps • bogs

10. Lakes • Oligotrophic: poorly nourished • Eutrophic: richly nourished

11. Examples of Lotic Systems • Moving water • Rivers • Streams

13. Life Found in Aquatic Systems

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

15. 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.

17. 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

19. Nekton Strong Swimmers Consumers Fish, turtles, Whales

21. 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

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

24. Characteristics of an Aquatic Biome

25. 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

26. Catch and release Tagging with electronic monitors Acoustics used to measure Krill Populations

27. Characteristics of an Aquatic Biome • Have more complex and longer food chains and food webs

29. Ocean Biomes

30. High tide Sun Open Sea Coastal Zone Sea level Low tide Photosynthesis Euphotic Zone Estuarine Zone Continental shelf Bathyal Zone Twilight Abyssal Zone Darkness Fig. 6-5, p. 130

31. Biological Zones in the Open Sea:Light 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.

32. Advantages of living in the ocean

33. Physical support from water buoyancy Organisms take advantage of water's buoyancy to transport themselves to nearby or distant habitats with little energy expenditure

34. Fairly constant temperature

36. Nourishment from dissolved nutrients

37. Areas of pronounced upwelling • -Deep oceanic currents colliding with sharp coastal shelves • Temperature differences / changes • Surface Winds

39. Water Availability • Oceans cover 139,400,000 square miles of the Earth’s surface • The average depth of the oceans is 12,238 feet

40. Easy dispersement of organisms, larvae and eggs Water propulsion Water propulsion

41. Hydrofoils - use of flippers Up/Down movement of pectoral fins

42. 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.

43. The more slender the body shape, the faster the movement

44. Advantages • Less exposure to harmful radiation • Dilution and dispersion of pollutants

45. 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

46. Why are oceans important? • Covers 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

47. Ecological Services

48. 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

49. Mangrove Swamps (Forest) • Mangrove swamps are found along tropical seacoasts on both sides of the equator

50. Estuaries