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

Turtles

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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