The diversity of life in freshwater

Lagoa das Sete CidadesThis is a place in Portugal, were the water is real fresh. Freshwater means that there is no salt in the water. The Dutch word would translate as “Sweet Water”.In the Netherlands, there are not many places where theWater is extraordinary sweet. We do have a lot of ground water,which is sweet.

Salt water is really just freshwater, in which salt has been dissolved. This salt comes from rocks and mountains, over which the water has flooded. When the water evaporates again, it forms clouds, which drifttoward the land. The salt does not evaporate, so the water that will rain downout of the clouds will be freshwater, without salt. Then the freshwater will form rivers, and the rivers will stream toward to ocean again. There it will become salt water once more, and begin its cycle again.

The beaver

The beaver lives in streams of freshwater, it needs the water to be clean, otherwise it dies.It helps clean the river himself, by building dikes. This way, al the dirt is filtered out of the water.

The dolphin

The dolphin normally only lives in salt water, but there are certain variants of the specie that live in rivers of freshwater.They are rare, and threatened with extinction.

The eel

The eel is a dangerous animal.Some of them live in salt, others in freshwater.Some of them, can give an electrical shockwave,To stun or kill their pray.

The frogThe frog is a amfibian specie, it can live on land, but needs to stay wet.It lives only in freshwater. In salt, it dies.

Another frog

There are many different versions of life in freshwater.Also, there are many differences between members of one certain specie.

Chondrostoma lusitanicumIt is a specie that only exists in the region of Iberian Peninsula.(Portugal and spain) It lives in warm fresh water, in cold water it is sure to die.

Macroinvertebrate

The macroinvertebrate is an insect larve, it lives in clean lakes, rivers and ponds. This way, it can serve as an indicator of clean water.

Escherichia ColiThe Eschericia coli is a bacterie that can serve as an indicator of bad quality water.

Lilly pads

This is a plant that grows in freshwater. It is common in many lands.

So, as a general conclusion, there are all sorts of life forms in freshwater.From mammals and amphibian, to fishes and insects. All of those have their own place in the delicate system of nature.They clean ponds, so other animals can live there. They die, and with their death, others are born and fed. We should be very careful with our resources of freshwater, because if it disappears, a lot of animals will be threatened with extinction.