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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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
• Almost half the oxygen in the atmosphere comes
  from photosynthesis in the ocean.

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Terrestrial Biomes

• Terrestrial Biomes usually are determined by
  three major factors
• Latitude
• Rain
• Temperature
• However, this is not the case for aquatic biomes.

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What factors influence the kind of life an
aquatic biome contains?

• Salinity
• Depth
• Speed of water flow

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Types of Life in An Aquatic Biome
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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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Saltwater Biomes
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Zones
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Intertidal zone

• This is where the ocean meets the land
• Tide and waves mean the communities are
  constantly changing.
• Very few algae and plants can establish
  themselves due to mud and sand movement.
• Flora few species of algae and seaweed
• Fauna snails, crabs, sea stars, and small
  fishes.

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Intertidal zone

• https//www.youtube.com/watch?vu64ppKBY3cM

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Pelagic Zone

• Includes those waters further from the land,
  basically the open ocean.
• The pelagic zone is generally cold though it is
  hard to give a general temperature range
• Flora include surface seaweeds and plankton.
• Fauna include many species of fish, and mammals
  like whales and dolphins.

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Benthic Zone

• The area below the pelagic zone, but does not
  include the very deepest parts of the ocean. The
  bottom of the zone consists of sand, slit, and/or
  dead organisms. Temperature decreases as depth
  increases, due to a lack of light.
• Flora seaweed
• Fauna include all sorts of bacteria, fungi,
  sponges, sea anemones, worms, sea stars, and
  fishes.

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Abyssal zone

• The deep ocean. The water in this region is very
  cold (around 3 C), highly pressured, high in
  oxygen content, but low in nutritional content.
• Fauna many species of invertebrates and fishes.
  Chemosynthetic bacteria live near thermal vents
  These bacteria are thus the start of the food web
  as they are eaten by invertebrates and fishes.

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Abyssal zone

• http//www.untamedscience.com/biology/biomes/deep-
  sea-biome/

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Plankton

• ..not what I had in mind

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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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• https//www.youtube.com/watch?vH7sACT0Dx0Q

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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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Adult Stages
Larval Stages
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Food Chain
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Food Chains and Webs

• Aquatic ecosystems tend to have more complex and
  longer food chains and food webs

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This is a Grouper.

• It can weigh over 600lbs..(what does that look
  like??)

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Like this..
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And This..
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How does it stay afloat?
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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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• 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.

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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
Where river meets ocean
Brakish water salt and freshwater
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Freshwater
Freshwater is water that has no salt in it.
Examples included in freshwater are ponds and
lakes, streams and rivers, and wetlands.
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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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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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Plant Life
Water Lilly
Cattail
There are many different plants in a freshwater
biome. A few examples are water lilies, algae,
cattails, and duckweed.
Animal Life
Turtle
There are a variety of animals that live in
freshwater biomes. A few examples are fish,
birds, insects, turtles, and frogs.
Fish
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Freshwater Biomes Streams and Rivers

• have low salt concentration
• water flows down a slope
• 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,

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Freshwater Biomesinclude ponds, lakes,

• have low salt concentration (most freshwater
  biomes have less than 1 salt)
• Flora lilies, algae, rushes, cattails
• Fauna birds, fish, otter, beaver
• two types
• Eutrophic rich organic matter and nutrients,
  and murky
• Oligotrophic very little organic matter