Aquatic Biomes

1. Aquatic Biomes Environmental Science Instructor: E. Ennis

2. 75% - 78% of the Earth’s surface is covered in water Water on the Earth Land 22 % Water 78%

3. What factors influence the kind of life an aquatic biome contains? • Salinity • Depth • Speed of water flow

4. 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.

5. Types of Life in An Aquatic Biome

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

9. Life Found in Aquatic Systems

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

11. 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.

13. How do plankton stay afloat? Empty cavities Increase buoyancy Flagella allow weak Swimming or movement Spines – increase Surface area Chains or linking increases Surface area

14. 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

16. Adult Stages Larval Stages

17. Nekton Strong Swimmers Consumers Fish, turtles, Whales

19. 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

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

22. Characteristics of an Aquatic Biome

23. 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

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

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

27. Advantages of living in the ocean

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

29. 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.

30. 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.

31. Fairly constant temperature

33. Nourishment from dissolved nutrients

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

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

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

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

40. 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.

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

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

43. 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

44. Salt Water Life Zones

45. Un-level Lithosphere Rain (static electricity) Erosion , Mass wasting Salts from Rock formations How Oceans were Formed

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. Major ecological and economic services provided by marine systems

48. Ecological Services

49. 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

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