 Temperature  Water depth  Flow  Amount of dissolved nutrients

 dark layer of the oceans below the photic zone were sunlight does not penetrate  Aphotic zone

 Sunlight region near the surface of water  Photic zone

4.5 Temperature and Currents Ayden L. Branas

Benthos  Aquatic organisms that live on, or in rock and sediment at the bottom of a lake, stream, or ocean.

Temperature and Currents  Water is warmer near the equator and the farther away the water is, the colder it will be.  Water in aquatic habitats varies with depth.  The deepest part is colder than the surface water.  Currents affect water temperature too.

Example of Current

Nutrients needed  Organisms need certain substances to live.  The availability of needed substances vary between bodies of water.  That greatly affects the organisms that live in each body of water.

Major Categories of Fresh Water Ecosystems  Included rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, and fresh water wetlands.

Cameron Ross 4.5 Aquatic Ecosystems

Lakes and Ponds The food webs in lakes and ponds are often based on a combination of plankton and algae. Water typically flows in and out of lakes and ponds.

Rivers and Streams O riginate from underground water sources in mountains or hills. H ave very little plant life because of no sediment. A nimals depend on terrestrial plants or other animals.

Plankton Plankton is a general term that includes both phytoplankton and zooplankton.

A wetland is an ecosystem in which water either covers the soil or is present at or near the surface for at least part of the year. T hree main types of wetlands are, freshwater bogs, freshwater marshes, and freshwater swamps.

By: Todd Young

* A type of wetland were a river meets the ocean * Mixture if saltwater and freshwater * Rises and falls with ocean tides * Many are shallow allowing sunlight to reach the bottom to perform photosynthesis

* Temperate estuaries characterized by salt tolerant grasses above tide sea grass below * Tropical estuaries specialized by salt tolerant mangrove trees

* Zones of the ocean based on depth and distance from shore

By: Alexis Elgin 4.5 Aquatic Ecosystems

* Many communities * Organisms are submerged in seawater at high- tide and are exposed to air and sunlight at low- tide. * Go through regular and extreme changes in temperature. * Rocks line the shore

* Extends from low-tide mark to outer edge of the continental shelf. (The area of seabed around a large landmass where the sea is relatively shallow compared with the open ocean.) * Water is brightly lit * Supplied with nutrients * Highly productive

* Begins at the edge of the continental shelf and extends outward. * Most of the worlds oceans are considered open ocean. * divided into two main zones: ~Photic Zone~ Low nutrient levels and supports only the smallest species of phytoplankton. ~Aphotic Zone~ Permanently dark- deepest part of the ocean. Organisms are exposed to high pressure, frigid temperature, and total darkness.