Aquatic Ecosystems

Aquatic = water Ecosystem = environment Water – based Ecosystems Freshwater ecosystem Marine (or saltwater) ecosystem

Freshwater Ecosystems include: Streams and Rivers Ponds and Lakes It provides habitats (homes) for many organisms from algae to bears.

What is the difference between streams/rivers and ponds/lakes? Streams/rivers are moving waters while ponds/lakes are bodies of standing, or still, water.

Streams A stream starts at a mountain. Animals are adapted to a strong current. Insects and other animals have hooks to help them to cling to rocks. Fish have streamlined body in order to swim in the strong current.

Rivers A river is a collection of several streams joined together. It’s wide and cloudy than a stream. Plants can grow at the bottom of the river. Insects eat these plants. Frogs and their tadpoles live there.

Ponds Ponds are shallow bodies of water in where sunlight easily goes through it. Algae often float on the surface. Dragonflies, turtles, snails and frogs are common animals.

Lakes Lakes are bigger and deeper than ponds. Many different animals live in lakes such as carp, trout, bass (fish), bullfrogs, pelican, platypus etc.

Marine Ecosystems (salt water) ESTUARY- is a place where the fresh water of a river meets the salt water of the ocean.

Estuary Plants: algae, marsh grasses Animals: crabs, worms, clams, fish Estuary is often a breeding place for many animals.

Marine Ecosystem Intertidal Zone Neritic Zone

Intertidal Zone It is the shore water that extends between the high and low tide line. Animals here are barnacles, sea starts clinging to the rocks. Others, such as clams and crabs, burrow in the sand.

Neritic Zone The neritic zone is a shallow water that has a lot of sunlight going through it. Because of that, photosynthesis happens there; thus, a variety of different plants/animals live there.

The Open Ocean The lights goes through a few hundred meters of water. Algae is the most often seen there, and animals such as tuna, swordfish and some whales, depend on algae for food.

The deep ocean The deep ocean has no sunlight. It’s almost dark. They have weird fish with lights (spider pig fish) or glowing eyes (giant quid).

Section 2.5 Assessment 1a. Name two major types of aquatic ecosystems. 1b. Why is sunglight an important abiotic factors in all aquatic ecosystems? 1c. Would you expect to find many organisms living at the bottom of a deep lake? Explain.

Lab: “Change in a tiny community” pg 74 Problem: how does a pond community change over time? Do the lab and answer questions in the conclusion part.