1. Most of the Earth Is Covered with Water
Aquatic life zones
Saltwater: marine
Oceans and estuaries
Coastlands and shorelines
Coral reefs
Mangrove forests
Freshwater
Lakes
Rivers and streams
Inland wetlands

2. Two Major types of Aquatic Zones
The world’s salt water and freshwater aquatic system accounts for 71% of the earth’s surface.
Scarcity of Water
But Not a Drop
to Drink
But not a Drop to drink demo
Saltwater makes up 97.5 % of the water on the planet.
Freshwater makes up 2.5% of the water on the planet
Of Freshwater: 74% glaciers 26% liquid
Of Liquid: 98.4% groundwater,1.4% rivers, streams, and lakes and 0.2% atmosphere

3. Aquatic Ecosystems
Aquatic ecosystems are defined by their salinity, chemistry, geography, depth, flow, light conditions, and water temperature.
The two main types of aquatic ecosystems are marine ecosystems and freshwater ecosystems
Each ecosystem has its own properties and organisms.

4. How much water is there?
Credit: Illustration by Jack Cook, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (©); Howard Perlman, USGS.
jill
Water Planet activity w/ Globe ball activity
Slide 4
All of Earth's Water in a Single Sphere
This picture shows the size of a sphere that would contain all of Earth's water in comparison to the size of the Earth. The blue sphere sitting on the United States, reaching from about Salt Lake City, Utah to Topeka, Kansas, has a diameter of about 860 miles (about 1,385 kilometers) , with a volume of about 332,500,000 cubic miles (1,386,000,000 cubic kilometers). The sphere includes all the water in the oceans, seas, ice caps, lakes and rivers as well as groundwater, atmospheric water, and even the water in you, your dog, and your tomato plant.

5. Image: © United States Department of Agriculture.
Marine and freshwater biomes contain many different types of habitats, from forest bogs to abyssal zones in the deep oceans.

6. Freshwater Communities ponds and lakes
Littoral zone are shallow zones near the shore- aquatic plants live along various predatory insects, amphibians and small fish.
Limnetic zone refers to the area farthest away from shore but at the surface- floating algae, zooplankton and fish
Profundal zone is a deep-water zone that is below the limits of effective light penetration- bacteria and worm-like organisms eat debris on lakes bottom
Items will not require the identification of oceanic zones
Slide 6

7. Dept of Natural Resources – wildlife resources division, Aquatic Education Program
Slide 7

8. Flowing-water ecosystems- Rivers and streams: organisms are adapted to seasonal change in water levels and rate of flow. Many have adaptations that help them avoid being washed downstream.
Wetland communities- swamps, marshes, bogs, and other communities- very productive
Slide 8

9. Wetland communities Wetlands Marsh Bogs in Tundra
Marsh Pic- Credit: Tom Blagden, Jr.
Wetland pic-
Bogs
Slide 10

10. Salinity Seawater contains a variety of dissolved solids Solutes
Salinity is measured:
Conductivity of Cl-
Refractometer
slide 11 10

11. Slide 12 11

12. How Salinity Affects Marine Organisms
Most marine animals are adapted to a narrow salinity range
Changes is salinity affect organisms through osmosis
Hypertonic: water will flow into it across a semipermeable membrane
Hypotonic: water will leave the solution
Slide 13

13. Varying salinities determine the distribution and abundance of aquatic organisms around the world
Slide 14

14. How pH Affects Marine Organisms
pH is one of the stable measurements in seawater. Ocean water has an excellent buffering system with the interaction of carbon dioxide and water so that it is generally always at a pH of 7.5 to 8.5.
Slide 15

15. Shallow Ocean Water communities- small area but it is inhabited by a large number of species.
Fish are sensitive to changes in pH and would experience a decrease in numbers if a shift in the pH of the water occurred.
Intertidal- adapted to change in temperature, salinity and exposure to air during the tidal changes. Adapted to cling to rocks
Coral reef community- most diverse occurs in shallow tropic waters
Coastal zones of cooler waters – the world’s greatest fisheries
Slide 16
The pH of the water in several lakes in Norway and Sweden had decreased to below 5.0 due to an increase in acid rain. Which of the following is most likely to happen in these lakes?
A. the decline of several fish populations.
B. an increase in numbers of fish
C. an increase in the amount of primary producers
D. increased predator-prey relationships
E. I don’t know

16. Discuss adaptations of organisms living in each of the ecosystems

17. Estuaries and Coastal Wetlands Are Highly Productive
Important ecological and economic services
Coastal aquatic systems maintain water quality by filtering
Toxic pollutants
Excess plant nutrients
Sediments
Absorb other pollutants
Provide food, timber, fuelwood, and habitats
Reduce storm damage and coast erosion
Slide 18

18. Coastal Zone
The coastal zone makes up less than 10% of the world’s ocean but contains 90% of all marine species.
Warm, nutrient rich, shallow water
Extends from high tide mark to edge of the continental shelf
High productivity because of ample sunlight and plant nutrients flowing from the land
Slide 19

19. Coastal Ecosystems Estuaries- where the river meets the sea.
Temperature and salinity levels vary greatly
daily rhythms of the tides
seasonal variations in the flow of freshwater
Coastal wetlands lands covered with water all or part of the year
River mouths, inlets, bays, sounds, mangroves and saltwater marshes
Mangrove Swamps trees that can tolerate salt
Extensive roots that stabilize the substrate
Provides a nursery grounds for many invertebrates and fish
Slide 20

20. Reefs, and Mangroves 20 Coral reefs Mangroves Slide - 21
Ask what do you notice about the Reefs (red) location. Narrow rage of tolerance for Water temp. – need shallow clear waters
Mangroves? located in Tropical and Sub tropical areas
Coral reefs
Mangroves
Reefs, and Mangroves 20 20

21. Communities at the surface of the Open Sea
Diverse community of plankton
(bacteria, algae, fish larvae, and
small invertebrates)
Phytoplankton are primary producers that rely on the sun to carry out photosynthesis.
Zooplankton are a major source of food for small and large marine organisms
Slide 22
As increasing amount of carbon dioxide is sent into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels, the ocean absorbs more and more of the excess carbon. Some of the carbon reacts chemically in seawater to form an acid. The more carbon the ocean takes in, the more acidic the water becomes. If the water becomes too acidic, tiny organisms that make up plankton may not be able to make protective shells. One of the areas that would be greatly affected is the Antarctic. What effect, if any, might this harm to plankton have on Antarctic marine food web?
It would have no effect, because the organisms in plankton include algae, which do not have shells.
It would be beneficial, because consumers in the third trophic level could more easily eat zooplankton that does not have protective shells.
Damage to the Antarctic ecosystem would be extensive but could be repaired as new plankton drifts south to replace the plankton that died off.
The dying off of these tiny organisms would be disastrous, because zooplankton is a major source of food for small and large marine organisms.
I don’t know

22. Slide 23

23. The Great Plankton Race!
The Secret Life of Plankton

24. Goes with activity…..
Diatom

25. Open Ocean Water beyond the continental shelf
Light zones: Euphotic, Disphotic, Aphotic
Depth Zones: epipelagic, mesopelagic, bathypelagic, abyssolpelagic, hadalpelagic
Average primary productivity and NPP per unit of area are quite low except at an upwelling
Upwelling- where currents bring nutrients from the bottom to the surface where there is light
Slide 1

26. © 2004 Brooks/Cole – Thomson Learning
High tide
Pelagic Division
Depth in
meters
Sun
Low tide
Coastal Zone
Open Ocean Zone
Sea level 50
Epipelagic Zone
Euphotic
Estuarine
Zone
100
Continental
shelf
200
500
Bathyal Zone
Disphotic
1,000
1,500
Benthic Division
2,000
Abyssal Zone
3,000
4,000
Aphotic
5,000
10,000
© 2004 Brooks/Cole – Thomson Learning
Ocean Zones

27. Three layers of aquatic life zones
Euphotic zone-photosynthesis occurs
Dissolved oxygen high in the surface layer
CO2 levels are low
Disphotic zone- some light but not enough
for photosynthesis “twilight zone”
Aphotic Zone- No light
Lower levels of oxygen
No photosynthesis
CO2 levels are high due to anaerobic
respiration.
Why are there so few aquatic plants and phytoplankton that live at the bottom zones in the ocean?
A. The ocean floor contains many decomposers.
B. Most sunlight is absorbed before reaching these levels.
C. Water is a limiting factor.
D. The temperature in these zones is extremely low.
E. I don’t know

28. Light Absorption in the Ocean
Slide 4 28

29. Communities at the ocean depths
Total darkness, cold and under great amounts of pressure.
Diverse community of invertebrates and fishes.
Hydrothermal Vents- community that relies on bacteria that chemosynthesis
Some rely on Bioluminescence
Slide 5
Depths of Discovery – hydrothermal vents web quest

30. What kinds of organisms live in Aquatic Zones?
Plankton- drifters/floaters can not swim against a current include Phytoplankton, zooplankton to large jellyfish.
Nekton- swimmers include fish, turtles, and whales
Benthos- live in/on the bottom includes most invertebrates
Decomposers-break down the organic compounds in the dead bodies and wastes of aquatic organisms into simple nutrients compounds for use by producers includes bacteria and Fungi.
Slide 6 30

31. Key factors in the distribution of organisms
Temperature
Dissolved oxygen content
Availability of food
Availability of light and nutrients needed for photosynthesis in the euphotic, or photic, zone
Slide 7 31

32. How do these guys differ?
Temperature
At lower latitudes there is a capture of heat and at higher latitudes there is a loss of heat
This creates a temperature gradient for surface waters
Surface waters will fluctuate wildly at the mid-latitudes and almost remain constant at the poles and equator
Slide 8
How do these guys differ? 32

33. Ocean surface temperature strongly correlates with latitude.
Isotherms (lines of equal temperature) generally trend east-west except where deflected by currents.
Ocean currents carry warm water poleward on the western side of ocean basins and cooler water equatorward on the eastern side of the ocean.
Insolation and ocean-surface water temperature vary with the season.
Ocean temperature is highest in the tropics (25oC) and decreases poleward.
Slide 9
Insolation = amount of light striking Earth

34. Slide 10

35. Dissolved Oxygen (DO) Content
Amount of oxygen gas dissolved in a given volume of water at a particular temperature and pressure.
Limiting factor of aquatic ecosystem
Slide 12

36. Dissolved inorganic carbon in the oceans is 50 – 60 x greater than in the atmosphere
A small change in the ocean carbon cycle can result in a substantial change in the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere
Solubility of CO2 increases with decreasing temperature  solubility pump transfers CO2 to the deep sea during formation of cold deep water at high latitudes. (Link to physical process part of circulation)
At the same time, the biological pump removes carbon from surface waters by settling of organic and inorganic carbon derived from biological production in the deep sea (link to biological process)
Slide 13