1. Aquatics
Ecology meet 2012

2. Aquatic Ecology
Epilimnion: Winds tend to keep the surface water mixed, and this upper region of the lake is called the Epilimnion.
Thermocline: Below the mixing action of the wind and the penetration depth of the solar radiation, a strong temperature and accompanying density gradient develops; this region is called the thermocline.
Hypolimnion: The bottom region of the lake
Stratification: layers of water
Metalimnion: is the transition zone between the warm and cold water of the lake
Isothermal: if the water temperature of the lake is the same throughout

3. *From packet
Knowing the vertical stratification in a lake provides a better understanding of how lakes work in terms of chemistry, physics, and biology.
Dimictic: lakes that stratify twice a year; once in the winter and once in the summer
Monomictic:Lakes that stratify once a year
Amictic: Thermally stratified but doesn’t mix; ice cover protects lakes from mixing by the wind.
Polymictic: Frequently mix (Most shallow lakes frequently mix)
Meromictic: the top of the lake mixes, but it has a deep layer of nonmixing water

4. Wetlands Wetlands are Ecotones, or transitional areas.
They are normally located between a body of water and uplands. Land around them are either predominantly aquatic or mostly dry.
Ecotones often contain more plants and animals than the adjacent habitat found along their edges.
Wetlands are in every state of the US
There are 2 broad categories of wetlands:
Coastal Wetlands (Tidal wetlands)
Inland Wetlands (Non-Tidal wetlands)

5. Wetlands Estuary: Where fresh and saltwater mix
Salt marshes are generally found along the edge along the ocean
Inland wetlands can usually be found along rivers and streams, in depressions surrounded by dry land, and along the edges of lakes and ponds.
Inland wetlands include: marches, wet meadows, shrub swamps or wooded swamps
Some wetlands are hard to identify, due to the fact that they are dry during part of the year, or it’s hard see the moisture from a distance
All wetlands share 3 common characteristics:
1) Hydrology: Wetlands are periodically flooded with water
2) Soil: They have unique hydric soils(saturated most of the year
3) Vegetation: Wetlands support hydrophytes (plant species adapted to wet conditions

6. Wetlands
In the past, wetlands were considered wastelands- the source of mosquitoes, flies, diseases, and gross odors. As a result, more than ½ of America’s original wetlands were destroyed: drained for farmland, filled for residential and commercial use, and converted to landfills.
Through research, scientists know that wetlands are a valuable natural resource that provide many important benefits to people and wildlife; they improve water quality, reduce flood and storm damage, provide important habitat for fish/wildlife, and support recreational activities.
Wetlands are in most counties and climatic zone in the US
Wetlands are on every continent except Antarctica
Wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems in the world, comparable to rain forests and coral reefs
Physical and chemical features, such as climate, landscape shape, geology, and the movement and abundance of water, help to determine the plants and animals that can inhabit each wetland

7. Wetlands
Detritus- dead plant leaves and stems broken down in the water to form small particles of organic material
Wetlands play an integral role in the ecology of the watershed: the combination of shallow water, high levels of nutrients, and primary productivity, is ideal for the development of organisms at the base of the food web
Many species of birds and mammals rely on wetlands for food, water, and shelter, especially during migration and breeding
Wetlands store carbon in their plant communities and soil instead of releasing it to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide; thus, wetlands help moderate global climate conditions
Data from status and trends provide important long-term trend info about specific changes and places and the overall status of wetlands in the US

8. Water Pollution Over 2/3rds of earth’s surface is covered by water
With our growing population, we are putting more pressure on Earth’s water resources
Our oceans, rivers, and other inland waters are being squeezed by human activities- not so they take up less room, but so their quality is reduced.
Poorer water quality= Water pollution
Pollution is a human problem, because it’s a relatively recent development in history.
Water pollution is all about quantities

9. Water Pollution
Surface waters- oceans, lakes and rivers
Groundwater- water stored underground in aquifers
Point source pollution- you know EXACTLY where the pollution came from
Non-point source pollution- pollution from many scattered sources
Transboundary pollution- pollution in one place has an effect hundred or thousands of miles away
Two ways of measuring water quality:
Chemical indicators- if chemicals are too high
Biological indicators- what fish live in the water
Atmospheric deposition- chemicals released into the air and then fall back to earth in rain/acid rain entering seas, rivers, and lakes, causing water pollution

10. Water Pollution What are the causes of water pollution?
Sewage
Nutrients
Waste water
Chemical waste
Radioactive waste
Oil pollution
Plastics
Alien species- animals/plants from one region that have been introduced into an ecosystem where they don’t belong.
Thermal pollution- from factories/power plants cause problems by raising temperature, it reduced amount of dissolved oxygen in the water
Disruption of sediments(Fine-grained powders) that flow from rivers into the sea; Dams can reduce the sediment flow, which reduces formation of beaches and increases coastal erosion, and reduces the flow of nutrients from rivers to seas
How can we stop water pollution?
Education
Laws
Economics

11. Fish Anatomy Fish are cold-blooded, and have fins and a backbone.
The caudal fin (tail fin) is the main fin for moving forward
The dorsal(On top of fish) and anal(On bottom of fish) fins primarily help fish not to roll over onto their sides
The paired fins (Fins on the sides) help steer, stopping and hovering of the fish
Ctenoid scales- jagged edges
Cycloid scales- smooth, round edges
Ctenii- tiny, comb-like projections on the exposed edge of ctenoid scales
Operculum- gill cover
Piscivorous- eats mostly other fish

12. Fish Anatomy
Lateral line- a sensory organ consisting of fluid filled sacs with hair-like sensory apparatus that are open to the water through a series of pores
Lateral line primarily senses water currents and pressure, and movement in the water
The vent is the external opening to digestive urinary and reproductive tracts
Fish swim by contracting and relaxing a succession of muscle blocks, called myomeres, alternately on each side of the body
Otoliths- hard, calcium carbonate structures located directly behind the brain of bony fish
The age data gathered from otolith examinations allow scientists to model growth rates, max age, age at maturity, and trend of future generations
3 types of otoliths, all of which aid fish in balance and hearing
Sagitta- larges of the 3 otoliths; involved in detection of sound and process of hearing, or converting sound waves into electrical signals
Asteriscus- involved in the detection of sound and the process of hearing
Lapillus- Involved in the detection of gravitational force and sound

13. Aquatic Food Web
Chlorophyll- green chemical in plants that capture energy from the sun to make sugars
Photosynthesis- The process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize sugars from carbon dioxide and water.
Respiration- opposite of photosynthesis
Trophic levels- food levels
Nutrient cycling- continuous cycle of nutrients through an ecosysem
Carbon cycle- movement of carbon through the ecosystems
Extirpated- be no longer (in an ecosystem)

14. Aquatic Food Web
Biomagnification-Tendency of organisms to accumulate certain chemicals to a concentration larger than that occurring in their inorganic, nonliving environment, such as soil or water, or in the case of animals, larger than in their food.
Ecotoxicology-The study of the effects of toxic chemicals on organisms and ecosystems. Ecotoxicology considers both direct effects of toxic substances and also the indirect effects caused, for example, by changes in habitat structure or the abundance of food.
Food-web accumulation-Tendency of certain chemicals to occur in their largest concentration in predators at the top of the ecological food web. As such, chemicals such as DDT, PCBs, and mercury in the aquatic environment have their largest concentrations in predators, in comparison with the non-living environment, or with plants and herbivores.
Hyperaccumulation-A syndrome in which a chemical is bioaccumulated to an extraordinary degree.