Aquatic Ecosystem

Salinity: Saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of water or in the soil. Plankton: Organisms that live in the water column and are incapable of swimming against a current. Provide crucial source of food to many larger marine organism. Nekton: Aggregate of actively swimming aquatic organisms in a body of water and able to move independently of water currents. Benthos: Community of organisms that live on, in or near the seabed also known as benthic zone. Live in or near marine sedimentary environment from tidal pools along the foreshore. Littoral Zone: Part of a sea, lake or river that is close to the shore. Coastal environment the littoral zone extends from the high water mark, ravels inundated to shoreline areas that are parentally submerged. Always includes the intertidal zone and is often used to mean the same as the intertidal zone. Benthic Zone: Ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean or a lake, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. Organisms living I this zone are called benthos. Generally live in close relationship with the substance bottom. Eutrophication: Ecosystems response to the addition of artificial or natural substance through fertilizers or sewage to an aquatic system. River source: Upriver refers to the direction leading to the source of the river which is against the direction of flow. River course: Downriver describes the direction towards the mouth of the river, in which the current flows. River mouth: Part of a stream where it flows into another stream, river, lake, reservoir, sea or ocean. At the mouth of a river a delta (change) can form causing sediment pileup. A river can flow into a lake, sea, or into an ocean. Marsh: Type of wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species. Found at the edges of lakes and streams where they form a transition between the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem. Swamp: Wetland that is forested. Many swamps occur along large rivers, where they are critically fluctuations. Other swamps occur on the shores of large lakes. Bog: Wetland that accumulates peat, a deposit of dead plant material. It is one of the 4 main types of wetlands. Occurs where the water at the ground surface is acidic and low in nutrients.

Lagoon: Shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by barrier islands or reefs. Commonly divided into coastal lagoons and atoll lagoons overlap between bodies of water classified as coastal lagoons and bodies of water classified as estuaries. Lagoons are common coastal features around the world. Estuary: Form a transition zone between river environments and ocean environments and are subjects to both marine influences. Inflow of both seawater and freshwater provide high levels of nutrients in both the water column and sediment making estuaries among the most productive natural habitats in the world. Abundance: Extremely plentiful or over sufficient quantity or supply. Diversity: The condition of having or being composed of different elements. Watershed: Carries water "shed" from the land after rain falls and snow melts. Drop by drop, water is channeled into soils, groundwater, creeks and streams making its way to larger rivers and eventually the sea. Hydrophytes: Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environment. Plants require special adaptation for living submerged in water or at the water's surface. Halophytes: Plant that grows in water or high salinity coming into contract with saline water through its roots or by salt spray such as in saline semi-desert, mangrove, swamps, marshes and seashores.

Critical Thinking

1. What are the three important benefits (ecosystem service) provided by wetlands? 1) Source of lucrative harvest of wild rice, fish and shellfish. 2) Limit the damage effects of waves. 3) Convey and store floodwaters, trap sediment and reduce pollution 2. What causes high and low tides? It is caused by the gravitational force by the Moon and the Sun, the rotation of the Earth. Some places experience 2 high and 2 low tides each day called a semi-diurnal tide. While others experience only 1 high and 1 low tide called a diurnal tide. Experience 2 uneven tides a day or sometimes one high and one low each day called a mixed tide. 3. Where would you find an estuary? Estuary is found in a coastal area where freshwater from rivers and streams mixes with saltwater. Shore and sea birds, fish, crabs, lobster, clam, shellfish, raccoons, opossums and skunks.

4. What is the definition of freshwater? Water that is not salty especially when considered as a natural resource. 5. The mouth of a river can sometimes become "murky" because of all the sediments that are washed downstream. Name 3 problems caused by "murkiness". 1) The decreasing amount of light 2) Less light, less diversity of flora 3) Fish require less oxygen that can be found. 6. Name 2 types of fish that can live in low oxygen environment? Beta, fighting fish 7. Explain why reefs are so important to preserve? What are some of the dangers to coral reefs? Coral reefs are important for many reasons such as breeding grounds for many fishes, they also buffer shorelines against waves, storms and floods which are essential since many things could be damaged. Some dangers to coral reefs would be water pollution as well as global climate change. 8. There are three different types of marine reef environment. Define the following: Fringing Reef: Directly attached to a shore or borders it with an intervening shallow channel or lagoon. Barrier Reef: Reef separated from the main land or island shore by a deep channel or lagoon. Atoll Reef: More or less circular or continues barrier reef extends all the way around a lagoon without a central island. Coral Reef: Underwater structures that are made from calcium carbonate by corals.

9. Define the following: Intertidal: Area above the water at low tide and underwater at high tide. Pelagic: Water in a sea or lake that is neither close to the bottom nor near the shore. Abyssal: Pelagic zone that contains the very deep benthic communities near the bottom of the oceans. Benthic: Ecological region at the lowest level of body water such as an ocean or lake. 1. What is winterkill in a lake? Winterkill occurs in frozen lakes and ponds where the exchange of gases between the water below the ice and the air above is not enough to maintain oxygen levels that support fish. Oxygen normally enters the water of a frozen lake through the INS let

water streams, crack in the ice and slow diffusion though the ice. Thick snow covered on a lake can reduce the amount of oxygen passing through the ice. 2. Describe the differences in the types of food webs found in the two ocean light zones, euphotic and aphotic? In the euphotic zone there are algae, phytoplankton, plants, sharks, rays. While in the aphotic zone there are bivalves, bony fishes and organisms such as clam. The initial energy comes from sunlight, the energy that plants use to do photosynthesis that eventually gets eaten by the primary consumers.

3. Explain how lakes turn-over yearly and what this process causes. Name one positive and one negative aspect of turn-over? The process of a lake is when water turning over form the top to the bottom. During the summer the top is warmer due to the heat of the Sun, the deepest layer is the bottom. During the fall, the warm surfaces cools down when the water cools down, it become denser causing it to sink. The dense water forces the water of the bottom to rise "turning-over" the layers.

4. Define the following:

Littoral Zone: Part of the sea or lake that close to the shore. Limnetic Zone: Well-lit, open surface water in a lake away from vegetation. Profoundly Zone: Deep zone of an island body of freestanding water. Name Coral Reef Sandy Beach Mangroves Beach Salt Marsh Mudflat Rocky Shore Location Tropical oceans near the equator Places like Hawaii In Florida Based on their physical setting Bays, lagoons, bayous Near the seacoast Physical Characteristics Surrounded by a sea of tentacles Lose sediments Shrubs growing in brackish to saline tidal water Salt, partial submersion and mud Bay mud exposed layers Solid bedrock very little sediment