[AQUATIC ECOLOGY] ALGAL BLOOM

Algal blooms can present problems for ecosystems and

human societyExample from a small mountain village near Chengdu, China, in 2005
Taken from orbit in October 2011, the worst algae bloom that
Lake Erie has experienced in decades. Record torrential springrains washed fertilizer into the lake, promoting the growth of microcystin-
producing cyanobacteria blooms.[1] .

Satellite image of phytoplankton swirling around

the Swedish island
of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, in 2005
An algae bloom off the southern coast of Devon and Cornwall

in England, in 1999

Red tide (NOAA)

Red tide in a harbor, Japan
 Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) bloom on Lake Erie in
2009
A dog swimming through an algal bloom.

An algal bloom on the Sassafras River,

a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay
HABs do not have to be clearly visible. This shows a bloom with
high cyanobacteria toxin levels (over 5 μ/l) yet the bloom is not easy to see.

Boaters in a freshwater algal bloom

2016 NASA imagery showing an algal bloom on Lake Okeechobee.
West costs algal bloom of 2015 which led to closing of fisheries Dead whale from an algal bloom

Massive fish die-off in Brazil

 Dead zone in the southern U.S

DEAD ZONE(ECOLOGY)

Red circles show the location and size of many dead zones.
Black dots show dead zones of unknown size.
The size and number of marine dead zones—areas where the deep water is so low in dissolved oxygen that sea creatures can't survive—have grown
explosively in the past half-century. – NASA Earth Observatory (2008)[1]

Dead zones are often caused by the decay of algae during algal blooms, like this one off the coast of La Jolla, San Diego, California.

Climate has a significant impact on the growth and decline of ecological dead zones. During spring months, as rainfall increases, more nutrient-rich
water flows down the mouth of the Mississippi River.[5] At the same time, as sunlight increases during the spring, algal growth in the dead zones
increases dramatically. In fall months, tropical storms begin to enter the Gulf of Mexico and break up the dead zones, and the cycle repeats again in
the spring.
Dead zones are bodies of water that do not have sufficient oxygen (3) levels in order to support most marine life. Dead zones are
caused by oxygen-depleting factors which include, but are not limited to, human pollution (4). This is a process called
eutrophication, where oxygen levels decrease as elements such nitrogen and phosphorus increase. A healthy river will have
increased amounts of oxygen for consumption by organisms (1). As nitrogen increases, algae (5) produce large amounts of
oxygen, but die from increased nitrogen. Decomposers then use all of the remaining oxygen decomposing the algae, resulting in
no oxygen left and no oxygen being produced. (2

AQUATIC BIOMES

Mangroves on the Kalang River at  A mangrove tree surrounded by its

Urunga, NSW, Australia pneumatophores, in Moreton Bay,
Queensland
 CONTINENTAL SHELF

Global continental shelf,

highlighted in light green

LAKE ECOSYSTEM

Fig. 2 Seasonal stratification in temperate lakes

Fig. 3 Illustration of Langmuir rotations; open circles=positively buoyant particles, closed circles=negatively buoyant particles
 Water striders are predatory insects which rely on surface tension to walk on top of water. They live on the surface of ponds,
marshes, and other quiet waters. They can move very quickly, up to 1.5 m/s

LITTORAL ZONE

The intertidal zone of a beach is also part of the

littoral zone.
The littoral zone of an ocean is the area close to the
shore and extending out to the edge of the continental shelf.

Estuaries are also in the littoral zone.

MANGROVE SWAMP MESOPELAGIC ZONE

Deep sea mysid, Gnathophausia spp.

Mangroves in Kannur, India
 Pelagic zones Helmet jellyfish, Periphylla periphylla

PELAGIC ECOSYS

Some representative ocean animals (not drawn to scale) within their approximate depth-defined ecological habitats. Marine
microorganisms also exist on the surfaces and within the tissues and organs of the diverse life inhabiting the ocean, across all
ocean habitats. The animals rooted to or living on the ocean floor are not pelagic but are benthic animals.[7]
 POLAR SEAS

Polar bear in Manitoba, Canada
The pelagic albatross ranges over huge areas of ocean
and can circle the globe.

Arctic Ocean Antarctic and Southern Ocean

TROPICAL SALT POND

Perseverance Bay Salt Pond, St. Thomas, USVI Oscillatoria Rotifera

Lumbricus terrestris, an earthworm White tentacle, Eupolymnia crasscornis Paragordius tricuspidatus,nematomorphan

Pseudoceros dimidiatus, a flatworm Cnidaria Cladocera

Ostracod Copepod Anostraca

Decapoda Ephydridae Corixidae

BRACKISH WATER
 CORAL REEF

Corals are animals and not plants. They can appear like plants because they are sessile and take root on the ocean floor. But
unlike plants, corals do not make their own food. [63]

FRESHWATER

Angel Falls in Venezuela is the world's tallest waterfall at 979 m (3,212 ft).

Hot Springs In Puchuldiza

[DESERT ECOLOGY] FLORA DESERTS

 Calligonum polygonoides Capparis deciduas

FAUNA DESERTS

Chinkara Indian desert jird

Chinkara from Thar Desert, Rajasthan, India From Tal Chhapar Sanctuary, Churu District, Rajasthan, India

FORESTS [NATIONAL]

Godumalai Forest
Reserve
Rio Preto National Forest Brazil

Northeast Ecological Corridor

Nature Reserve
Nanmangalam reserved forest
 RAINFORESTS
[Temperate]

Gondwana Rainforests of Australia

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Valdivian temperate forests (NT0404)

[Tropical]

South Western Ghats montane rain

forests

Mudumalai National Park

 Ecoregion territory (in purple)

[Urban Forest]
Denmark

Meadows and pastures cuts through Mollerup

Skov and presents a panoramic view across the broad and flat valley of Egådalen in the north.
Mollerup Skov at leaf fall.

UK Bridger–Teton National Forest

A path in the Hanger Hill Wood Green Lakes region of Bridger–Teton National Forest
 MANGROVES
[Mangrove fauna]

Lesser adjutant Mangrove cuckoo

Red mangrove crab

Neosarmatium meinerti

MANGROVE ECOREGIONS

Sundarbans

Deer and mangroves in the Sundarbans

 Location of the Sunderbans, spanning across the Ganges-
Brahmaputra delta

GREATER YELLOWSTONE ECOSYSTEM

Shoshone National Forest Yellowstone Caldera

The Francs
Peak is the tallest peak in the Absaroka Range
northeastern part of Yellowstone Caldera, with the Yellowstone River 

flowing through Hayden Valley and the caldera rim in the distance

 Continental shelf widths[10]

Active Active Passive Passive Total

Total
Margin Margin Margin Margin Margin
Ocean Margin
Mean Maximum Mean Maximum Maximum
Mean (km)
(km) (km) (km) (km) (km)

104.1 ±
Arctic Ocean 0 0 389 104.1 ± 1.7 389
1.7

Indian Ocean 19 ± 0.61 175 47.6 ± 0.8 238 37 ± 0.58 238

Mediterranea
n and Black 11 ± 0.29 79 38.7 ± 1.5 166 17 ± 0.44 166
Seas

North
115.7 ±
Atlantic 28 ± 1.08 259 434 85 ± 1.14 434
1.6
Ocean

North Pacific
39 ± 0.71 412 34.9 ± 1.2 114 39 ± 0.68 412
Ocean

South
123.0 ±
Atlantic 24 ± 2.6 55 453 104 ± 2.4 453
2.5
Ocean

South
214 ±
Pacific 357 96.1 ± 2.0 778 110 ± 1.92 778
2.86
Ocean

All Oceans 31 ± 0.4 412 88.2 ± 0.7 778 57 ± 0.41 778