Name: Loren Mae Detalo Date: December 7, 2022

Course/Year: BSEM 3 Environment Science

ACTIVITY 8
Aquatic Ecosystems

1. List and define the six main abiotic factors that influence life in aquatic ecosystems.
a. Nutrients (nitrates/phosphates) - Phosphates and nitrates are all around us –naturally occurring
and man-made. They are essential to plant and animal life and our planet would be a very barren
and unwelcoming place without them.
b. Availability of Dissolved Oxygen Gas in water - the amount of oxygen available to living
aquatic organisms.
c. Turbidity - the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual
particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air.
d. Water Temp - a physical property expressing how hot or cold water is.
e. Amount of Sunlight - the light and energy that comes from the Sun.
f. Salinity - the amount of dissolved salts that are present in water.

2. Define each of these types of living organisms in aquatic ecosystems.

a. Plankton - An organism is considered plankton if it is carried by tides and currents, and
cannot swim well enough to move against these forces.
i. Phytoplankton - the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a
key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems.
ii. Zooplankton - very small animals that float near the surface of water.
b. Nekton - the assemblage of pelagic animals that swim freely, independent of water motion or
wind.
c. Benthos - the assemblage of organisms inhabiting the seafloor.
d. Decomposers - organism that breaks down dead organic material

Freshwater Lakes
3. What do all lakes and ponds have in common?
- Ponds and lakes are both inland bodies of freshwater that contain living creatures.

a. Define emergent vegetation – Emergent plants are rooted in the lake bottom, but their leaves
and stems extend out of the water.

4. Describe each of these zones of freshwater lakes:

a. Littoral zone – is the part of a sea, lake or river that is close to the shore. In coastal
environment the littoral zone extends from the high water mark, which is rarely inundated, to
shoreline areas that are permanently submerged.

b. Limnetic zone – is the open and well-lit area of a freestanding body of freshwater, such as
a lake or pond.

c. Profundal zone – is a deep zone of an inland body of freestanding water, such as a lake or
pond, located below the range of effective light penetration.

d. Benthic zone – is the lowest ecological zone in a water body, and usually involves the
sediments at the seafloor.

5. Food webs in benthic and profundal zones are based on detritus. What is it?
- Detritus is dead matter and waste that falls down from above.

6. Label the littoral, limnetic, profundal, and benthic zone in this diagram.

Littoral zone

Open-water Zone (Photic Zone)

Deep-water Zone (Aphotic Zone)
7. Lake can be classified based on their NUTRIENT levels and biological PRODUCTIVITY.

a. Define oligotrophic lakes – Oligotrophic lakes are those that are unproductive: net primary
production is only between 50 and 100 milligrams of carbon per square metre per day, nutrients
are in poor supply, and secondary production is depressed.

b. Define eutrophic lakes – A eutrophic lake is typically shallow with a soft and mucky bottom.
Rooted plant growth is abundant along the shore and out into the lake, and algal blooms are not
unusual.

Rivers and Streams

8. Define stream – A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and
banks of a channel.

9. How do rivers form?

- A river forms from water moving from a higher elevation to a lower elevation, all due to
gravity.

10. Describe the temperature, oxygen level, and nutrient level of water in the source of a
river:
- Experience wide, slow-moving rivers that will occasionally flood and deposit material
upstream.

11. Describe the temperature, oxygen level, and nutrient level of water in the transition
zone of a river:
- The streams widen, become deeper, and are warmed by the sun.

a. What happens in the floodplains?

- Changing Nature of Floodplains. Floodplains are neither static nor stable. Composed of
unconsolidated sediments, they are rapidly eroded during floods and high flows of water, or they
may be the site on which new layers of mud, sand, and silt are deposited.

12. What kind of water is found near the mouth of a river?

-  Estuaries are home to unique plant and animal communities that have adapted to brackish
water a mixture of fresh water draining from the land and salty seawater.

Freshwater Inland Wetlands

13. What is a freshwater wetland?

- are ecosystems that are affected by permanent or temporary inundation. 

14. Define each of these wetlands:

a. Marsh – is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.

b. Swamp – A swamp is a forested wetland. Swamps are considered to be transition zones

because both land and water play a role in creating this environment.

c. Bog – A bog or bog land is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant
materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands.

i. What effect does the acidic water in a bog have on the rest of the ecosystem?
- The combination of lack of oxygen, lack of minerals, and highly acidic condition
greatly retards the action of bacteria and fungi, the usual decay organisms.

Marine Wetlands
15. Where are marine ecosystems found?
- Marine ecosystems are aquatic environments with high levels of dissolved salt. These
include the open ocean, the deep-sea ocean, and coastal marine ecosystems, each of which has
different physical and biological characteristics.

16. Define each of these coastal wetlands:

a. Delta - Delta's most common meaning is that of difference or change in something. Usually,
you will hear or see it as delta y, delta t, delta x, etc. Delta occurs most often when you are
working with speed or acceleration or anything that changes. The slope of a line, for example,
can be spoken of as delta y over delta x.
b. Estuary - An estuary is an area where a freshwater river or stream meets the ocean. In
estuaries, the salty ocean mixes with a freshwater river, resulting in brackish water. Brackish
water is somewhat salty, but not as salty as the ocean. An estuary may also be called a bay,
lagoon, sound, or slough.
c. Salt marsh - Salt marshes are coastal wetlands that are flooded and drained by salt water
brought in by the tides.
d. Sea grass bed - A seagrass meadow or seagrass bed is an underwater ecosystem formed by
seagrasses. Seagrasses are marine plants found in shallow coastal waters and in the brackish
waters of estuaries. Seagrasses are flowering plants with stems and long green, grass-like leaves.
e. Mangrove forest - Mangroves are a group of trees and shrubs that live in the coastal intertidal
zone. Mangrove forest in Loxahatchee, Florida. There are about 80 different species of mangrove
trees. All of these trees grow in areas with low-oxygen soil, where slow-moving waters allow
fine sediments to accumulate.

17. Describe each of the three ecosystem services provided by wetlands.

a. Biodiversity - Biodiversity is a term used to describe the enormous variety of life on Earth. It
can be used more specifically to refer to all of the species in one region or ecosystem.
b. Flood Control - Flood control refers to all methods used to reduce or prevent the detrimental
effects of flood waters.
c. Pollution Control - Pollution control is the process of reducing or eliminating the release of
pollutants into the environment. It is regulated by various environmental agencies which
establish pollutant discharge limits for air, water, and land.
Marine Aquatic Zones

18. Label each of the marine aquatic zones in this diagram.

Intertidal Zone
Coastal Zone Oceanic Zone
Photic Zone
Pelagic zone
Benthic Zone Aphotic Zone

Abyssal Plain

19. Where is the coastal zone found?

- The coastal zone is an interface between the land and sea, which comprised of a continuum of
coastal land, intertidal area, aquatic systems including the network of rivers and estuaries,
islands, transitional and intertidal areas, salt marshes, wetlands, and beaches (Cicin-Sain and
Knecht, 1998).

a. Why is life so plentiful in this zone compared to others in the ocean?

- The neritic zone describes coastal marine regions. The neritic zone is particularly rich with life
because the relatively shallow water allows for plentiful photosynthesis, and because a steady
flow of nutrients is washed into the water from land.

20. Where are rocky shores found?

- Rocky shores are found where the sea meets the land.

21. Where are sandy shores found?

- Sandy shores appear as beaches in enclosed bays between rocky headlands or as long stretches
of sand adjacent to coastal dune systems or sandy spits.

22. Give the material present in each type of sandy shore.

a. Black sand – Black sand is sand that is black in color. One type of black sand is a heavy,
glossy, partly magnetic mixture of usually fine sands containing minerals such as magnetite,
found as part of a placer deposit.
b. Brown sand – Once they make it to the ocean, they further erode from the constant action of
waves and tides. The tan color of most sand beaches is the result of iron oxide, which tints quartz
a light brown, and feldspar, which is brown to tan in its original form.
c. White sand – The sands of White Sands National Monument are formed from gypsum, a soft
mineral often left behind when water bodies evaporate. Although gypsum is a fairly common
mineral, it is rarely found as sand because it easily dissolves in water, and rivers generally carry
dissolved gypsum to the sea.

23. What is the intertidal zone?

-  is the area where the ocean meets the land between high and low tides. A tide pool within
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

a. What causes the tides?

- They are caused by the gravitational forces exerted on the earth by the moon, and to a lesser
extent, the sun.

b. What is tidal range?

-  is the vertical distance through which the tide rises and falls, the difference in water height
between low tide and high tide, or, quite simply, the “size” of tide. 

24. What are shallow seas?

- Shallow seas are defined as marginal or inland extensions of ocean with average depths of
about 200 m.

25. What are coral reefs?

- Coral reefs are made up of colonies of hundreds to thousands of tiny individual corals, called
polyps.

26. What is the open ocean?

- The pelagic zone, also known as the open ocean, is the area of the ocean outside of coastal
areas.

a. Why is life so limited in the open ocean?

- Because there is not enough light for photosynthesis to take place, no plants live there. Animals
living in the twilight zone have adapted to life in the dimly lit waters.

27. Describe each zone of the open ocean:

a. Photic/sunlight zone – Photic Zone is the top layer, nearest the surface of the ocean and is
also called the sunlight layer. In this zone enough light penetrates the water to allow
photosynthesis.

b. Dysphotic/twilight zone – Dysphotic Zone (Twilight Zone or Mesopelagic Zone) The area
between 200 and 1,000 meters (656 and 3,280 feet) is the dysphotic zone.

c. Aphotic/midnight zone – The Midnight Zone (Aphotic Zone) From 3,280 feet to about
13,135 feet is the midnight zone, which, hence the name, doesn't have any sunlight.

28. What does it mean to be bioluminescent?

- Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by living organisms. It is a form of
chemiluminescence.

a. How is this a helpful adaptation for some species?

- Adaptation can protect animals from predators or from harsh weather. Many birds can hide in
the tall grass and weeds and insects can change their colour to blend into the surroundings. 

29. What is the abyssal plain?

- Abyssal plain, flat seafloor area at an abyssal depth (3000 to 6000 m [10000 to 20000 feet]),
generally adjacent to a continent.

a. What are food webs in this part of the ocean based on?
- Phytoplankton and algae form the bases of aquatic food webs. They are eaten by primary
consumers like zooplankton, small fish, and crustaceans. Primary consumers are in turn eaten by
fish, small sharks, corals, and baleen whales.

b. What is marine snow?

- In the deep ocean, marine snow is a continuous shower of mostly organic detritus falling from
the upper layers of the water column.

30. What are hydrothermal vents?

- A hydrothermal vent is a fissure on the seabed from which geothermally heated water
discharges. They are commonly found near volcanically active places, areas where tectonic
plates are moving apart at mid-ocean ridges, ocean basins, and hotspots. 

a. What process do organisms use for energy here?

- Metabolism is the set of life-sustaining chemical processes that enables organisms transform
the chemical energy stored in molecules into energy that can be used for cellular processes.