Objectives

At the end of the lesson, the students

should be able to:

• distinguish the two categories of

Freshwater ecosystem;
• describe the three types of coral reef;
and
• explain the three main ecological group;
 Aquatic Biome
• it makes up the largest part of the
biosphere
• There are two main types of Aquatic
Biomes:
1.Freshwater
2. Marine
• High biodiversity
• The amount of dissolved materials present
• The depth of water
• The availability and quality of light
• The nature of the bottom substrate
• Water temperature and circulating System
Three Main Ecological Groups
1. Plankton
– organisms incapable of
swimming from current
system to another
current system
(floating)

Two Major Categories

1. Phytoplankton- plant
plankton
2. Zooplankton- animal
plankton
Three Main Ecological Groups
• 2. Nekton
- stronger swimming
species that are capable of
swimming between
current system

Examples: fishes, squids and

whales
Three Main Ecological groups
3. Benthos
- attached organisms
or resting on bottom
mostly filter feeders

Examples: seaweeds,
barnacles and lobsters
 FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEM

• It makes up only 0.01% of the worlds water

and approximately 0.08% of earth’s surface
• Have a salt concentration of less than 1%,
• Covers Ponds ,lakes streams and rivers
 Two distinct categories of Freshwater
Ecosystem
1. Lotic System
- Running water
- It includes streams
and rivers
2. Lentic System
- Calm water
- includes Lakes and ponds
 Streams and Rivers (LOTIC SYSTEM)
• These are bodies of
flowing water
moving in one
direction
• has higher oxygen
levels
3 DIFFERENT ZONES IN LOTIC SYSTEM
1. Littoral zone
- shoreline, shallow
water region with light
penetrating up to
bottom with rooted
plants
2. Limnetic
- open water zone to
depth of effective light
penetration
3. Profundal
- bottom and deep
water area beyond
effective light
penetration ( absent in
ponds)
 PONDS AND LAKES

• These regions range in

size from just a few
square meters to
thousands of square
kilometers.
• Ponds and lakes may
have limited species
diversity since they are
often isolated from one
another
Classification of Lake

1. Eutrophic lakes
- well nourished lake
- shallow
- very poor visibility
2. Oligotrophic Lakes
- a poorly nourished
lake
- Often deep w/ deep
banks
3. Mesotrophic Lake
- lake with moderate
supply
-these are lakes that fall
between two extreme
of nutrient enrichment
 WETLANDS

• Wetlands are areas of standing water that

support aquatic plants
Many species of amphibians, reptiles, birds
• (such as ducks and waders), and furbearers can
be found in the wetlands
 MARINE ECOSYSTEM
• The largest of all the ecosystems
• Oceans are very large bodies of water that
dominate the Earth's surface.
• Ocean contains the richest diversity of species
even though it contains fewer species than
there are on land.
 4 ZONES
1. Intertidal zone
- is where the ocean
meets the land —
sometimes it is
submerged and at
other times
exposed, as waves
and tides come in
and out
2. Pelagic zone
-includes those
waters further from
the land, basically
the open ocean
3. Benthic zone
- is the area
below the pelagic
zone, but does
not include the
very deepest
parts of the ocean
4.Abyssal zone
-deep ocean
-The water in this
region is very cold
(around 3° C),
highly pressured,
high in oxygen
content, but low in
nutritional content
 CORAL REEFS
• Sometimes called
“Tropical Rainforest of
the Ocean”
• They can be found as
barriers along
continents
• Highly diverse in species
 3 TYPES OF CORAL REEFS
1. FRINGING REEFS
-coral reefs that are
close to the shore,
separated by low
waters
2. BARRIER REEFS
-Reefs that are at least
10 kilometers away
from land are called
barrier reefs.
3. ATOLL REEFS
-A circular coral island
that is far away from
land is called an atoll
- Atolls form when
coral develops on a
volcanic island that has
sunk below the water
 ESTUARIES
• Are areas where
freshwater streams or
rivers merge with the
Ocean
• Microflora like algae,
and macroflora, such as
seaweeds, marsh
grasses, and mangrove
trees (only in the
tropics), can be found
here.
• Estuaries support a
diverse fauna, including
a variety of worms,
oysters, crabs, and
waterfowl.
THANK YOU