FRESHWATER BIOMES

DR. SURJYA KUMAR SAIKIA

DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY
VISVA-BHARATI

snappygoat.com
 Objectives
1)To provide a description of major
freshwater aquatic ecosystems of the world

2)To know different principle characteristics,

types and nature of freshwater aquatic
ecosystems.

3)To name types of freshwater ecosystem,

and describe how they differ from one
another
What we know…
 FRESHWATER BIOMES

• 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

• The water of ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers,
icebergs, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams,
and groundwater are freshwater because these
water bodies characterized by having a low
concentration of salt and other dissolved solids.
 Main Biological Groups of Aquatic Ecosystem

Freshwater organisms

Plankton Nekton Benthos Periphyton Neuston

 1.Plankton

– Floating micro-organisms
incapable of freely swimming
in the water

- Two Major Planktonic Categories

(a) Phytoplankton- plant plankton
(b) Zooplankton- animal plankton
Commonwikimedia.com
 2. Nekton

- stronger swimming species

that are capable of swimming
between current system

- actively-swimming
organisms that swim against
the water currents at their
will
 3. Benthos

- Organisms that live on

the bottom of, on solid
surfaces of, or on other
substrata in aquatic and
marine ecosystems
 4. Periphyton
- Organisms (such as some - A mixture of autotrophic
algae) that live attached to and heterotrophic
underwater surfaces microorganisms
 5. Neuston

- Organisms resting or
swimming in the surface

- float on the top of water

(epineuston) or live just
below the surface
(hyponeuston). Water strider
 Neuston

Periphyton

Commonwikimedia.org
Two distinct categories of Freshwater Ecosystem

1. Lentic System
-Calm water
-includes Lakes
and ponds
Pickpik.com

2. Lotic System
-Running water
-It includes
streams and flickr.com

rivers
 Lentic Systems
 Lentic ecosystem are also called the
lacustrine ecosystem or the still water ecosystem)

 This includes all non-flowing water bodies such as

ponds, swamps, bogs, lagoons, lakes and so on. It
also includes wetlands (areas of land that get
covered with water periodically).

 Lentic ecosystems usually do not have a source, as

they form in places where the groundwater
reaches the earth's surface.
 PONDS AND LAKES

A mountain A pond
pond

Ponds are generally In lakes, at least some of the

smaller than lakes and water is too deep for sunlight to
penetrate. As a result, like the
shallow enough for
ocean, lakes can be divided into
sunlight to reach all the zones based on availability of
way to the bottom. sunlight for producers.
 DIFFERENTZONESIN LENTICSYSTEM

Littoral zone
- shoreline, shallow water region
withlight penetrating up to
bottom with rooted plants

Limnetic
- open water zone to depth of
effectivelight penetration

Profundal
- bottom and deep water area
beyond effective light
penetration ( absent in ponds)
 Courtesy: mltnews.com*

*Used only for educational purpose

Courtesy: Vermont Department of

Environmental Conservation*
 WETLANDASLENTICSYSTEM
WETLANDS
Wetlands are areas of
standing
• water that
support aquatic plants
Many species of
amphibians,
• reptiles,
birds (such as ducks and
waders), and fur bearers
can be found in the
wetlands
 Lotic Systems

Pixabay.com

 The term lotic represents running water, where the entire

body of water moves in a definite direction

 These may comprise brooks, streams, rivers and springs.

 In the lotic habitats, the water moves continually in one

direction. The lotic bodies have water sources.
 Two major types of Lotic systems

Rivers
• River forms from water moving from a higher
elevation to a lower elevation, all due to gravity

Streams
• A stream is a body of water that flows from higher
elevation to lower elevation, comparatively
smaller than river.

Creek is a shallow stream of water

 LOTICSYSTEM
Streams and Rivers
 These are bodies of
flowing water moving in
one direction and has
higher oxygen levels
 Abiotic features of rivers
and streams vary along
the length of the river or
stream.
 Based on origin, these are
classified as river order or
stream order.
Zones in Lotic Ecosystem

www.pbslearningmedia.org

This slide is used only for academic purpose

 What we have learnt….

1) Biological groups of water bodies are plankton, nekton,

Periphyton, Neuston and benthos.

2) There are two distinct groups of freshwater ecosystems- (a)

Lotic Ecosystem and (b) Lentic Ecosystem

3) Every freshwater ecosystem has its own divisions and

characteristic features.