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Aquatic life
About two-thirds of the Earth is covered in water, this supports
a huge variety of living organisms.
Life in water is very different from life on land. There are
several advantages of living in an aquatic environment,
these include:
 low risk of dehydration
 easy disposal of
waste products
 less variation in temperature,
in large volumes of water
 water provides physical
support, allowing organisms
to grow bigger.

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Disadvantages of life in water
There are also disadvantages of living in an aquatic
environment:
 Water resistance can make it hard for aquatic organisms
to move around easily.

 Regulating water content

can be challenging for
aquatic organisms. In
certain types of aquatic
environments water can
move into an organism
from the surroundings by
the process of osmosis.

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Controlling water content – amoeba

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Controlling water content – salmon

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On land and in water
Some animals live both on land and in water. This allows
them to exploit the benefit of both habitats.
In the early larval stage some
amphibians, such as frogs live
in water. They lack legs and
breath using gills. As they grow,
legs develop, the gills are
replaced with lungs and a
digestive system adapted to a
carnivorous diet develops,
allowing them to live on land.
Some insects also spend their larval stage in the water and
an adult stage on land.

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True or false?

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What is plankton?
Plankton are microscopic aquatic organisms.
There are two types of plankton:

Phytoplankton – microscopic plants

that use photosynthesis to produce
food. Phytoplankton are important
producers in marine ecosystems.

Zooplankton – microscopic animals

that include the larva of larger
animals, such as crustaceans.

Plankton rely on water currents to

move around as they have limited
movement.

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Variations in plankton populations
Phytoplankton populations show seasonal and geographical
variations. This can be due to:
 availability of nitrates
and phosphates
– essential to growth

 light intensity – affects

the rate of photosynthesis

 temperature – affects the

rate of photosynthesis.
Zooplankton feed on phytoplankton, so the population of
zooplankton will also display variations.

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Where are plankton found?

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Algal blooms
When sunlight and nutrients are readily available to
phytoplankton, populations will increase rapidly causing an
algal bloom. This can occur on a small scale or cover
hundreds of square kilometres of the ocean’s surface.

The large amount of

phytoplankton can cause
a change in the colour of
the water in the area.

An algal bloom is
normally due to a
seasonal abundance
of nutrients.

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Where are plankton in the food chain?
producers Phytoplankton are the
producers in nearly all
aquatic food chains.
primary
consumers
Phytoplankton are grazed
upon by zooplankton, which
secondary in turn are food for fish,
consumers shark, shellfish and whales.

tertiary How do you think

consumers seasonal variations
in phytoplankton could
affect the rest of the
quaternary food chain?
consumers
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Phytoplankton and the carbon cycle
Marine phytoplankton account for about 50% of the global
biological uptake of carbon dioxide. They absorb carbon
dioxide and release oxygen during the process of
photosynthesis.

Plankton use carbon to

produce calcium carbonate
(CaCO3) shells. When CO2 O2
plankton die, their shells sink
to the ocean floor and are
buried in the sediment. Over
time this can form limestone,
which acts as a long-term CaCO3
carbon store.

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Which type of plankton?

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What causes water pollution?
Rivers and oceans are often used to dispose of waste.
This can cause extensive damage to aquatic life.
Substances dumped at sea include sewage, oil,
industrial chemicals, fuels, plastics, and disused ships.

Substances used on
land, such as pesticides
and fertilizers can be
washed into rivers and
oceans causing damage
to ecosystems.

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The effect of sewage and fertilizer

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Eutrophication

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Pollutants in the food chain

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Types of pollutant
Some pollutants can build up in food chains, causing
harm to aquatic organisms. These chemicals tend to
be very stable compounds that are not easily broken
down in the natural environment.

 PCBs are chemicals used in coolants and insulating fluids

in electrical equipment. Their use was banned in 1978.

 DDT is a chemical that was widely used as an insecticide,

helping to control populations of disease carrying insects.
It was banned in 1972.
It is thought that these chemicals can cause a variety of
problems in higher animals, affecting the immune system,
growth and reproduction.

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Which concentration?

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Biological indicators

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Using indicator species

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Glossary

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Anagrams

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Multiple-choice quiz

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