Chapter 8

Aquatic Biodiversity
Core Case Study: Why Should We Care
about Coral Reefs?

• Biodiversity
• Coral reefs form in clear, warm coastal
waters in tropical areas
– Tiny animals (polyps) and algae have a
mutualistic relationship
– Polyps secrete calcium carbonate shells,
which become coral reefs

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Core Case Study: Why Should We Care
about Coral Reefs? (cont’d.)

• Provide important ecological and

economic services
• Vulnerable to damage
– Warmer ocean temperatures leading to coral
bleaching
• Kills algae and thus the polyps
– Increasing ocean acidity

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Core Case Study:
Why Should We Care About Coral Reefs?
• Help moderate atmospheric
temperature by removing CO2
from the atmosphere.
• Act as natural barriers that
help protect 14% of the world’s
coastlines from erosion by
battering waves and storms.
• Provide habitats for a variety of
marine organisms.

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Core Case Study: Why Should We Care about Coral Reefs? (cont’d.)

Fig. 8-1, p. 168

8-1 What Is the General Nature of
Aquatic Systems?

• Saltwater and freshwater aquatic life

zones cover almost three-fourths of the
earth’s surface, with oceans dominating
the planet
• Key factors determining biodiversity in
aquatic systems
– Temperature, dissolved oxygen content,
availability of food, and access to light and
nutrients necessary for photosynthesis
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Most of the Earth Is Covered with
Water

• Saltwater – 71% of the earth’s surface

• Global ocean divided into four areas
– Atlantic
– Pacific
– Arctic
– Indian
• Freshwater – 2.2% of the earth’s surface

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Ocean hemisphere Land–ocean hemisphere

Fig. 8-2, p. 169

Most of the Earth Is Covered with
Water (cont’d.)

• Aquatic life zones

– Saltwater life zones (marine life zones)
• Oceans and estuaries
• Coastlands and shorelines
• Coral reefs
• Mangrove forests
– Freshwater life zones
• Lakes, rivers, and streams
• Inland wetlands
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 What Kinds of Organisms Live in Aquatic Life
Zones?
• Aquatic systems contain floating,
drifting, swimming, bottom-dwelling,
and decomposer organisms.
– Plankton: important group of weakly
swimming, free-floating biota.
• Phytoplankton (plant),
Zooplankton (animal),
Ultraplankton (photosynthetic
bacteria)
– Nekton: free swimming: fish, turtles,
whales.
– Benthos: bottom dwellers
(barnacles, oysters, lobsters).
– Decomposers: breakdown organic
compounds
© Cengage Learning 2015(mostly bacteria).
 Life in Layers
• Life in most aquatic systems is
found in surface, middle, and
bottom layers.
• Temperature, access to sunlight
for photosynthesis, dissolved
oxygen content, nutrient
availability changes with depth.
– Euphotic zone (upper layer in
deep water habitats): sunlight
can penetrate.

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8-2 Why Are Marine Aquatic Systems
Important?

• Saltwater ecosystems
– Provide major ecosystem and economic
services
– Are irreplaceable reservoirs of biodiversity

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Oceans Provide Vital Ecosystem and
Economic Services

• Estimated $12 trillion per year in goods

and services
• Three major life zones:
– Coastal zone
• Warm, nutrient rich, shallow; shore to edge of
continental shelf; usually high NPP from ample
sunlight and nutrients
– Open sea
– Ocean bottom
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 Natural Capital
Marine Ecosystems
Ecological Economic
Services Services
Oxygen Food
supplied through
photosynthesis Energy from
waves and tides
Water purification
Climate Pharmaceuticals
moderation
CO2 absorption Harbors and
transportation
Nutrient cycling routes
Reduced storm
Recreation and
impact (mangroves,
tourism
barrier islands,
coastal wetlands) Employment
Biodiversity:
Minerals
species and habitats
Fig. 8-5, p. 170
The Coastal Zone: Where Most of the
Action Is

• The coastal zone: the warm, nutrient-

rich, shallow water that extends from
the high-tide mark on land to the
gently sloping, shallow edge of the
continental shelf.
• The coastal zone makes up less than
10% of the world’s ocean area but
contains 90% of all marine species.
– Provides numerous ecological
and economic services.
– Subject to human disturbance.

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High tide Coastal Open
Low tide Depth in
Zone Sea
Sea level meters

Photosynthesis
Estuarine Euphotic
Zone Zone

Continental
shelf

Twilight
Bathyal Zone

Water temperature
drops rapidly between Abyssal
Zone

Darkness
the euphotic zone and
the abyssal zone in an
area called the
thermocline.

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Water temperature (°C) Fig. 8-6, p. 171
 Estuaries and Coastal Wetlands:
Centers of Productivity
• Estuaries include river mouths, inlets, bays,
sounds, salt marshes in temperate zones and
mangrove forests in tropical zones.
• Estuaries and coastal marshes provide
ecological and economic services.
– Filter toxic pollutants, excess plant
nutrients, sediments, and other pollutants.
– Reduce storm damage by absorbing
waves and storing excess water produced
by storms and tsunamis.
– Provide food, habitats and nursery sites
for many aquatic species.

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Fig. 8-7, p. 172
Fig. 8-8, p. 172
Fig. 8-9, p. 172
 Rocky and Sandy Shores: Living with the
Tides
• Organisms experiencing daily
low and high tides have
evolved a number of ways to
survive under harsh and
changing conditions.
– Gravitational pull by moon
and sun causes tides.
– Intertidal Zone: area of
shoreline between low and
high tides.
• Organisms in intertidal zone
develop specialized niches to
deal with daily changes in:
– Temperature
©–Cengage
Salinity
Learning 2015
 Sea star Hermit
Rocky Shore Beach crab Shore crab

High tide

Periwinkle

Sea urchin Anemone

Mussel

Low tide
Sculpin
Barnacles

Sea lettuce
Kelp
Beach flea
Monterey flatworm

Peanut worm Tiger

Nudibranch beetle
Barrier Beach Clam
Blue crab
Dwarf
High tide
olive

Sandpiper
Silversides Ghost
Low tide shrimp
Mole shrimp

White sand Sand Moon

macoma Stepped Art
dollar snail
Fig. 8-11, p. 180
 Barrier Islands

• Low, narrow, sandy islands that form offshore from a

coastline.
• Primary and secondary dunes on gently sloping sandy
barrier beaches protect land from erosion by the sea.
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Figure 6-10
Coral Reefs Are Amazing Centers
of Biodiversity

• Marine equivalent of tropical rain forests

• Reefs are being destroyed and damaged
worldwide
• Ocean acidification
– Oceans absorb CO2
– CO2 reacts with ocean water to form a weak
acid that decreases levels of carbonate ions
(CO32-) needed to form coral

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Threats to Coral Reefs:
Increasing Stresses

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Figure 6-12
 Biological Zones in the Open Sea: Light
Rules
• Euphotic zone: brightly lit
surface layer.
– Nutrient levels low,
dissolved O2 high,
photosynthetic activity.
• Bathyal zone: dimly lit middle
layer.
– No photosynthetic activity,
zooplankton and fish live
there and migrate to
euphotic zone to feed at
night.
• Abyssal zone: dark bottom
layer.
– Very cold, little dissolved O2.

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8-3 How Have Human Activities Affected
Marine Ecosystems?

• Human activities
– Threaten aquatic biodiversity
– Disrupt ecosystem and economic services
provided by saltwater systems

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Human Activities Are Disrupting and
Degrading Marine Systems

• Major threats to marine systems include:

– Coastal development
– Overfishing; use of fishing trawlers
– Runoff of nonpoint source pollution
– Point source pollution
– Habitat destruction
– Introduction of invasive species
– Pollution of coastal wetlands and estuaries

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Natural Capital Degradation
Major Human Impacts on Marine Ecosystems and Coral
Reefs
Marine Ecosystems Coral Reefs

Half of coastal wetlands lost to Ocean warming

agriculture and urban development
Rising ocean acidity
Over one-fifth of mangrove forests
lost to agriculture, aquaculture, Soil erosion
and development Algae growth from
Beaches eroding due to fertilizer runoff
development and rising sea levels Bleaching
Ocean bottom habitats degraded Rising sea levels
by dredging and trawler fishing Increased UV exposure
At least 20% of coral reefs Damage from anchors
severely damaged and 25–33% and from fishing and
more threatened diving Fig. 8-12, p. 176
Case Study: The Chesapeake Bay – an
Estuary in Trouble

• Largest estuary in the U.S.

– Polluted since 1960
• Large population increase
• Point and nonpoint sources raised
pollution
• Phosphate and nitrate levels too high
• Excess sediments from runoff and
decreased vegetation
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Case Study: The Chesapeake Bay – an
Estuary in Trouble (cont’d.)

• Oysters, a keystone species, greatly

reduced
• 1983: Chesapeake Bay Program
– Integrated coastal management with local,
state, and federal governments, as well as
citizens’ groups
• 2008 update:
– 25 years and $6 billion
– Program failed to meet goals
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Drainage basin

No oxygen

Low concentrations
of oxygen

Fig. 8-13, p. 177

 FRESHWATER LIFE ZONES

• Freshwater life zones

include:
– Standing (lentic) water
such as lakes, ponds,
and inland wetlands.
– Flowing (lotic)
systems such as
streams and rivers.

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Figure 6-14
 Lakes: Water-Filled Depressions
• Lakes are large natural bodies of
standing freshwater formed
from precipitation, runoff, and
groundwater seepage consisting
of:
– Littoral zone (near shore,
shallow, with rooted plants).
– Limnetic zone (open,
offshore area, sunlit).
– Profundal zone (deep, open
water, too dark for
photosynthesis).
– Benthic zone (bottom of lake,
nourished by dead matter).

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 Lakes: Water-Filled Depressions
• During summer and winter in deep temperate zone lakes
the become stratified into temperature layers and will
overturn.
– This equalizes the temperature at all depths.
– Oxygen is brought from the surface to the lake bottom
and nutrients from the bottom are brought to the top.

Animation: Lake Turnover

© Cengage Learning 2015 PLAYAnimations\turnover.html

ANIMATION
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 Effects of Plant Nutrients on Lakes:Too
Much of a Good Thing

• Plant nutrients from a lake’s environment affect the types and numbers of organisms it can support.
– Oligotrophic (poorly nourished) lake: Usually newly formed lake with small supply of plant nutrient
input.
– Eutrophic (well nourished) lake: Over time, sediment, organic material, and inorganic nutrients
wash into lakes causing excessive plant growth.
• Cultural eutrophication:
– Human inputs of nutrients from the atmosphere and urban and agricultural areas can accelerate
the eutrophication process.

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Figure 6-16
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Freshwater Streams and Rivers Carry
Large Volumes of Water

• Surface water
– Runoff
• Downward flow of water from mountains
• Three aquatic life zones
– Source zone
• Shallow, cold, clear, swiftly flowing
• High dissolved oxygen

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Freshwater Streams and Rivers Carry
Large Volumes of Water
– Transition zone
• Wider, deeper, warmer streams
• More turbid
• Less dissolved oxygen
– Floodplain zone
• Wide, deep rivers
• Broad, flat valleys

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 Lake
Rain and
Glacier
snow
Rapids
Waterfall
Tributary
Flood plain
Oxbow lake
Salt marsh
Delta Deposited
sediment

Ocean
Source Zone

Transition Zone

Water
Sediment
Floodplain Zone

Stepped Art
Fig. 8-18, p. 180
Case Study: River Deltas and Coastal
Wetlands

• Coastal deltas, mangrove forests, and

coastal wetlands provide natural protection
against storms
• Dams and levees reduce sediments in
deltas
– Subsidence of New Orleans
• Rising sea levels will inundate coastal
areas

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Fig. 8-19, p. 182
Fig. 8-20, p. 182
Freshwater Inland Wetlands: Vital Sponges
• Inland wetlands act like
natural sponges that absorb
and store excess water from
storms and provide a variety
of wildlife habitats.
• Filter and degrade
pollutants.
• Reduce flooding and erosion
by absorbing slowly
releasing overflows.
• Help replenish stream flows
during dry periods.
• Help recharge ground
aquifers.
© Cengage Learning 2015 • Provide economic resources
Figure 6-18
© Cengage Learning 2015
Fig. 8-21, p. 184
Impacts of Human Activities on
Freshwater Systems

• Dams, cities, farmlands, and filled-in wetlands alter

and degrade freshwater habitats.
– Dams, diversions and canals have fragmented about 40%
of the world’s 237 large rivers.
– Flood control levees and dikes alter and destroy aquatic
habitats.
– Cities and farmlands add pollutants and excess plant
nutrients to streams and rivers.
– Many inland wetlands have been drained or filled for
agriculture or (sub)urban development.

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 Discharge of untreated
municipal sewage Nitrogen compounds
(nitrates and phosphates) produced by cars
and factories

Discharge of Natural runoff

detergents (nitrates and
( phosphates) phosphates

Manure runoff
From feedlots
(nitrates and
Discharge of treated Phosphates,
municipal sewage ammonia)
(primary and secondary
treatment:
nitrates and phosphates)
Runoff from streets,
lawns, and construction
Lake ecosystem lots (nitrates and
nutrient overload phosphates)
and breakdown of
chemical cycling

Dissolving of Runoff and erosion

nitrogen oxides (from from cultivation,
(from internal combustion mining, construction,
engines and furnaces) and poor land use)

Fig. 19.5, p. 482

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Three Big Ideas

• Water dominates the planet

– Saltwater and freshwater aquatic life zones
cover almost three-fourths of the earth’s
surface
• The earth’s aquatic systems provide
important ecosystem and economic
services

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Three Big Ideas (cont’d.)

• Human activities threaten biodiversity and

disrupt ecological and economic services
provided by aquatic systems

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Tying It All Together: Coral Reefs and
Sustainability

• Coral reefs:
– Thrive on solar energy
– Participate in nutrient cycling
– Sustain aquatic biodiversity
• In nature, everything is connected
• How can we can reduce harm to coral
reefs?

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