Envirothon - Aquatics

Aquatic

Refers to anything associated with water, both biotic and abiotic

Biotic

Living

Abiotic

Nonliving

Environment

Everything that surrounds an organism

Oceanography

Scientific study of the ocean (ocean, seas, brackish water)

Limnology

Scientific study of inland fresh water bodies (ponds, lakes, streams, rivers, wetlands)

Hydrosphere

The water portion of Earth's crust

____ would not be possible without water

Life

Uses of water

Travel
Recreation
Drinking
Cooking
Washing
Cleaning
Agriculture
Mining
Industry
Waste disposal
Producing energy

Distribution of water

70 - 80% of Earth's surface is covered with water
71% of Earth's surface is covered by oceans
Oceans - 97.41%
Ice caps/glaciers - 1.984%
Groundwater - 0.592%
Lakes - 0.007%
Soil moisture - 0.005%
Atmosphere - 0.001%
Rivers - 0.0001%
Biota - 0.0001%

Hydrologic cycle

Evaporation
Transpiration
Evapotranspiration
Condensation
Precipitation
Infiltration
Runoff
Sublimation
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Watershed

The surface area or region from which water drains into a stream, river, reservoir, or other water body

Groundwater

Water that seeps down through the soil, fills voids in the soil and rock and is stored underground

Aquifer

An underground formation that contains water; porous, water saturated layers of sand, gravel, or rock through which groundwater flows

Uses of aquifers

Drinking water
Irrigation

Water table

Boundary between zone of saturation and dryer zone above it

Recharge zone

Where water enters aquifer

Discharge zone

Where water leaves aquifer

Properties of water

Polar molecule
Surface tension
Capillary action
High heat capacity
High heat of vaporisation
High latent heat capacity
Good buffer against rapid temp change
Very dense (800x more dense than air)
Quickly absorbs light rays
Less dense when frozen (most dense at 4*C)
Shield against ultraviolet radiation
Universal solvent
High viscosity
Very transparent

Boiling and freezing points

Boils at 212F (100C)
Freezes at 32F (0C)
Only known substance to be in all 3 states without chemical change

Ecosystem

All of the communities of living things in an area and the abiotic, non-living portions of the environment

Biosphere

Zone of land, air, and water at Earth's surface where organisms can live

Population

All members of one species in a given area

Community

All populations in a given area

Habitat

Food, water, shelter, space, arrangement

Examples of shelter

Plants
Crevices
Undersides of rocks
Undersides of logs
Sediment

Niche and specific roles

Role played in the environment
Producer: photosynthesises own food
Consumer: consumes plants or something that ate plants
Herbivores: eats plants
Omnivores: eats plants an animals
Carnivores: eat animals
Scavengers: eats dead stuff
Detritivores: eat detritus
Decomposers: bacteria and fungus that break down dead matter; always at end of food chain

Food chain

Simplified food web, only shows one possibility

Food web

A network of food chains that shows the feeding patterns of all organisms in an ecosystem

Energy pyramid

Shows the flow of energy in the food web

Tropic level

Layer of level on the pyramid; only 10% of energy moves on to the next level

Competition

2+ species using the same resources

Symbiosis

interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association, typically to the advantage of both.

Keystone species

A species that creates habitat for other organisms; critical for environment

Materials essential for life

Water, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, soulful, potassium (C HOPKN's CaFe Mg)

Carrying capacity

Number of organisms an ecosystem can support, determined by limiting factors

Aquatic limiting factors

Amount of sunlight available for photosynthesis
Amount of minerals available for plant growth
Temp (can decrease amount of O2)
Number of insect eggs laid
Amount of dissolved oxygen

Algal bloom

Excess nutrients causing a rapid burst of algae growth. When the algae die, the bacteria breaking down use up all of the dissolved oxygen in the water (also known as eutrophication)

Thermal pollution

Increase in H2O temp that has a harmful effect of aquatic life

Thermal enrichment

Beneficial effects in an aquatic ecosystem caused by a rise in water temp

Thermal shock

Sharp change in temp that can harm or kill aquatic organisms

Endangered species

At risk of becoming extinct

Threatened species

At risk of becoming endangered

Indicator species

Clues in to environmental problems

Types of aquatic organisms based on where they live and how they move

Plankton: drifters/weak swimmers
Nekton: free swimmers
Benthos: live on bottom, don't move a lot

Three main classes of fish (nekton)

Agnatha: jawless
Chondrichthyes: cartilaginous skeleton
Osteichthyes: bony fish, most common

Fish external anatomy

Three regions: head (mouth to back of operculum), trunk (operculum to anus), and tail (anus to caudal fin)
Features: fins, scales, eyes, nostrils, mouth, operculum, lateral line, slime, body shape, tail shape, otoliths, barbels

Scales

Annuli: annual growth rings
Ctenoid (bluegill)
Cycloid (trout)
Ganoid (gar)
Placoid (shark)

fish Body shape

Elongated, flattened, slender, streamlined, pan, fusiform, broad

Fins

Spiny dorsal, soft dorsal, adipose, caudal, anal, pelvic, pectoral

Reproduction

Ability to generate offspring

Factors of an aquatic ecosystem

Sunlight, turbidity, steam flow, salinity, biota, pH

pH/salinity of ocean and fresh water

River water: 0.01% dissolved salts
Ocean water: 3.5% dissolved salts
Freshwater: 5.6 - 7
Seawater: 8.1

Depth zones: light

Photic: sunlight
Aphotic: no sun
Benthic: bottom

3 things needed for wetlands

Hydrology, hydric soils, hydrophytic plants

5 systems of wetlands

Marine (oceans)
Estuarine (brackish)
Lacustrine (lakes)
Riverine (rivers)
Palustrine (associated with inland water bodies)

Lentic wetlands

Swamp: woody plants, trees, and shrubs
Marshes: herbaceous plants
Bog: evergreen trees and shrubs, sphagnum moss, peat
Pocosin: shrubby, spongy ground, evergreen trees, herbaceous plants, "Swamp on a hill"
Lake: standing water
Pond: small lake, sun always reaches bottom

Lotic wetlands

Upland streams: associated with hilly areas, cold and clear, turbulent
Lowland streams: form from upland streams, flatter areas, older

Stream and river morphology

Riffle: rocky areas where water aerates
Pool: flat area where water collects
Riparian area: natural vegetation around water bodies that has many ecological benefits
Meanders: curves in river; path of least resistance
Rivers: formed by many smaller tributaries
Headwater: source of river
Mouth: where it dumps out

Anadromous

Live in ocean, go to freshwater to spawn. Example: salmon

catadromous

Live in freshwater, go to ocean to spawn. Example: American eel

Threats to rivers

Thermal pollution
Industry
Sediment
Point source pollution
Non-point source pollution
Eutrophication
Biomagnification

Pond sucession

Bare bottom
Submergent/emergent
Temporary pond/marsh
Swamp
Forest (climax community)

Zones: plant life (ponds)

Closer to shore: littoral
Open water: limnetic
Lakes only: profundal
Emergent
Floating-leaf
Submergent
No root

Aging of lakes

Oligotrophic
Mesotrophic
Eutrophic

Depth zones based on hear

Epilimnion
Thermocline
Metalimnion
Hypolimnion

Lake turnover

Fall: cooler upper layer goes to bottom, warmer bottom layer goes to top
Spring: upper water becomes dense and falls to bottom

Layers of ocean

Netric: costal
Intertidal (high and low)
Pelagic: open ocean
Euphotic
Bathyal
Abyssal

Federal water pollution control act

1972
Renamed Clean Water Act when amended in 1977
With Water Quality Act of 1987, it forms basis of legal efforts to control water pollution
Amended in 1981 and 1987

Clean water act

1977
Goal: to make all US waters safe for fishing and swimming by 1983

Clean air act

1970, 1977, 1990
Set standards for 7 pollutants

Pollutants that cause health problems

Infectious agents, organic chemicals, inorganic chemicals, radioactive materials, heavy metals

Pollutants that cause ecosystem disruption

Sediment, plant nutrients, oxygen demanding wastes, thermal, acid deposition

Nutrient pollution BMPs

Fertilizer management
Soil conservation practices and ground cover
Riparian zones
Proper irrigation
Animal waste management

Sediment pollution BMPs

Conservation tillage, no till, cover crops, contour plowing, strip cropping
Grassed waterways, filter strips, buffers, riparian zones
Forestry BMPs
Avoid overgrazing
Use of sediment basins
Proper irrigation

Pesticide BMPs

Less use of pesticides
Less persistent pesticides
Good soil and water conservation practices
Use of IPM
Less toxic pesticides
Biological controls
Only use them when necessary

Water quality tests

Nitrates/nitrites/phosphates
DO
pH
Alkalinity
Turbidity
Biotic Index
Temperature
Stream flow
Macroinvertebrates

Sensitive macroinvertibrates

Mayflies (Ephemeroptera)
Stoneflies (Plecoptera)
Caddisflies (trichoptera)
Hellgrammite (megaloptera)
Water penny (Coleoptera)
Riffle beetle (Coleoptera)
Gilled snail (Gastropoda)
Freshwater mussel (pelecypoda, bivalvia)
Fishfly (megaloptera)

Moderate macroinvertibrates

Damselfly (Odonata)
Dragonfly (Odonata)
Beetle larvae (Coleoptera)
Cranefly (Diptera)
Scuds (amphipoda)
Crayfish (Crustacea)
Sowbug (Isopoda)
Clam (pelecypoda, bivalvia)
Water scorpion (Hemiptera)
Water strider (Hemiptera)
Whirligig beetle (Coleoptera)

Tolerant macroinvertibrates

Midge fly (Diptera)
Black fly (Diptera)
Horsefly (Diptera)
Rat-tailed maggot/dronefly (Diptera)
Pouch snail (Gastropoda)
Leech (Annelida)
Aquatic worm (Annelida/Nematoda)
Tubifex worm (Annelida)

Myomeres

Muscles around sides of body, allow fish to swim

Statocysts

Fluid in inner ear that allows fish to stay upright