Aquatic Biomes: Streams, Rivers, and Ecological Investigation

Flashcards about aquatic biomes, streams, and rivers, as well as factors limiting organism distribution and levels of ecological organization.

What are streams and rivers?

Flowing water formations, typically formed by liquid water entering the environment and flowing downhill due to gravity.

What are the characteristics of headwaters in streams and rivers?

Higher in elevation, generally cold, clear water flowing relatively rapidly, oxygen rich. Similar to oligotrophic. cold, clear water, oxygen rich.

How does water change as it moves downstream in rivers and streams?

The water will begin to move slower, become more turbid, become less oxygen as more water collects downstream and the slope becomes less steep.

What are the values of river ecosystems?

They provide fresh water, move nutrients downstream, and serve as habitats for river organisms.

What does anadromous mean?

Fish that spend part of their life in salt water and part of their life in fresh water.

How can humans harness the power of rivers and what are the implications?

They can be used to generate electricity through hydroelectric dams, but they also block river systems and require fish ladders for fish to bypass the dams.

What is a riparian forest?

A forest zone adjacent to rivers, helps make the banks of the river more sturdy.

What human activities cause changes in rivers?

Nutrient runoff, removal of the riparian zone, and dams.

What is the photic zone?

The depth to which light will penetrate in the oceans, typically about 200 meters.

What forms the basis of most ocean ecosystems?

Phytoplankton, which are typically abundant in the photic zone.

What factors affect marine ecosystems?

Light levels, nutrient availability, and salinity.

What is the aphotic zone?

The zone to which light does not penetrate

What are continental shelf regions?

The regions that are nearest the continents that are on the continental shelf

What is the pelagic zone?

All of the other zones, the photic, the aphotic, the abyssal. It just refers to the fact that it's not located adjacent to the continental shelf.

What factors are threatening ocean health?

Pollutants, plastics, and increasing carbon dioxide levels.

What are coral reefs?

A very diverse ecosystem in the photic zone, typically in the zone near the continental shelf, has a very high proportion of the earth's diversity, formed from the calcium carbonate skeletons of corals.

What is biogeography?

The study of where organisms are located on the planet, and why they are found where they're found.

Potential range

The range that that organism could potentially inhabit; set by environmental conditions.

Actual range

Set by limitations that limit the dispersal of that organism

What are invasive species?

Species that didn't evolve in a particular area, but for some sort of reason get transported to that area, whether that be through human activity or other factors.

What limits the actual range of a species?

Behavioral habitat selection, other biotic factors (disease, herbivory, symbiotic relationships, lack of pollinators, biotic competition), and abiotic factors (temperature, water, oxygen, salinity, sunlight).

What are the levels of ecological investigation?

Organismal ecology, population ecology, ecosystem ecology, landscape ecology, and global ecology.

What is organismal ecology?

How are species adapted to their environment, both biotic and abiotic?

What is population ecology?

How do populations vary in different areas?

What is community ecology?

How do all lots of different species interact in a particular area?

What is ecosystem ecology?

Often focuses on how the abiotic factors are influencing the biotic factors. Temperature levels, carbon dioxide levels, energy flow and nutrient cycling through the environment.

What is global ecology?

Expanding the idea of ecosystem ecology to include the entire biosphere, often used to study global climate changes.