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Aquatic Biomes (1.3)

1. What do we use to categorize aquatic biomes? 

   1. Physical characteristics: Salinity, Depth of water, Water Flow

   2. Broken into 2 big categories

      1. Freshwater: streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands

      2. Marine: estuaries, coral reefs, mangrove swamps and open ocean

2. Streams and Rivers: flowing freshwater that may originate from underground springs or as runoff from rain or melting snow. 

   1. Streams are typically narrow and carry relatively small amounts of water where rivers are usually wider and carry larger amounts of water. 

   2. Rapidly flowing rivers and streams have few plants or algae to act as producers. Most of the organic material is contributed from the plants along the banks ex: fallen leaves 

3. Lakes and Ponds: This is standing fresh water, that goes to greater depths 

   1. Littoral zone: the shallow zone of soil and water in lakes and ponds where most algae and emergent plants grow. 

   2. Limnetic zone: a zone of open water in lakes and ponds

   3. Profundal zone: a region of water where sunlight does not reach, below the limnetic zone in very deep lakes. 

   4. Benthic Zone: the muddy bottom of a lake, pond or ocean. 

4. Freshwater Wetlands: aquatic biomes that are submerged or saturated by water for at least a part of each year, but shallow enough to support emergent vegetation. These include swamps, marshes, and bogs. 

   1. Swamps: wetlands with emergent trees

   2. Marshes: wetlands that contain primarily non woody vegetation, like cattails and sedges

   3. Bogs: acidic wetlands that typically contain sphagnum moss and spruce trees. 

5. Mangrove Swamp: Marine biome that occurs along tropical and subtropical coasts. 

   1. Tree roots submerged in water, trees are salt tolerant

   2. Ecosystem service: Help protect coast from erosion and storm damage

6. Salt Marsh: marine biome found along the coast in temperate climates and contain non woody emergent vegetation. 

   1. The salt marsh is one of the most productive biomes in the world. 

   2. Naturally occurring wetland found within the intertidal zone. 

   3. Ecosystem Service: absorb storm surge

7. Coral Reef: found in warm shallow ocean waters beyond shoreline. This is Earth’s most diverse marine biome. 

   1. Coral are tiny animals that secret layers of limestone (calcium carbonate) to form external skeletons. Animals live inside this tiny skeleton with tentacles that draw in plankton and detritus. 

   2. Corals live in water that is relatively poor in nutrients and food. Therefore have a relationship with single celled algae that live in the tissue of corals called zooxanthella. 

   3. Algae use CO2 captured during photosynthesis to produce sugar and nutrients then release this to the coral animals. 

   4. Coral gain energy from sugar and the algae gets the CO2, nutrients and a safe place to live within the coral's tiny skeleton. 

8. Intertidal zone: Band of coastline that exists between high and low tide. Range from steep and rocky to broad and sloping mudflats. 

   1. Stable environment when submerged during high tide. Harsh conditions during low tide when organisms are exposed to direct sunlight, high temperatures and dedication. 

      1. Ex: barnacles, sponges, algae, mussels, crabs, sea star. 

9. Open Ocean: 

   1. Photic zone: the upper layer of ocean water in the ocean that receives enough sunlight for photosynthesis

   2. Aphotic zone: the deeper layer of ocean water that lacks sufficient sunlight for photosynthesis.