Download Aquatic Biomes

Two Types of Aquatic Biomes
Marine – Saltwater
Regions – are
composed mainly of
coral reefs,
estuaries, and
oceans
Freshwater Regionare lakes ponds,
rivers and streams
The Pelagic Environment
• The zone near the surface of the ocean.
• Can be at middle depths above the abyssal
zone, and below the sub-littoral zone
Benthic Environment
• The region near the
ocean floor and all of
the organisms that live
in or on it.
• Ocean floor is divided
into zones based on
where benthos live
• ISBAH is an acronym to
describe the depth
from shallowest to
deepest
Marine – Saltwater Region
•3% salt by
concentration & 97%
freshwater
•Ocean is largest
ecosystem on Earth
•Salt water
evaporates and turns
to rain
Littoral Zone
• Zone that is closest
to the shore
• Sunlight reaches all
the way to the
bottom
• Producers here are
plants rooted to the
bottom,
• consumers here are
snail, flatworms,
frogs and fish
Limnetic Zone
• Open water where
photosynthesis
occurs
• most often found in
large lakes
• Very shallow
• Plankton and
actively swimming
fish live here
Profundal Zone
• Very deep and
towards the
bottom of a lake
or large pond
• Not enough light
reaches here
• Organic matter
falls from other
zones to settle on
the bottom where
benthos live
Watershed
• the region of land
whose water
drains into a
specified body of
water
• A drainage basin
such as dog river
which gets the
end results of
streams around
Mobile county
Estuary
• Marine environments
begin here
• Areas where
freshwater rivers or
streams empty into
areas of saltwater
• Mobile Bay is an
estuary that empties
into the Gulf of
Mexico, and then to
the Atlantic Ocean
River Delta
• A delta is a
landform where
the mouth of a
river flows into an
ocean, sea, desert,
estuary or lake
• Sediment carried
by the river and
deposited as the
water current
ends
Nile River Delta
Other Marine Environments
• River – bodies of flowing water moving
in one direction
• Photosynthesis - is the process by
which plants, some bacteria, use the
energy from sunlight to produce sugar,
• Oxbow Lake – a lake formed when a
river changes its course and the source
is diverted away.
• Wetlands – areas of standing water
(swamp, marsh, everglades)
Other Terms
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•
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Tributary- a stream that flows into a lake or larger stream
Load- materials carried by a stream
Sediment-eroded soil or material
Erosion – the process where soil is transported or removed
Deposition – is the process where material lays to rest
Salinity- a measure of the amount of salt in a given amount
of liquid
• Flora - all plant life occurring in an area or time period
• Fauna -a typical collection of animals found in a specific
time or place,
– Two Types of Plankton
• Zooplankton- the (small animal) consumers that feed
on phytoplankton,
• Phytoplankton- microscopic organisms that float near
the surface of the water; they make their own food
like plants on land do