Download Freshwater Habitats and Their Management

Freshwater Habitats and Their
Management
Of the World
70% of the world is filled with Water
97% of that water is from the ocean
meaning… 97% is salt water. This
leaves 3%.
1/3 of that 3% is Frozen on the Ice Caps.
..less than 2% of the water on Earth is fresh water
Fish and Wildlife
• Water is vital to hundreds of species of fish and
wildlife
• There is more wildlife in freshwater then any other
habitat in the world.
• Some species require a specific habitat to survive.
– Many of these animals have evolved to fill a particular
niche in the ecosystem.
– Due to this niche, when we alter their habitat is often
leads to extinction
• Dams
• Drain marshes & swamps
• Pollute fresh water with sewage, industrial waste, pesticides, and
petroleum products.
Pollution
• Cities & Industries dump chemicals, polluted
waste water, raw sewage into waterways
• Pesticides and herbicides that farms use wash
into watersheds
• In 1960s and early 1970s many of our historic
scenic waterways were a national disgrace.
– Lake Erie was biologically dead
– Potomac River was cesspool (stench drove tourist
away)
• The Water Pollution Control Act of 1972 funded
identifying sources of pollution.
The Movement
Litter
Not only is it ugly…
There are numerous accounts of small
mammals becoming entangled. Almost
always ended in strangulation or starvation
Destruction of Freshwater Habitats
• When we dam the land around it is altered
forever.
– Leading to destroyed vegetation
– Results in erosion
• Leading to cloudy, muddy waterways, detrimental to
many aquatic life forms
Freshwater Habitats
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Lakes
Rivers
Reservoirs
Small ponds
Swamps
Streams
Marshes
Reservoirs
Are large impoundments we have created to
provided water and hydroelectric power for
many large metropolitan areas
Freshwater Habitats
Rivers and streams drain excess surface water and
provided excellent wildlife and fish habitat.
The low-lying areas, or bottoms, associated with
streams and rivers generally teem with wildlife.
Overflow their banks and deposit layers of fine, rich
soil eroded from areas upstream on the
surrounding bottoms.
For this reason river bottoms are preferred habitats
for many species
Small Ponds
• They are generally shallower than lakes or
reservoirs
– Allow more sunlight to penetrate to the bottom
– Promotes more aquatic plant growth
– Provides habitats
• These provide habitats for many waterfowl
Marshes and Swamps
• Low-lying areas
• Have few, if any large areas of open water, but
water is always present
• Sensitive to pollution, increased
sedimentation resulting from construction.