Download Aquatic ecosystem

Exploring aquatic life
Aquatic ecosystems
 Ecosystem- natural unit consisting of all plants,
animals, and micro-organisms (biotic factors) in an
area functioning together with all the non-living
physical (abiotic) factors of the environment
 Aquatic ecosystem- all that in or around water
 two types


Marine
Freshwater
Function
 Recycle nutrients- Carbon cycle, Nitrogen cycle, etc.
 Purify water
 Prevent flooding
 Recharge ground water
 Provide habitat for wildlife.
 Human recreation
Ecosystem Diversity
 3 different types of ecosystems
 Swamp
 Saltmarsh
 Pond
 Control
 Biodiversity- the variation of species in that ecosystem
 High biodiversity may contribute to greater resilience of an
ecosystem
 Focus on aquatic microorganism diversity
 Important for


Nutrient cycling
Food chain
Comparing aquatic ecosystems
Swamp
Pond
 Tree vegetation
 Grass and tree
 Natural
 Shallow
 Subject to
natural
impacts
 Subject to
pollution
 Contain fish,
algae, microorganisms





vegetation
Natural or man
made
Varying depth
Subject to
natural impacts
Subject to
pollution
Contain fish,
algae, microorganisms… etc
Intracoastal
•Grass and tree
vegetation
•Man made
•Human
impacted
•Subject to
pollution
•High salinity
•Contains fish,
algae, microorganisms
Control
•Tap water
Comparing aquatic ecosystems
 Create a hypothesis about how you think the three
ecosystems will be different or similar.
 Compare the three ecosystems and the control
ecosystem using the microfishing slides.
Questions to think about:
 How are the microorganisms alike and how they are
different?
 Is one ecosystem more diverse? Support your thought.
Hydras
 In the family with sea
anemones, corals, and
jellyfish
 One opening
surrounded by tentacles.
Takes in food and
eliminates waste
 Tentacles contain
nematocysts
 Move by use of foot
Green hydra
Color comes from
algae living in body
Brown hydra- tenticles three or four
times the length of body
Microscopy-UK
Rotifers
Sessile, long cilia
that capture food
 Have cilia on the front of
body that “rotate”
 Found in all types of
quiet waters
 1,700 species
 Attach to surfaces by
secreting “glue” from
foot
Collotheca
Microscopy-UK
Keratella
Don’t have a tail, but
are fast swimmers
Microscopy-UK
Kellicottia
Lives in open
waters, long spines
help avoid
predation
Crustaceans
Bosmina longirostris
 Mostly scavengers and
herbivores, can be
predators or parasites
 Marine and freshwater
species
 Water fleas (Cladocera)
Chydorus sphaericus
 Abundant in freshwater
 Jerky movements
 Eat algae, microscopic
animals, and organic
debris
Pictures courtesy of
http://www.friendsofwarnhamlnr.org.uk/pondlife.html
Daphnia pulex
 Copepods
 Shallow and open water
 Females carry egg
 5-6 nauplius stages
before maturity
 Eat algae, bacteria and
organic debris
Pictures courtesy of
http://www.friendsofwarnhamlnr.org.uk/pondlife.html
CalanoidsDiaptomus, live in
plankton and filter
feed
Cyclopoid- cyclops,
live in open water and
seize prey
Nauplius- larvae of
Cyclops