Cheyenne Dzoch

TemperatureWater depthFlowAmount of dissolved nutrients

Factors affecting life in an aquatic ecosystem

dark layer of the oceans below the photic zone were sunlight does not penetrateAphotic zone

Define

Sunlight region near the surface of waterPhotic zone

Define

4.5 Temperature and CurrentsAyden L. Branas

Benthos Aquatic organisms that live on, or in

rock and sediment at the bottom of a lake, stream, or ocean.

Temperature and Currents Water is warmer near the equator and

the farther away the water is, the colder it will be.

Water in aquatic habitats varies with depth.

The deepest part is colder than the surface water.

Currents affect water temperature too.

Example of Current

Nutrients needed Organisms need certain substances to

live. The availability of needed substances

vary between bodies of water. That greatly affects the organisms that

live in each body of water.

Major Categories of Fresh Water Ecosystems Included rivers, streams, lakes, ponds,

and fresh water wetlands.

Cameron Ross4.5 Aquatic Ecosystems

Lakes and Ponds

• The food webs in lakes and ponds are often based on a combination of plankton and algae.

• Water typically flows in and out of lakes and ponds.

Rivers and Streams

• Originate from underground water sources in mountains or hills.

• Have very little plant life because of no sediment.• Animals depend on terrestrial plants or other animals.

Plankton

• Plankton is a general term that includes both phytoplankton and zooplankton.

WETLAND

• A wetland is an ecosystem in which water either covers the soil or is present at or near the surface for at least part of the year.

• Three main types of wetlands are, freshwater bogs, freshwater marshes, and freshwater swamps.

By: Todd Young

*Todd Young

*Estuary

*A type of wetland were a river meets the ocean

*Mixture if saltwater and freshwater

*Rises and falls with ocean tides

*Many are shallow allowing sunlight to reach the bottom to perform photosynthesis

Salt marshes*Temperate estuaries

characterized by salt tolerant grasses above tide sea grass below

Mangrove swamps

*Tropical estuaries specialized by salt tolerant mangrove trees

*Salt Marshes & Mangrove

Swamps

*Marine ecosystems

*Zones of the ocean based on depth and distance from shore

By: Alexis Elgin4.5 Aquatic Ecosystems

Intertidal Zone

*Many communities

*Organisms are submerged in seawater at high-tide and are exposed to air and sunlight at low-tide.

*Go through regular and extreme changes in temperature.

*Rocks line the shore

Coastal Ocean*Extends from low-tide mark to outer edge of the continental shelf. (The area of seabed around a large landmass where the sea is relatively shallow compared with the open ocean.)

*Water is brightly lit

*Supplied with nutrients

*Highly productive

Open Ocean*Begins at the edge of the continental shelf and extends

outward.

*Most of the worlds oceans are considered open ocean.

* divided into two main zones:

~Photic Zone~

• Low nutrient levels and supports only the smallest species of phytoplankton.

~Aphotic Zone~

• Permanently dark- deepest part of the ocean.

• Organisms are exposed to high pressure, frigid temperature, and total darkness.