Aquatic Biomes

Question 1

What are the Two Types of Aquatic Biomes?

Answer 1

1. Marine (ocean - salty)
2. Aquatic (freshwater)

Question 2

What are the 4 zones of the Ocean (from top to bottom)

Answer 2

1. intertidal (littoral) zone
2. neritic zone
3. pelagic zone
4. benthic zone

Question 3

Characteristics of the Intertidal Zone

Answer 3

• shallow shoreline
• influenced by tides and substrate stability
• exposed to wide variation in light intensity and temperature

Question 4

Examples of the Intertidal Zone

Answer 4

• estuaries, salt marsh, mangrove, rocky intertidal, sandy shores

Question 5

What is an Estuary?

Answer 5

• freshwater from rivers/steams meets with the oceans forming brackish water
• terrestrial sediments, nutrients, high productivity

Question 6

What are the 4 types of Estuaries?

Answer 6

1. Coastal plain (ex. chesapeake bay)
2. Tectonic (ex. san francisco bay)
3. bar-built (ex. outer banks of the eastern USA)
4. Fjord (ex. glacier bay, Alaska)

Question 7

Salt marshes and Mangroves

Answer 7

• transition land and sea
• highly variable and dynamic due to rising and lowering tides
• typically low species diversity, but very productive

Question 8

Characteristics of Salt Marshes

Answer 8

• high salinity (approx. 16ppt)
• concentrated along sandy shores of temperate-high latitudes

Question 9

Characteristics of Mangroves

Answer 9

• associated with tropical latitudes
• salt tolerant evergreen trees and shrubs replace grasses
• differing tree species are generally distrusted according to height within intertidal zone

Question 10

Characteristics of the Pelagic Zones

Answer 10

• light and temperature dependent upon depth
• most photosynthesis species inhabit the photic zone
• Coral Reefs and Kelp Forests

Question 11

Characteristics of Coral Reefs

Answer 11

• mutualism between coral and algae
• hard corals build skeleton of calcium carbonate
• highly threatened

Question 12

What is Bleaching?

Answer 12

• occurs in tropical coral reefs
• high temperatures causes bleaching
  -ocean acidification (increase CO2) inhibits skeleton formation, as calcium carbonate is chemically basic

Question 13

Characteristics of the Deep Sea

Answer 13

• light does not reach beyond 200 m from the ocean’s surface
• organic matter floats down from the surface, resulting in it ‘snowing’

Question 14

Characteristics of Deep Sea Coral Reefs

Answer 14

• can be found at depths up to 600m
• do not need sunlight - fed on passing tiny organisms
  -some of the oldest organisms alive on earth
• deep sea coral gardens act like tropical ones

Question 15

Threat to the Deep Sea Corals

Answer 15

Industrial Trawling
- fishing with a weighted net is smoothing out the sea floor and changing the entire ecosystem and actively destroying deep sea corals

Question 16

3 types of Aquatic Freshwater Biomes

Answer 16

• lakes (lentic)
• rivers and streams (lotic)
• wetlands

Question 17

Lotic Ecosystems

Answer 17

• rivers and streams
• natural channels of moving water varying in size
• canals are human-made channels of flowing water

Question 18

What is the River Continuum Concept?

Answer 18

a model for how flow regime and food sources change with respect to river size

Question 19

Lentic Ecosystems

Answer 19

-standing water
-lakes and ponds
- formed by natural depression, damn, glacial processes, meandering rivers, volcanic craters
- lake depth and area influence composition
- deep lakes, nutrient poor, cold, higher O2
- shallow lakes, nutrient rich, warm, lower O2

Question 20

Stratification and Lake Turn Over

Answer 20

• occurs when lakes form three distinct thermal layers
• liquids of differing densities fo not mix well
  -cold water is denser
• lakes turn over in the fall when the water throughout the lake reaches a uniform temperature

Question 21

Why is lake turn over necessary?

Answer 21

• water and wind mix evenly throughout the body of water, replenishing O2 concentrations
• lake turnover is necessary to maintain O2 balance for lake organisms

Question 22

Two forms of Wetlands?

Answer 22

1. those that form peat
2. those that do not form peat

Question 23

Two forms of Peatland?

Answer 23

1. bog - found in depressions of the landscape
2. fens - receive water from groundwater or surface water and are usually flat