Aquatic systems Flashcards
What are reservoirs?
Places where water tends to get stuck. Ice sheets, ocean, ground water
What drives the water cycle?
Solar energy
How does water enter and leave reservoirs?
Enters as precipitation or flow, leaves as evaporation
How many days does water spend in the atmosphere, rivers, and the ocean?
9 days in the atmosphere, 12-20 days in a river, 3100 years in the ocean
Where is most life in the ocean found?
The littoral zone and the neurotic zone. The littoral zone is also called the intertidal zone and is the shallow shoreline under the influence of the tides
How much solar energy is absorbed in the first 10 m of water?
80%
How does the ocean affect climate patterns on the land?
Gyres are circular ocean currents and create the climate patterns on land
What is the only colour of light that can go past 600m?
Blue -> smaller wavelength
What is the difference between lentic and lotic freshwater systems?
Lentic is still water, lotic is moving
What is the difference between the euphotic and the aphotic zones in the ocean?
Euphotic zone receives lots of light and is driven by photosynthesis. Aphotic is dark and unproductive.
Which contains 99% of surface freshwater, lentic or lotic systems?
Lentic -> contained in lakes, ponds, and bogs
What is the thermocline?
A layer of water where the temperature changes rapidly
What are the 2 zones in a lake?
The littoral zone -> where the sunlight hits the soil and is highly productive
The limnetic zone -> less productive
What are the 3 layers of the limentic zone?
Epilimnion -> warm, lots of O2 but not a lot of nutrients
Metalimnion -> where the thermocline is
Hypolimnion -> dark, cold, low O2, but lots of nutrients
What is morphometry?
The surface shape, surface area, underwater form and depth influences the turbulence, stratification, sedimentation, and the extent of the littoral zone
What 3 variables affect the amount of nutrients and organic matter in a lake?
Catchment, climate, geology
What are the characteristics of a eutrophic lake?
Highly productive, usually shallow and warm, generally low O2 levels. Littoral zone is shallow and broad, often has green-brownish water.
What are the characteristics of a oligotrophic lake?
Low productivity, generally deep and cold with high O2. Steep banks, small epilimnion, blue-green water
What are the human impacts on freshwater systems?
Pollution -> municipal and agriculture run-off, industrial waste
Bioaccumulation
Eutrophication alters algae levels, increases toxic mycrocystin, uses all all the O2 and kills the fish
Habitat alteration
Introduction of invasive species
What are peatlands?
Poorly drained wetland areas with low decomposition and an accumulation of organic matter, create a carbon reserve
What are the characteristics of bogs?
Fed only by precipitation, low water conditions
Nutrient poor
Acidic
Anoxic
What are the characteristics of fens?
Fed by precipitation, streams, and underground water sources
Medium amount of nutrients
Can be alkaline or acidic
What adaptations are required to live in a lotic system?
Adaptations for attachment, to avoid getting swept downstream
What 3 variables are most important in lotic systems?
Light -> how much reaches the surface and how far it reaches down
Movement -> rate varies with the seasons, erosion from the land, suspended sediments
Temperature -> closely tracks air temperature, can create micro-temperature regions in the water
