Chapter 9 Aquatic Environments Flashcards
US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) developed this wetlands classification system in 1979 to inventory, evaluate, and manage wetlands. Divided into 5 major categories.
Cowardin Classification System
Open ocean overlying the continental shelf and associated high coastlines that are subject to waves and currents of the open ocean. Coral reefs, rocky shoreline cliffs, and sandy shorelines.
Marine
Tidal mouths of rivers, where rivers flow into oceans such as tidal salt marshes and mangrove swamps, adjacent to the open ocean but semi-closed to land. Saltwater is frequently diluted by freshwater runoff via coastal rivers.
Estuarine
Begins upstream where streams originate or where the channel departs from a freshwater lake or pond. ends downstream where freshwater enters a freshwater lake or mixes with saltwater. Rivers and streams.
Riverine
Dominated by vegetation and are bound by upland habitat or any of the other 4 aquatic systems. Majority of all wetlands. Bogs, fens, freshwater marshes, wet meadows, swamps, pocosins, small ponds.
Palustrine
Situated in a topographical depression as in the case of a lake or a pond or may be formed by damming a river, which then fills a valley to form a reservior. Lakes, reserviors, large ponds.
Lacustrine
Estuarine-formed near river mouths, bays, coastal plains, lagoons, or behind barrier islands.
Tidal Salt Marshes
Forested wetlands consisting of dense impenetrable stands of salt-tolerant trees, shrubs, and ferns. Commonly found along coasts of tropical and subtropical countries.
Mangrove swamps
Areas where the water covers the soil or is present either at or near the surface of the soil all year or for varying periods of time during the year, including the growing season.
Wetlands
federal land use policy in the United States enacted in 1988 that protects wetlands from conversion to other land uses by requiring developers to create or restore wetland area and in exchange for any wetland losses due to proposed development
No Net Loss policy
establishes a program to regulate the discharge of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States, including wetlands. Activities in waters of the United States regulated under this program include fill for development, water resource projects (such as dams and levees), infrastructure development (such as highways and airports) and mining projects. Section 404 requires a permit before dredged or fill material may be discharged into waters of the United States, unless the activity is exempt from Section 404 regulation (e.g., certain farming and forestry activities).
Section 404 of the Clean Water Act
WOTUS
Waters of the United States
What does WOTUS do?
states that it is in the national interest to ensure that the Nation’s navigable waters are kept free from pollution, while at the same time promoting economic growth, minimizing regulatory uncertainty, and showing due regard for the roles of Congress and the States under the Constitution. It also directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Army to review the existing Clean Water Rule for consistency with these priorities and publish for notice and comment a proposed rule rescinding or revising the rule, as appropriate and consistent with the law.
Streams fall into what 2 general categories?
Ephemeral and Perennial
Streams that flow only during one part of the year
ephemeral
streams that flow all year round
perennial
a stream that flows into a larger stream
tributary
an area of land confined by topographic divides in which all tributaries drain into a single river system
watershed
Hydrologic processes
Water Quality Improvement
Wildlife Habitat
wetland functions
Vegetation binds and protects birds, intercepts, stores, and slowly releases floodwaters reducing the amount and velocity of surface runoff
Hydrologic process 1
Flood/stormwater control
stores water and then releases it slowly to groundwater deposits
Hydrologic process 2
baseflow/groundwater support
Filters out or detains sediment, inorganic and organic nutrients and toxic chemicals. detoxifies some pollutants
Water Quality Improvement
pollutant removal detainment and transformation
produces an abundance of organic material that supplies food for a diverse group of organisms. nesting and breeding sites, resting sites for migratory species, pathways for various ecosystems
Wildlife habitat wetaland dunction
3 marine zones
intertidal
(eu)photic
aphotic
also known as the foreshore and seashore and sometimes referred to as the littoral zone, is the area that is above water at low tide and under water at high tide (in other words, the area between tide marks).
intertidal zone
the layer closer to the surface that receives enough light for photosynthesis to occur.
(eu)photic zone
the portion of an ocean where there is little or no sunlight. It is formally defined as the depths beyond which less than 1% of sunlight penetrates
aphotic zone
the lake zone that is the shallow margin of the lake and characterized by rooted vegetation
littoral zone
challenges to maintain aquatic environments
human development habitat destruction storms accelerated erosion ocean rise subsidence
cause of accelerated erosion
humans have altered the dynamics of coastal sediment deposition
sinking of the earth’s surface caused when underground resources such as oil and groundwater are removed
subsidence
