LE 4: Aquatic Biomes Flashcards
What are aquatic biomes classified by?
Depth, movement/water flow, and salinity
What are the characteristics of Streams and Rivers?
Freshwater biome
Characteristics:
1. Moving fresh water (rivers are deeper than streams)
2. Riparian zone: area with organisms near the river/stream
What are the characteristics of Ponds and Lakes?
Freshwater biome
Characteristics:
1. deep enough that some plants ≠ rise above the surface (lakes are larger than ponds)
What are the characteristics of Freshwater wetlands?
Freshwater biome
Characteristics:
1. shallow, non-moving freshwater (e.g. swamps and marshes)
2. Low in oxygen
What are some adaptations in freshwater wetlands?
Some fish can gulp air into their lungs that are interwoven into the veins for the oxygen to diffuse into their organs.
Peat bogs have sphagnum moss which are acidic. The low pH sequesters carbon, resulting in cooler environments.
What does brackish mean?
Saltwater and freshwater mixing
What are the characteristics of Salt marshes/ estuaries?
Brackish biome; Estuary meaning where the ocean meets the river
Characteristics:
1. Shallow, no net movement + brackish and salty
2. Tide comes in and out, resulting in a variable habitat
3. non-woody plants
What are the characteristics of Mangrove swamps?
Brackish biome
Characteristics:
1. common on tropical and subtropical coasts
2. unique habitat for fish.
What adaptations are there in Mangrove swamps?
Mangrove trees can filter out the salt and excrete it by their leaves. Some roots are out of the water to allow for them to breathe.
What are the characteristics of Coral Reefs?
Saltwater biome; Coral is an animal that creates a structure for other animals to live in.
Characteristics:
1. Warm, salty shallow water
How has global warming affected coral reefs?
Warming is too fast for the coral to adapt. The coral dies and expel algae, resulting in the ecosystem collapsing. Coral reefs sequester carbon; therefore, the loss of the coral reefs increases global warming.
What are the characteristics of the Intertidal zone?
The region between the high and low tide zone.
High tides are marked by the line of seaweed and flotsam.
Low tides are marked by wet sand.
How does the moon’s gravitational pull?
Spring tides are high high and low low tides. This occurs when the moon is between the sun and earth or the earth is between the sun and the moon.
Neap tides are medium tides. This occurs when the moon is 90° North of the earth.
The most extreme tides/ spring tides occur from a full moon. In the winter there are really low tides, allowing for tide pools to be seen.
What are the adaptations in the intertidal zone?
Barnacles are preyed on whelks that are brought in by the tides.
They can close themselves to prevent being eaten. They open up to absorb nutrients from the ocean/feed.
Barnacles that are higher up are less susceptible.
What are the characteristics of the open ocean?
There are different zones on the open ocean.
From descending order:
Neritic zone: first region to the edge of the continental shelf
Oceanic zone: region after the continental shelf
Photic zone: first 200 meters where sunlight can penetrate through for photosynthesis
Aphotic zone: the region of the ocean where sunlight cannot penetrate through
Benthic zone: area along the sand and soil to the ocean floor
