Water Environments Flashcards
How much of the earth is water? Fresh water?
- 8%
0. 4%
How much of the primary production on earth is aquatic?
50%
Where is the nutrient rich part of the ocean?
Costal
Why are there salty lakes in prairies?
- Net water deficit in summer
- H2O comes in and carries salts in- evaporates and leaves salts behind
Why are there water stressors in Canada?
Lakes not good location, decreased rain, increased population
What are 3 zones of lakes?
- Littoral Zone-Photic; near shore; primary production high at sediments
- Pelagic Zone- photic; open water
- Profundal Zone- Aphotic; Water and sediment below oxygen = consumed
What’s the pelagic zones 3 regions?
- Epilimnion
- Thermocline
- Hypolimnion
What are oxygen concentrations in aquatic systems are dependent on?
The amount of organic matter present and the physical mixing of the system
Whats stratification in summer? What happens in the fall?
- Based on heat exchange
- Temp barrier preventing cold deep water from mixing with top hot water
- In the fall cooling of the top where it’s the same temp as bottom uses mixing of lake= no stratification
Why is water at 4 degrees most dense?
It floats
What happens to the lakes temperature in the winter?
- Ice forms- can’t diffuse O2
- Traps O2 under ice
- Temp decreases which slows aerobic respiration which decreases O2 usage
- Will become anoxic
What are the different light zones of a lake?
Photo zone: 0-200 m allows light penetration and photosynthesis
Aphotic zone: No light, ∴ heterotrophic activity
Turbid waters:
Light penetration < 1m
What does ability of light penetrating O2 depend on?
Depth and particles
Why are there only the colour blue in deep ocean water?
Because only blue wavelengths can penetrate that deep
Coastal and Ocean Waters, compared to most freshwater environments, the open ocean environment is?
• Saline
• Low in nutrients, especially with respect to nitrogen,
phosphorus, and iron
• Cooler
What are major factors in earths C balance?
Microbial activities in oceans
Where is there more microbes in the ocean?
Shore because of higher nutrients
What are the 5 zones of an ocean?
- Photic zone
- Benthic zone
- Pelagic Zone
- Aphotic zone
- Nertic zone
- Intertidal zone
3 areas of the pelagic zone in the ocean
- Mesopelagic
- Bathypelagic
- Abyssopelagic
What tropies are lakes, wetlands and oceans?
lakes are oligotrophic (nutrient poor), wetlands eutrophic (well nourished), oceans both depending on location
What are upwelling zones?
- Bring cold, nutrient rich water up from depth
- Mixing of oceans
What does red represent in the picture on page 15 lecture 5?
Chlorophyll levels