Aquatic Systems An Overview

This is part of the educational series that http://schools.indiawaterportal.org has introduced. This presentation is aimed at allowing the teaching and parent community to explain the existing and potential problems of water mismanagement in our world. This is part of the creative common license

1. Aquatic ecosystems

2. Aquatic Ecosystems
Marine eco systems
Open sea
Coastal
Estuary and salt marshes
Coral reefs and mangroves
An ecosystem located in water bodies
Open sea
Estuary and salt marshes
Coral reefs and mangroves
rivers, streams and springs
ponds
lakes
Fresh water ecosystems
Flowing water (rivers, streams and springs)
Static / slow moving water (ponds, lakes,
pools / swamps)

3. Fresh Water Ecosystems
•Fresh water covers 0.8% of the Earth's surface and contain 0.009% of its
total water.
•Freshwater ecosystems contain 41% of the world's known fish species.
•Two types of freshwater ecosystems:
–Lotic : Flowing water (rivers, streams and springs)
–Lentic: Static / slow moving water (ponds, lakes, pools)

4. Lotic Ecosystems
Species adapted to live in conditions of constant flow
Variation in lotic ecosystems (even within a river or a stream) is
considerable and is determined by
*Shape of stream / river bed (can form microhabitats)
*Stream / river bed's gradient
*Quantity of water
*Velocity of the current
*Faster moving water has higher concentrations of dissolved oxygen, and therefore
supports greater biodiversity
*Light
*Temperature
*most lotic species are poikilotherms, whose internal temperature varies with the
surrounding temperature
*Water chemistry (which changes in large rivers)

5. Lotic Ecosystems
riparian
Sunlight
nutrients
decomposers
Primary producers
Macroinvertebrates
Fish
Frog
amphibians
reptiles
Mammals (dolphins, otters)
Reptiles (turtles, crocodiles, snakes)
Amphibians (salamander)
Fish
Macro invertebrates
Insects
Molluscs (snails, clams, mussels)
Crustaceans (crabs)
Bacteria
Primary producers
Algae, Mosses, Liverwort,
Duckweed, Water hyacinth

6. Lentic Ecosystems
Lakes are heterogenous and not a uniform mass of water
Biodiversity within a lake is also variable and depends on
Physical characteristics
Light
Temperature
Water currents
Chemical characteristics
Nutrients
Contaminants

7. Lake zones
Terrestrial plants
Littoral zone
Emerged plants
Floating plants
Limnetic zone (open water)
Submerged
plants
Euphotic zone
Benthic zone

8. Lake organisms
Creatures that go where ever they choose to go
Creatures that go where ever the water takes them
Creatures that live on the lake bottom
fish
amphibians
Larger zooplanktons
Living creatures – planktons
Animals: zooplanktons
Algae : phytoplankton
Bacteria : bacterioplankton
Dead creatures –Detritius
Internal: produced within lake
External: washed in from wash shed
Animals
Aquatic insects, clams, snails
worms, cray fish
Plants
macrophytes
periphyton
Bacteria and fungi
Sewage sludge

9. NUTRIENTS
EAT
USE
RECYCLE
EAT
EAT
PISCIVOROUS
FISH
PLANKTIVOROUS
FISH
ZOOPLANKTON
ALGAE
BENTHIC
ORGANISMS
The food chain in a lake

10. Food and energy web in a lake
DECOMPOSERS
LOSS
THROUGH
OUTLET
LOST TO
SEDIMENTS
RECYCLED NUTRIENTS TERITIARY CONSUMERS
SECONDARY CONSUMERS
PRIMARY CONSUMERS
PRIMARY PRODUCERS
OUTSIDE NUTRIENTS
SOLAR ENERGY
RECYCLED NUTRIENTS

11. Ocean zones
6,000m
10,000m
2000 to 1,000m
200m
700 to 1,000m
4 degree C
10 degree C

12. Marine ecosystems
Spread over 71% of the Earth’s surface
Open sea
Coastal
Estuary and salt marshes
Coral reefs and mangroves
Each is a complex ecosystem
Producers, consumers and decomposers as
in other ecosystems
http://www.earthhistory.org.uk/
http://www.nu.ac.za
http://www.learnnc.org/
http://www.geocities.com
http://www.minresco.com/australia