This document provides information on various types of aquatic ecosystems and their characteristics. It discusses the basic needs of aquatic biota like CO2, O2, sunlight, and nutrients, and factors that influence the availability of these needs such as dissolved substances, suspended matter, depth, temperature, and flow. It also describes different aquatic ecosystem types such as freshwater, estuaries, wetlands, and marine ecosystems. For each ecosystem type, it provides examples of organism inhabitants and threats they face. The document concludes with sections on landscape ecology, restoration ecology, and ecosystem management.

1. AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY
RESTORATION ECOLOGY
ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT
Chapters 8 and 10

2. What are the basic needs of
aquatic biota?
• CO2
• O2
• Sunlight
• Nutrients- food &
minerals

3. What factors influence the
availability of those basic needs?
• Substances dissolved in water-
Nitrates, phosphates,
potassium, O2
• Suspended matter- (silt, algae)
can affect light penetration
• Depth
• Temperature
• Rate of flow
• Bottom characteristics (muddy,
sandy, or rocky)
• Internal convection currents
• Connection to or isolation from
other aquatic ecosystems.

4. Types of Aquatic Ecosystems
• Freshwater Ecosystems
– Standing Water- lakes &
ponds
– Moving Water- rivers &
streams
• Transitional Communities
– Estuaries
– Wetlands- bogs/fens,
swamps, marshes
• Marine Ecosystems
– Shorelines
– Barrier Islands
– Coral Reefs
– Open Ocean

5. Freshwater Ecosystems
• Usually 0.005% salt
– Some exceptions:
• Great Salt Lakes-
5-27% salt
• Dead Sea- 30% salt
• Moving water- high
elevations; cold; high O2;
trout; streamlined plants
• Standing water- lower
elevations; warmer; less
O2; bass, amphibians;
cattails, rushes

6. How is a lake stratified and what
lives in each level?
• Epilimnion- upper layer of
warm water; high light & O2;
ex: water striders, phyto- &
zooplankton, fish
• Thermocline (mesolimnion);
middle layer; medium light &
O2; ex: phyto- & zooplankton,
fish
• Hypolimnion- lower layer of
cold water; lower light & O2;
ex: fish
• Benthos- bottom level; no light
& little O2; ex: anaerobic
bacteria, leeches; insect larvae
• Littoral- near the shoreline;
cattails, rushes, amphibians,
etc.

7. Transitional Communities
• ESTUARIES
• Where freshwater dumps
into ocean
• Brackish (less salty than
seawater)
• Has rich sediments that
often form deltas
• Productive & biodiverse
• Organisms adapted to
varying levels of salinity
as tide ebbs & flows
• “Nursery” for larval forms
of many aquatic species
of commercial fish &
shellfish

8. Transitional Communities
• WETLANDS
• Land saturated at least part of
the year Swamp
• Swamps- have trees like bald
cypress; high productivity
• Marshes- no trees; tall
grasses; high productivity
• Bogs/Fens- may or may not Marsh
have trees; waterlogged soil
with lots of peat; low
productivity
– Fens- fed by groundwater &
surface runoff
– Bogs- fed by precipitation
Bog
Fen

9. Importance of Wetlands
• Highly productive- get lots of
sunlight, ↑ plants =
↑ animals
• Nesting, breeding ground for
migratory birds
• Slows flooding by absorbing runoff
• Silt settles, making water clearer &
nutrient rich
• Trap & filter water
• Natural chemical rxns neutralize
and detoxify pollutants
• Gives H2O time to percolate thru
soil & replenish underground
aquifers.
• Threats- artificial eutrophication
(see slide 13), draining,
sedimentation via construction
• “Nature’s Septic Tank”

10. Marine Ecosystems
• SHORELINES
• Rocky coasts- great density &
diversity attached to solid rock
surface
• Sandy beaches- burrowing
animals
• Threats- due to hotels,
restaurants, homes on beach,
more plant life destroyed,
destabilizing soil, susceptible
to wind & water erosion
• Insurance high; danger of
hurricanes, erosion
• Build sea walls to protect
people but changes &
endangers shoreline habitat

11. Marine Ecosystems
• BARRIER ISLANDS
• Low, narrow offshore
islands
• Protect inland shores
from storms
• Beauty attracts
developers = developers
destroy land
• New coastal zoning laws
protect future
development

12. MARINE ECOSYSTEMS
• CORAL REEFS
• Clear, warm shallow seas
• Made up of accumulated
calcareous (made of calcium)
skeletons of coral animals
• Formation depends on light
penetration.
• Have a symbiotic relationship
with algae
• Very diverse, abundant
(rainforests of sea)
• Threats- destructive fishing
(cyanide & dynamite to stun
fish), pet trade; about 3/4ths
have been destroyed

13. What factors can alter aquatic
ecosystems?
• Natural Succession-
normal cycle of pond
becoming forest
• Artificial Succession-
humans add N & P to
water via fertilizer &
sewage causing
succession to happen
faster =
EUTROPHICATION

14. What factors can alter aquatic
ecosystems?
• Humans!
– Find food
– Recreation
– Waste disposal
– Cooling of power
plants
– Transportation
– Dams, canals

15. Biomes
• Which biome has the largest total area? The
smallest total area?
• Which biome has the highest % of undisturbed
habitat?
• Which biome has the lowest % of undisturbed
habitat?
• Which biome has the highest % human
dominated habitat?
• Which biome has the lowest % human
dominated habitat?

16. LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY

17. LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY
• Landscape- geographic
unit with a history that
shapes the features of
the land and organisms
in it.
• Landscape ecology- the
study of how landscape
structure affects the
abundance and
distribution of organisms.
• Does not just focus on
“untouched nature”

18. LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY
• Uses geographical
information systems
(GIS) to map patch
size, type and
configuration to
create 3-D maps
• These maps assist
land planners in
analyzing land use
patterns

19. LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY
• Focus on how neighboring communities of
a landscape interact

20. RESTORATION ECOLOGY
Chapter 10

21. RESTORATION ECOLOGY
• Repair or reconstruct Before
ecosystems damaged by
humans or natural forces
• Growing field of science
• People are now being
held responsible for their
actions- restoring
wetlands & habitat for
endangered species
After

22. The 5 “R’s” of Restoration Ecology
• Restoration- Before
manipulation of
nature to re-create
species composition
& ecosystem
processes as close
as possible to the
state they were in
before humans
interfered. After

23. The 5 “R’s” of Restoration Ecology
• Rehabilitation- to
bring an area back
to a useful state for
human purposes
rather than a truly
natural state.
- reverse
These people in Africa are trying to
deterioration if can’t use rocks to create a sort of wind
be restored fully break to prevent wind erosion of their
soil. The soil will never be like it was
but it will hopefully be usable.

24. The 5 “R’s” of Restoration Ecology
• Remediation- process
of cleaning chemical
contamination from a
polluted area by
physical or biological
methods to protect
human & ecosystem
health
- Incinerate soil
contaminated with oil
- use special bacteria to
clean up oil spills in
water (bioremediation)
This is like an artificial wetland-
wastewater comes in, settles,
roots cleanse the water

25. The 5 “R’s” of Restoration Ecology
• Reclamation-
techniques used to Before
restore the shape,
original contour and
vegetation of a
disturbed site
- Surface Mining Control
& Reclamation Act
(SMCRA) requires
mining operations to
After
restore the open pit
mines they create to
natural state.

26. The 5 “R’s” of Restoration Ecology
• Re-creation- attempts to
construct a new biological
community on a site so
severely disturbed that
there is virtually nothing left
to restore.
- often must build a wetland
elsewhere to make up for
the one destroyed by
developer
- Read story of Army Corp
of Engineers & Florida
Everglades restoration

27. Preservationists vs. Restorationists
• Preservationist- don’t start
destructive projects in the first
place. Preserve nature- “you
can’t always fix what you
broke”
• Restorationists- you are never
going to be able to save every
bit of land. Who says changes
we make in restoring
ecosystems is unnatural?
• Are we members of the
community or separate from it?
• Should we use our creative
energies to try to improve
nature, or should we leave well
enough alone?

28. Tools of Restoration
• Prairies- collect native
prairie grasses from
graveyards and plant in
abandoned farm fields to
reestablish native
grasslands
• Remove alien species-
like privet @ nature
center; hunting goats on
Galapagos
• Walk away from
ecosystem & let recover
naturally- N. & S. Korea
after the Korean War

29. Restoration Ethics
• If habitat was filled with diseased, ugly
organisms, should you return it to that Canal
state? Should you reintroduce in
mosquitoes, black flies, leeches, ticks, China
poisonous snakes? Before
• Should you improve on nature?
• Where do you find plants for
restoration? Do you take from small
population nearby or find larger
population farther away?
• Is there more than one natural state?
What is the history of the area? Canal
• Since humans are part of nature, in
whatever changes we make to China
landscape also are natural. Is that After
true?
• Can we use nature to solve human Notice
problems? Read story on page 121 plants
about Arcata, California’s artificial
wetland project. used as
filtering
system

30. Ecosystem Management
• How can we have progress
and still maintain the
environment?
• Aldo Leopold was one of the
pioneers on his Sand County
farm
• US Forest Services, Bureau of
Land Management, National
Park Service all adopted
versions of ecosystem
management
• Previously, these agencies
used their lands for
commercial or recreational
uses & did not focus on wildlife
habitats, endangered species,
etc.