Flowing-Water Ecosystems
• Rivers, streams, creeks
• Plenty of dissolved oxygen
• Turtles and beavers make home down stream
Standing-Water Ecosystems
• Lakes and Ponds
• Plankton: general term for the tiny, free-floating
organisms that live in both freshwater and saltwater.
– Phytoplankton: unicellular algae
– Zooplankton: feed on phytoplankton
Freshwater wetlands
• An ecosystem where water covers the soil or is
present at or near the surface for at least part
of the year.
– Bogs
– Marshes
– Swamps
Estuaries
• Where the river meets the sea
• Freshwater and saltwater mixed
• Detritus: tiny pieces of organic material that
provide for organisms at the base of some
aquatic food webs.
Salt Marshes
• Temperate-zone estuaries
• Salt-tolerant grasses above low-tide line
• Sea grasses under water
Mangrove Swamps
• Tropical coastal wetlands
• Found in Southern Florida and Hawaii
• Several species of salt-tolerant trees
Marine Zones
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Salt water
Photic zone: where sunlight can reach
Aphotic zone: sunlight cannot reach.
Divided into intertidal, coastal, and open
ocean zones.
Intertidal Zone
• Zonation: the prominent horizontal banding
of organisms that live in a particular habitat.
Coastal Ocean
• From the outer edge of the intertidal zone to
the outer edge of the continental shelf.
• Kelp forests
Coral Reefs
• Hard calcium carbonate skeletons make up
their primary structure.
• Plants or animals?????????
Open Ocean
• More than 90% of Earth’s ocean
• Examples of animals that occupy this zone:
Benthic Zone
• The ocean FLOOR.
• Dependent on detritus