The biome that is always moving to different places.
Jose Luis Diaz
Yareth Marquez
Maria Flores
What is Fresh Water?
Fresh water has a low salt
concentration usually less
than 1%. Plants and animals
in freshwater regions are
adjusted to the low salt
content and would not be
able to survive in areas of
high salt concentration.
There are different types of
fresh water regions. The
types of regions are ponds
and lakes, streams and
rivers and wetlands.
Ponds and Lakes:
Many ponds are seasonal, lasting just a couple of months
while lakes may exist for hundreds of years or more.
Ponds and lakes are divided in three different types of
zones. Depending on depth and distance from a
shoreline. The three types of zones are littoral zone,
imnetic zone and profundal zone.
The left one is a pond and the right one is a lake. (left to right)
Littoral Zone:
This zone is the warmest since it is shallow and can
absorb more of the sun's heat. It has many different
living things which can include several species of
algae, rooted and floating aquatic plants, grazing
snails, clams, insects, crustaceans, fishes, and
amphibians. The vegetation and animals living in the
littoral zone are food for other creatures such as
turtles, snakes, and ducks. The zone close to shore.
Here light reaches all the way to the bottom.
Top left a snail, top right clams, bottom left fish and bottom right a
turtle all these animals live in fresh water. In the littoral zone.
Limnetic Zone:
The limnetic zone is well-lighted and is dominated by
plankton, both phytoplankton and zooplankton. A
variety of freshwater fish also occupy this zone. This is
the layer of open water where photosynthesis can
occur. The limnetic zone is shallower is turbid water
than in clear and is a more prominent feature of lakes
than of ponds. As one descends deeper in the limnetic
zone, the amount of light decreases until a depth is
reached where the rate of photosynthesis becomes
equal to the rate of respiration.
These are two of the many fishes living in fresh water. They usually
live in the limnetic zone.
Profundal Zone:
This zone is much colder and denser than the other two.
Little light penetrates all the way through the limnetic
zone into the profundal zone. The fauna are
heterotrophs, meaning that they eat dead organisms
and use oxygen for cellular respiration. The profundal
zone is chiefly inhabited by primary consumers that
are either attached to or crawl along the sediments at
the bottom of the lake. The sediments underlying the
profundal zone also support a large population of
bacteria and fungi.
Fungi living in the profundal zone.
Streams and Rivers:
Streams and rivers can be found everywhere they get
their starts at headwaters, which may be springs,
snowmelt or even lakes, and then travel all the way to
their mouths, usually another water channel or the
ocean. The temperature is cooler at the source than it
is at the mouth. Freshwater fish such as trout and
heterotrophy can be found there.
Fishes that are found in streams and rivers.
Wetlands:
Wetlands are areas of standing water that support
aquatic plants. Wetlands have the highest species
diversity of all ecosystems. Many species of
amphibians, reptiles, birds (such as ducks and
waders), and furbearers can be found in the wetlands.
Where is fresh water found?
The ten top places fresh water is found
1. Iceland
2. Gabon
3. Peru
4. Canada
5. New Zealand
6. Norway
7. Congo
8. Bolivia
9. Papua N. Guinea
10. Liberia
What causes Fresh water?
Fresh water is caused when water flows from melting
snow or rain it flows to the ocean. During this travel it
goes through streams rivers and lakes. These areas
create places for fresh water plants and animals to live.
Animal Adaptation
The American alligator lays out in the sun because he is
cold blooded and needs to warm up his blood so that
he can be able to move. He also hunts during the
night. The alligator is black so it can camouflage with
the water to be able to catch its prey. When he swims
his eyes are the only things you see. That way the prey
does not see him when he is coming. The paddlefish’s
most distinctive characteristic is its namesake shovelshaped snout. This is used to filter plankton from the
water through gill rakes.
These are two of the many animals that live in fresh
water the information on their adaptations is in the top
slide.
Plant adaptations
The lily grows in fresh water. To adapt to this water it
grown in large flat circles and not up. These great
smelling plants grow slowly. They make it hard for fish
to swim and water ski.
Another fresh water plant is cat tail. This plant can filter
runoff in the lake. They have two ways to spread seeds
made by their flowers, and roots that creep, called
rhizomes. Cattails use the wind to spread their fluffy
seeds, and discourage over-population in wellestablished stands by emitting a toxin that prevents
germination of their own species.
This are two of the many plants that grow in fresh water.
This a lily and a cat tail the information about them is on
the top slide.
Resources
 http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibits/biomes/fresh
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water.php
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPag
es/F/Freshwater.html#LimneticZone
http://www.nature.org/animals/reptiles/animals/allig
ator.html
http://www.fws.gov/endangered/factsheets/alligator.p
df
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/plants/weeds/lil
y.html
Do you have any questions?