Name _______KEY____________
Questions for “The Aquatic Biome” - KEY
Answer each question using complete sentences.
1. What are the two basic regions of the aquatic biome?
The two main regions are freshwater and marine.
2. List name of each zone of a pond/lake and the organisms you would fine there.
Topmost zone – littoral zone
Organisms present – several species of algae (diatoms), rooted and floating plants,
grazing snails, clams, insects, crustaceans, fishes, amphibians
Near-surface open water zone – limnetic zone
Organisms present – plankton (phytoplankton and zooplankton) variety of fish
Deep-water zone – profundal zone
Organisms present – heterotrophic organisms that eat dead organisms
3. Compare the temperature of the surface waters to the bottom waters in a lake in the summer
and the winter?
In the summer, the temperature can range from 4° C near the bottom to 22° C at the top.
In the winter, the temperature at the bottom in near 4° C and down to 0° C (ice) at the top.
4. Complete the table below about the different sections of a river/stream.
Characteristic
Temperature
Start/Headwater
colder
Middle
X
Mouth
warmer
Water clarity
clearer
X
murky
Dissolved oxygen
higher
X
lower
Species diversity
lowest
highest
X
5. What is a wetland? Give three examples.
A wetland is any area with standing water that supports aquatic plants.
Examples – marshes, swamps, bogs, salt marshes
6. List name of each zone of the ocean and the organisms you would fine there.
Zone where ocean meets the land – intertidal
Organisms present – algae, mollusks, herbivorous snails, crabs, sea stars, small fishes,
worms, clams, predatory crustaceans, shorebirds
Open ocean waters – pelagic
Organisms present – surface seaweeds, fish, mammals, plankton
Waters below the pelagic zone – benthic zone
Organisms present – seaweed, bacteria, fungi, sponges, sea anemones, worms, sea stars,
fishes
Deep ocean – abyssal zone
Organisms present – many species of invertebrates and fishes, hydrothermal vent
organisms, bacteria
7. What is an estuary? An estuary is an area where freshwater streams/rivers merge with the
ocean.