9/28/2016

71% of earth’s surface

Aquatic Ecosystem is covered by water Rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, inland
wetlands are freshwater

-97.4% of world’s
water is salty;
2.6% fresh water
-1.984% freshwater
in ice caps &
glaciers
-.014% available to
us
http://whyfiles.org/131fresh_water/2.html

http://www1.tecnet.or.jp/sand/map/map3.htm

Watersheds are important to all life…

Drinking water... Recreation... Wildlife habitats... Economic benefits
• Point & Nonpoint pollution sources…what are they?

• Water picks up pollutants left by human activities…  Aquatic ecosystems, like those on land, have a series of
abiotic factors that influence what organisms can
• Farmers, businesses & homeowners use fertilizers &
pesticides. These run-off into water supplies.
survive where.
• Industrial pollutants are dumped or run-off into our  Salinity, or the dissolved salt in the water.
waterways
Individuals like you and me…  Water temperature
• Fail to pick up after our pets  Amount of sunlight
• Dump auto fluids, gasoline from lawn mowers, etc.
down storm drains  Availability of dissolved oxygen gas in the water.
• Leave grass clippings and leaves on paved surfaces
 Nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates.
• Wash cars on the street or driveway
 Turbidity, or the cloudiness of the water.

www.naai.moldova.md/GI_images/econ_agric/griu_l.jpg
www.dem.ri.gov/programs/bpoladm/stratpp/partnership/watshed/

Biotic Factors
 Benthos are bottom-
 Life in aquatic ecosystems dwellers.
falls within these types:  Sea stars, lobsters,
mussels, etc.
 Plankton, which are free-
 Decomposers break
floating or weakly swimming.
down dead organisms
 Phytoplankton are plant-like
and wastes into
and include algae.
nutrients that can be
 Zooplankton are animal-like,
including organisms like
re-used.
single-celled protozoa or  Bacteria.
jellyfish.
 Nekton are strong swimmers
and consumers.
Fish, whales, sea turtles, etc.

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 Freshwater lakes form in depressions made by glaciers,

volcanic activity, or movement of the Earth’s plates.
Freshwater Ecosystems  The littoral zone is near the shore and contains shallow,
sunlit waters.
 Freshwater ecosystems have a very low salinity level.  High biological diversity due to the presence of
 Include lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, and inland photosynthetic plants and algae.
wetlands.  The limnetic zone is also sunlit, but is farther away from
 Some freshwater ecosystems are lentic, meaning they the shore.
contain standing water. Others are lotic, meaning the  Most of the
photosynthesis
water is constantly moving. in the lake occurs
here, producing
the majority of
the food and
oxygen.

 The benthic zone is the area near the bottom of the  Ecologists will classify lakes based on their nutrient
lake. As in the ocean, this layer is inhabited mostly by levels and biological productivity.
decomposers feeding from detritus from above.  Oligotrophic lakes are very low in nutrients.
 Populations
of plankton
and algae
are very low.

McDonald Lake
Glacier National Park
Montana, United States

 Eutrophic lakes have much greater concentrations of

nutrients.
 This removes a growth limiting factor for algae and
plankton.

Chesapeake Bay
Maryland, United States

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 Water in the source zone is generally cold, rich in

Rivers and Streams oxygen, and low in nutrients.
 Streams, narrow channels of  As the water moves through the transition zone, the
water, often begin in streams widen, become deeper, and are warmed by the
mountainous areas, where sun.
water (from melting snow or  Oxygen levels decrease, but nutrient levels rise.
glaciers) moves rapidly
across rocks and down
waterfalls.
 Rivers are formed when
streams combine with
runoff water from the
surrounding land.

Angel Falls, Bolivia

 Low-lying areas, called the flood plain zone,
experience wide, slow-moving rivers that will
occasionally flood and deposit material from
upstream.
 The water continues to warm, oxygen levels decrease.
The nutrients continue to increase.
 The river eventually ends at a larger body of water. This
is called the river mouth.
 Freshwater mixes with saltwater, forming brackish
water.

 As a major shipping port, New Orleans has built canals

Freshwater Inland Wetlands to allow ships to move through more easily.
 Located away from coastal
areas, inland wetlands
are non-permanent bodies
of fresh water.
 Marshes do not have
trees, swamps do.
 Bogs are wetlands
characterized by plants
that produce an acidic  An unintended consequence of this has been to allow
secretion, slowing down Volo Bog
saltwater to intrude farther inland than normal.
Illinois, United States
the action of
 The increased salinity kills off freshwater wetland plants.
decomposers.

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Aquatic Zones
 The oceans and freshwater ecosystems are divided into
different zones based on the availability of two biggest
limiting factors:
 Sunlight  The coastal zone extends from the high-tide mark on
 Nutrients land to the edge of the continental shelf.
 Despite only making up 10% of the ocean’s ecosystems,
the coastal zone accounts for 90% of its biodiversity.
 Life is plentiful due to an abundance of sunlight and
nutrients, the two biggest limiting factors for life in the
water.

 Within the coastal zone are estuaries; partially  A salt marsh is a coastal wetland regularly flooded by
enclosed bodies of water where seawater mixes with tides, and dominated by herbs, grasses, and shrubs.
freshwater.  No trees.
 There are also many varieties of coastal wetlands; areas
of land that are fully saturated with water at least part
of the year.
 Salt marshes
 Sea grass beds
 Mangrove forests

Low salt marsh, Great Bay, New Hampshire

Photo from New Hampshire Division of Forests and Lands.

 Mangrove swamps are wetlands with trees that have

 Sea grass beds are wetlands with plants that have long, evolved to survive in the high-salt, low-oxygen water.
narrow leaves that grow to resemble grasslands.

Sea grass bed, Bermuda.

Photo from Government of Bermuda Ministry of
Environment and Planning.
Mangrove swamp, Florida Everglades.

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Benefits of Wetlands
 Wetlands are highly productive ecosystems that
support a great deal of biodiversity.
 They can slow and hold influxes of water, helping to
prevent flooding.
 Water that passes through wetlands tends to come out
cleaner, with less sediment and pollution.
Intertidal Zone
 The gravitational pull of the moon and sun causes
tides to rise and fall about every 6 hours on coasts.
 This creates an intertidal zone that is submerged
during high tide and exposed during low tide.
 The physical nature
of the shores in intertidal
zones can vary greatly.

 Rocky shores are found on

coasts with heavy wave activity. Coral Reefs
 Sandy shores are found in areas  Coral polyps are small animals that live in the warm
with gentler wave action or that coastal waters of the tropics and subtropics.
are sheltered.  Mutualistic relationship with photosynthetic algae.
 The color of sand indicates the  As the polyps grow, they
source material that eroded to produce a calcium-based
form it:
external skeleton. When
 Black: Volcanic
the polyps die, the
 Brown: Granite
skeletons are left behind
 White: Coral
and are built upon by
other polyps.

 Over time, the network of crevices and ledges creates a

coral reef; an ideal habitat for a wide variety of fish and Open Ocean
other marine animals.  Moving away from the coast, the availability of nutrients
 The most diverse and productive ecosystem in the decreases rapidly.
ocean.  Nutrients become a limiting factor for life.
 The open ocean
is sometimes
referred to as a
“marine desert”
due to the
relative lack of
life here.
 Animals found
here must be able to
travel great distances
to find food.

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 The characteristics of  Food webs in the

the water in the open benthic zone are
ocean change as you much different
move downwards. because their source
 The photic zone of energy is not
contains sufficient
sunlight for sunlight, but dead
photosynthesis. matter that sinks
 The aphotic zone from above layers.
(bathyal zone) contains  Also known as
little to no sunlight. “marine snow”.
 The benthic zone
(abyssal zone) is the
ocean floor; no sunlight
reaches here.

 Many species living in the aphotic and benthic

zones are bioluminescent, meaning they can
produce and emit light.
Mangroves

Key physical and chemical or abiotic factors

affecting terrestrial ecosystems and aquatic URBAN ECOSYSTEMS
life zones
An urban ecosystem includes people among
TERRESTRIAL AQUATIC LIFE ZONES
ECOSYSTEMS
the living things, and the structures they
build among the nonliving things. In an
• sunlight • light penetration urban ecosystem, humans influence
•Temperature • water currents ecological factors (plants, air, soil, animals),
• precipitation • dissolved nutrient
•Wind concentrations (especially AND human decisions (where to build
•Latitude (distance from N and P) houses, parks, highways, schools) are
equator) • suspended solids influenced by ecological factors.
•Altitude ( distance above
sea level)
•Fire frequency
•soil

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URBAN ECOSYSTEMS URBAN ECOSYSTEMS

 a town or a city PHILIPPINE VISION FOR URBAN

 classification is arbitrary based on residential pop’n DEVELOPMENT
density
 rural – mainly food producers
 urban – mainly engaged in services or employed  To become a place where the least among
in factories the citizens has the decent minimum of
food, clothing, shelter, and dignity and the
 unique from other ecosystems because these are chance to make his or her life the fullest it
essentially human construction
can be
 have the greatest impacts on the surrounding
environment, both in scale and character

 urban settlements – considered ecosystem because  City as a system

they have subsystems with hierarchies in them
Interactions: competition, complementation, or mere co-
existence
 urban ecosystems are similar to natural ecosystems
because they have subsystems, functions, processes and
flows. Although the former is man-made.
 Flow of energy
 Raw materials (food, water, wood,
energy, mineral ores, everything that a
human society needs) to products and
eventually release of waste
 Not self contained ecosystem, connected
with other system
 Affected by other system. Urban and
rural must be treated as one system.

Analogy between biological sciences and events

MICROCLIMATE
of human settlements
• determines the condition for survival of most
organisms

3rd Order
Consumers
Urban
Coordinators
• vegetation moderates climate of a given area by
altering wind movement, evaporation, moisture and
Service Oriented
2nd Order Consumers
Urban Centers
soil temperature

1st Order Processing/wholesaling towns

Consumers

Producers Extracting community

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MICROCLIMATE in the CITY

 urban microclimate is a product of the

Thank you!
morphology of the city and the density and
the activity of its occupants
 impervious surfaces, concrete buildings
absorbs more heat and re-radiating
heat ( high capacity for absorbing)
 compared with natural vegetation and
ground surfaces in rural areas low
heat conductivity