LIGHT,

TEMPERATURE AND
STRATIFICATION

ADVANCE ECOLOGY
JOLIBOY P. CONOL
What is Light
Light is essential for photosynthesis, the process by which
plants and algae use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to
create oxygen and energy in the form of sugar.
Light also plays a role in other ecological processes, such as

Animal behavior: Light also plays a role in animal behavior.

Many animals use light for vision, foraging, and communication.
For example, some animals use light to navigate, while others
use light to attract mates or to warn predators.
• Community structure: Light availability can also influence
the structure of ecological communities. For example, in
forests, the different layers of vegetation are determined in
part by the amount of light that reaches each layer.
 Here are some examples of how light affects
ecological processes:
• Phytoplankton blooms: Phytoplankton are microscopic algae
that are the base of the aquatic food web. Phytoplankton
blooms occur when there is an abundance of nutrients and
light.
• Coral reefs: Coral reefs are found in shallow, well-lit waters.
The corals that build reefs are symbionts with algae, which
need light to photosynthesize. If the water temperature rises
too high, the algae can die, causing the corals to bleach and
eventually die.
• Forest succession: Forest succession is the process by which
different types of trees and other plants replace each other
over time. Light availability is a key factor that influences
forest succession. For example, shade-tolerant trees typically
succeed shade-intolerant trees.
What is Temperature
Temperature affects the rates of all metabolic processes,
including growth, reproduction, and respiration. Organisms
are adapted to live within a certain temperature range, and
they may experience stress or death if the temperature falls
outside of that range.
Here are some examples of how temperature
affects ecological processes:

• Geographic distribution of species: Temperature is a major

factor that determines the geographic distribution of species.
For example, some species are adapted to live in cold climates,
while others are adapted to live in warm climates.
• Population dynamics: Temperature can also affect population
dynamics by influencing the birth rate, death rate, and
immigration and emigration rates of populations. For example,
some species have higher birth rates at higher temperatures.
• Community structure: Temperature can also influence the
structure of ecological communities. For example, in lakes and
oceans, the different layers of the water column are
determined in part by the temperature of the water.
Temperature Fluctuate
Here are some specific examples of how
temperature affects organisms in ecosystems:
What is stratification
It is the layering of water in a water body based on density.
Density is affected by temperature and salinity. Warmer water is
less dense than colder water, and saltier water is denser than
fresher water. Stratification occurs when warmer, less dense
water floats on top of colder, more dense water.
Stratification can have a significant impact on the distribution of
aquatic organisms. For example, some organisms prefer to live in
the warm, upper layers of the water column, while others prefer
to live in the colder, lower layers. Some organisms may also
migrate between different layers of the water column in
response to changes in temperature and other conditions.

Here are some specific examples of how stratification affects

the distribution of aquatic organisms:

• Phytoplankton
• Zooplankton
• Fish
 Summary
Light, temperature, and stratification are three of the most
important abiotic factors that influence the distribution and
abundance of organisms in aquatic ecosystems. These factors
can interact in complex ways to create a variety of different
habitats for aquatic organisms. By understanding how these
factors work, we can better understand the structure and
function of aquatic ecosystems.
 Lakes and Reservoirs:
Physiography
Contents:
• Formation: Geological Processes
• Lake Habitats and Morphometry
• Unique Properties of Reservoirs
• Geomorphological Evolution of lakes and Reservoirs
• Stratification
• Advance: Heat Budgets of Lakes
• Water Movement and Currents in Lakes
• Summary
 Lake
It is very slowly or non-flowing (lentic) open body of water in a
depression that is not contact with the ocean

Permanent
lakes are common
where more
precipitation occurs
and where geology
allows formation of
water-retaining basin

Intermittent
lake - A lake that is
intermittent; that is, a
lake that is dry for part
of the year. Example A
prime example of this is
Lake Cerknica in
Slovenia
The difference between Lake
and Ponds
There is no technical difference between lakes and
ponds, according to the National Park Service. However, a
general rule is if a body of water is large and deep it's a lake and
if it's short and shallow it's a pond.
Types of Lakes
Tectonic Lake
They are formed due to tectonic movements of the
earth’s crust. These movements include faulting, warping, or
rifting of tectonic plates, which cause vertical or lateral
movement of the earth’s surface. Tectonic lakes appear in those
spots, with some of the world’s grandest and deepest lakes
coming under this category.
Ex. Wula Lake in India
 Volcanic Lake
Is a lake formed as a result of volcanic activity. They are
generally a body of water inside an inactive volcanic crater.
 Oxbow lake
the remains of the bend in the river. Oxbow lakes are
Stillwater lakes. This means that water does not flow into or
out of them. There is no stream or spring feeding the lake, and
it doesn't have a natural outlet. Oxbow lakes often become
swamps or bogs, and they often dry up as their water
evaporates. Example: Oxford Canal in England
 Glacial Lake
A glacial lake is a body of water that originates from glacier
activity. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land and
then melts, filling the depression created by the glacier. Glacial
lakes can be found all over the world, but they are most
common in high-altitude regions with glaciers, such as the
Himalayas, the Andes, and the Alps.
Artificial Lake
 Oasis lake
Is a lake that occurs in an arid or semi-arid region. It is typically
surrounded by desert or dry land, and is fed by an underground
water source, such as an aquifer or spring. Oasis lakes can be
natural or man-made.
Lake habitat and Morphomitry
Lake habitat and morphometry are two closely related concepts.
Lake habitat refers to the physical and biological conditions of a
lake that support different types of organisms. Lake
morphometry is the study of the three-dimensional structure of
a lake, including its size, shape, depth, and volume.
Lake habitat can be divided
into different zones
Lentic or Lacustine- it is referred to lake habitat in
general (habitat with deep, nonflowing water.

Profoundal- zone in
the benthic habitat
below the pelagic
water with light so
low that
photosynthesis is
negligible.
Pelagic zone- the open water of a lake, particularly the
water column above the depth that does not receive
enough light to maintain benthic photosynthesis organism.
Littoral zone: The littoral zone is the shallowest zone of
a lake, extending from the shoreline to the depth
where light can no longer penetrate. The littoral zone is
the most productive zone of a lake, and it is home to a
variety of plants, algae, and animals.
Benthic zone: The benthic zone is the bottom of a lake. It is
home to a variety of organisms, including insects, worms,
and fish.
Unique Properties of Reservoirs
Reservoirs, lakes have a number of unique properties that
distinguish them from natural lakes. These properties are due to the fact that
reservoirs are man-made and are designed to serve specific purposes, such as
water supply, irrigation, flood control, and hydroelectric power generation.
Larger reservoirs often have more lake-like biological and physical
characteristics. Thus, species commonly associated with rivers are gradually
replace with those more commonly found in lakes as one moves closer to the
dam
 Geo-morphological Evolution of
lakes and Reservoirs
• Once a lake or reservoir is formed, it begins to evolve over time. This evolution is
driven by a variety of factors, including:
• Sedimentation: Sediment from the surrounding landscape is washed into lakes and
reservoirs over time. This sedimentation can cause the lake or reservoir to become
shallower and smaller.
• Erosion: Waves and currents can erode the shorelines of lakes and reservoirs. This
erosion can cause the lake or reservoir to change shape and size.
• Vegetation growth: Vegetation can grow in the shallow areas of lakes and reservoirs.
This vegetation growth can reduce the amount of open water and change the habitat
for fish and other aquatic organisms.
• The geomorphological evolution of lakes and reservoirs can have a significant impact
on the ecosystems that they support. For example, sedimentation can reduce the
amount of light that penetrates the water column, which can impact the growth of
aquatic plants and algae. Erosion can change the shape and size of lakes and
reservoirs, which can impact the habitat for fish and other aquatic organisms.
 Stratification

Lake stratification is the tendency of lakes to form separate and

distinct thermal layers during warm weather. Typically stratified
lakes show three distinct layers:

• Lake stratification is caused by the fact that water density

varies with temperature. Cold water is denser than warm
water, so the colder water sinks to the bottom of the lake,
while the warmer water floats on top. The metalimnion is the
layer of water where the temperature change is rapid enough
to prevent mixing between the epilimnion and hypolimnion.
Epilimnion: is the top layer of the lake. It is the warmest layer and is
typically well-mixed.
Metalimnion: is the middle layer of the lake. It is a transition zone
where the temperature changes rapidly with depth.
Hypolimnion: is the bottom layer of the lake. It is the coldest layer and
is typically stagnant.
 Advance: Heat Budgets of Lakes
The heat budget of most lakes is dominated by heat The
heat budget of a lake is a measure of the amount of heat that
enters and leaves the lake over a period of time.
 The heat budget of a lake is influenced
by a variety of factors, including:
• Incoming solar radiation: Solar radiation is the primary source of heat for
lakes. The amount of solar radiation that enters a lake depends on a
variety of factors, including the latitude of the lake, the time of year, and
the cloud cover.
• Outgoing longwave radiation: Lakes emit longwave radiation, which is a
form of heat that is invisible to the naked eye. The amount of longwave
radiation that is emitted by a lake depends on the temperature of the
lake and the humidity of the air.
• Latent heat: Latent heat is released when water evaporates from the
surface of a lake. The amount of latent heat that is released from a lake
depends on the temperature of the lake and the humidity of the air.
• Sensible heat: Sensible heat is exchanged between the lake and the
surrounding air and ground. The amount of sensible heat that is
exchanged depends on the temperature difference between the lake and
the surrounding air and ground.
• Advection: Advection is the transport of heat into or out of a lake by
currents. The amount of heat that is transported by advection depends
on the direction and speed of the currents.
Water Movement and Currents in Lakes
• Water movement and currents in lakes are driven by a variety
of factors, including wind, waves, temperature, and
topography. fetch length or simply
fetch, is the length of
water over which a
given wind has blown
without obstruction
Langmuir circulation.
As wind moves water
on the surface of a lake
forward, it must be
replace by water from
below. This process
leads to spiral
circulation.
Seiche. The rocking
of a lakes entire
surface.
 Summery

1. Processes that form lake basins include tectonic,

glacial, fluvial, volcanic, and damming. Glacial lakes are
the most numerous worldwide, but tectonic forces
form
Some of the largest, deepest, and oldest lakes. Fluvial
lakes can be very important
to riverine ecology and can occur in areas where few
other types of natural lakes
are common.
Thermal stratification occurs when warm surface water sits above
denser, cooler
waters. The warm surface layer of a thermally stratified lake is the
epilimnion, the
zone of steep temperature transition is the metalimnion, and the
deepest stable zone is the hypolimnion.
7. High concentrations of dissolved substances can also lead to
stratified layers in lakes. Such chemically-driven stability can exceed
temperature-driven stability because density differences can be
greater than are possible with natural temperature differences.
8. Wind causes Langmuir circulation patterns, which lead to streaks
of floating material on the water surface while they mix the lake to
depth.
9. A sustained wind that suddenly stops can cause oscillation of the
lake surface (a surface seiche) or the hypolimnion (internal seiche).
This rocking can lead to breakdown of stratification. Mixing of
deeper waters into the surface is entrainment.
 Chapter 8
Types of Aquatic Organism
Content
• The species Concept
• Chemical Taxonomic Methods
• Molecular Approaches for assessing Taxonomy and Diversity
in Natural Environment
• Molecular Methods for General Aquatic Ecology
• Major Taxonomic Groups
• Classification of Organism by Function, Habitats, and
Interactions
• Organism found in fresh water
• Summary
 The species Concept

Biological species definition- The biological species concept

defines a species as members of populations that actually or
potentially interbreed in nature, not according to similarity of
appearance. Although appearance is helpful in identifying
species, it does not define species.
Appearance isn’t everything
• Organisms may appear to be alike and be different species. For
example, Western meadowlarks (Sturnella neglecta) and
Eastern meadowlarks (Sturnella magna) look almost identical
to one another, yet do not interbreed with each other — thus,
they are separate species according to this definition.
Organisms may look different and yet be the same species. For
example, look at these ants. You might think that they are
distantly related species. In fact, they are sisters—two ants of
the species Pheidole barbata, fulfilling different roles in the
same colony.
 Chemical Taxonomic Methods
• Chemotaxonomy studies the chemical variation in microbial
cells and the use of chemical characteristics in the
classification and identification of bacteria; it can be very
helpful in the modern approach of bacterial polyphasic
taxonomy
• In recently, scientist used protein sequences, lipid identities
and most of all, genetic sequences as taxonomic tool for
classifying organism
 The common problem with chemical methods is that
genes can be transfer among organism.
This is because chemicals can be used to transfer genes from one
organism to another. This process is called horizontal gene transfer
(HGT). HGT can occur between bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes. It
can also occur between different species of the same organism.
There are a number of different chemotaxonomic methods
that can be used, including:

Fatty acid analysis: This

method involves analyzing
the fatty acid composition
of bacterial cell
membranes. Different
bacteria have different
fatty acid profiles, which
can be used to identify
them.
Isoprenoid quinone analysis: Isoprenoid quinones are
respiratory pigments found in all bacteria. Different
bacteria have different types of isoprenoid quinones,
which can be used to identify them.
Peptidoglycan analysis: Peptidoglycan is a component
of the bacterial cell wall. Different bacteria have
different peptidoglycan structures, which can be used
to identify them.
Polar lipid analysis: Polar
lipids are lipids found in
bacterial cell membranes.
Different bacteria have
different types of polar
lipids, which can be used
to identify them.
 Molecular Approaches for Assessing
Taxonomy and Diversity In Nature
Environment
• The most prefered is the rRNA because the probability of
transfer rRNA genes is lower than its for many other genes.
• rRNA Coding
• This methods is useful for microorganism because they look
similar despite belong to different species and cannot be
cultured.
• This technique relies on comparing sequences of rRNA
molecules from different organism where greater time since
evolutionary divergent leads to more variation in the
sequences.
Molecular Methods for General
Aquatic Ecology
• Metagenomics
Is a methods that allow scientist to sequence all DNA
collected from a specific environment.

• Environmental DNA (eDNA) detects organism present in their

environment using sequences to identify species referred to as
“DNA Barcoding”
Environmental DNA (eDNA) is a term used to describe genetic
material that is shed from organisms into their surroundings. This
genetic material can be found in a variety of environmental
samples, including water, soil, air, and sediment. eDNA can be
used to detect and monitor the presence of organisms in an
environment, even if they are not visible or easily detectable by
other methods.
Major Taxonomic Group
Endosymbiosis Theory
Classification of Organism by Function,
Habitats, and Interactions
Organism can be:
• Autotrophics
• Heterotrophics
• Mixotropics
Autotrophic
• This type of organism referred to as “self-feeding” and rely on
carbon dioxide (CO2) as the primary source of carbon to build
cell.
• Most of them, classified as Photoautrophic (photosynthetic
organisms)- use light as an energy source to reduce CO2 to
organic carbon.
Heterotrophic
• This organism know as “other feeding” acquire carbon for cell
from other organic carbon.
• A heterotroph is an organism that cannot produce its own
food, instead taking nutrition from other sources of organic
carbon, mainly plant or animal matter. In the food chain,
heterotrophs are primary, secondary and tertiary consumers,
but not producers
• Saprophytes or detritivores
• Decompose organic carbon
(Corallorhiza orchids, mushrooms
and molds, and mycorrhizal fungi)
Mixotropics
• A mode of cultivation, where heterotrophic and autotrophic
modes work simultaneously, leading to utilization of inorganic
and organic carbon in the presence of light.
(Euglena and other protist species)
Functional Feeding Groups
Two types Filterers organism
- organisms that sieve particles from the water
1. Passive filterers- those build nets, can filter particles
out of flowing waters
2. Active filterers- those that actively pump water or
create water
Collectors
- acquire their nutrition from small organic particles in
the benthos
 Classification of consumer
based on their position in the
food wave
• Producers - an organism that creates its own food or energy
• Herbivores (primary consumers)- an organism that mostly
feeds on plants
• Carnivores (secondary consumer)- an organism that mostly
eats meat, or the flesh of animals.
 Organism classified by their
habitat.
Habitat Description
Benthic On the bottom
Emergent Emerging from water
Endosymbiostic Living within another organism
Epilithic On rocks
Epigean Above ground
Epipelic On mud
Epiphytic On plants
Epipsammic On sand
Hygropetric In water on vertical rock surface
Hyporheric In the ground water influence by surface water.
Lentic In still water
 Classification of interaction
between two species
Effect of A and B Effect of B and A Name of nteractions
Positive Negative Exploitation (predation)
Negative Negative Competition
Positive Positive Mutualism
None Positive Commensalism
None Negative Amensalism
None None Neutralism

Direct interaction- occur between individuals of two species and involve no other.
Indirect interaction – mediated by additional species
Exploitation- interactions such as those found between herbivores and plants,
between predators and prey, and between parasites, parasitoids, pathogens, and their
hosts.
Competition- the interaction of individuals that vie for a
common resource that is in limited supply
Mutualism- mutually beneficial species interactions
Commensalism- a type of relationship between two living organisms in
which one organism benefits from the other without harming it
Amensalism- association among organisms of two different
species, one is destroyed or inhibited, and the other remains
unaffected.
Neutralism- describes the relationship between two
species that interact but do not affect each other
Organism Found in Freshwater
Snails, worms, turtles, frogs, marsh birds, mollusks, alligators,
beavers, otters, snakes, and many types of insects live there too
Several species definitions are available. The most utilitarian approach is to define a
species by criteria established by the taxonomists of a particular group.
2. Traditional taxonomic schemes have distinguished among organisms using behav-
ior, metabolic characteristics, and morphology. Recently, scientists have adopted
molecular techniques.
3. Molecular methods can distinguish species, detect expression of genes in the envi-
ronment, and assess biodiversity including the presence and absence of species.
4. Traditional taxonomic classifications at the broadest level (e.g., kingdom and phy-
lum) are probably not completely natural, and more research is necessary to untan-
gle these evolutionary relationships.
5. Bacteria and Archaea are two groups with the greatest amount of metabolic diver-
sity. Behavioral and morphological diversity are greatest in the Eukarya.
6. Organisms can be classified by their mode of obtaining nutrition and by their habi-
tat in addition to their evolutionary relatedness.
7. Organisms that use CO2 as their primary carbon source are autotrophic; those that
use organic carbon are heterotrophic. Autotrophic organisms include those that
obtain energy from light (photoautotrophic) and chemicals (chemoautotrophic).
Heterotrophic organisms include predators, detritivores, and organisms that live on
dissolved organic compounds. Some organisms are mixotrophic and have autotro-
phic and heterotopic carbon sources.
8. Organisms can be classified by their direct interactions (competition, mutualism,
exploitation, commensalism, amensalism, and neutralism) with other organisms.
THANK YOU
JOLIBOY P. CONOL
MABIO