APES Study Guide- Aquatic Ecosystems Vocabulary Understand and be able to apply each of these terms. 1.

Salinity Salinity is the saltiness of dissolved salt content of a body of water or in soil.

2. Plankton They are any organisms that live in the water column and are incapable of swimming against a current. They provide a crucial source of food to many large aquatic organisms such as fish and whales.

3. Nekton Refers to the aggregate of actively swimming aquatic organisms in body of water able to move independently of water currents.

4. Benthos Benthos is the community of organisms which live on, in, or near the seabed, also known as the benthic zone.

5. Littoral Zone The part of a sea, lake or river that is close to the shore.

6. Benthic Zone Is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean or lake, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. Organisms living in this zone are called benthos.

7. Eutrophication Is the ecosystem response to the addition of artificial or natural substances, such as nitrates and phosphates, through fertilizers or sewage, to an aquatic system.

8. Riversource / Course- The term upriver refers to the direction leading to the source of the river, which is against the direction of flow. Likewise, the term downriver describes the direction towards the mouth of the river, in which the current flows.

9. River Mouth River mouth or stream mouth is a part of a stream where it flows into another stream, river, lake, reservoir, sea, or ocean.

10. Marsh Is a type of wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.

11. Swamp Is a wetland that is forested. Many swamps occur along large river and others occur on the shores of larger lakes.

12. Bog Is a wetland that accumulates peat, a deposit of dead material. It is one of the four main types of wetlands.

13. Lagoon- Is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by barrier islands or reefs.

14. Estuary Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and ocean environments and are subject to both marine influences, such as tides, waves, and the influx of saline water; and riverine influences, such as flows of freshwater and sediment.

15. Abundance An extremely plentiful or over sufficient quantity or supply.

16. Diversity The condition of having or being composed of differing elements.

17. Watershed - A watershed carries water shed from the land after rain falls and snow melts.

18. Hydrophytes- Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments. They are also referred to as hydrophytes or aquatic macrophytes. These plants require special adaptations for living submerged in water, or at the waters surface.

19. Halophytes- Is a plant that grows in waters of high salinity, coming into contact with saline water through the roots or by salt spray.

Critical Thinking Read, analyze, and give complete answers to these questions.

1. What are the three important benefits (ecosystem service) provided by wetlands? Wetlands limit the damaging effects of waves, coney and store floodwaters, trap and reduce pollution. Named Nature Kidneys.

2. What causes high and low tides? Explain. High and low tides are caused by the combined effect of the gravitational forces exerted by the moon and the sun and the rotation of the earth.

3. Where would you find an estuary? What type of organisms would you expect to find there? You find estuaries are found where freshwater and salty water meets. The type of organisms you would find there are oyster reefs, coral reefs, rocky shores, submerged aquatic vegetation, marshes, and mangroves. There are also different animals that live in each of these different habitats. Fish, shellfish, and migratory birds are just a few of the animals that can live in an estuary.

4. What is the definition of freshwater? The definition of freshwater is of or found in fresh water; not of the sea.

5. The mouth of a river can sometimes become murky because of all of the sediments that are washed downstream. Name 3 problems are caused by murkiness?

6. Name 2 types of fish that can live in low oxygen environments:

Betta fish and labyrinth fish are two types of fish that can live in low oxygen environments.

7. Explain why reefs are so important to preserve. What are some of the dangers to coral reefs? Name 2. Coral reefs are important for ocean health and human communities that live nearby. Coral reefs are home to 25 percent of the animals and plants that live in the ocean. They provide feeding grounds, nursery areas, living space, and places to hide from predators for an enormous assortment of fish and invertebrates like grouper and lobster. For humans, corals provide food and jobs, with more than 500 million people dependent on reefs for their primary source of protein. Some dangers to coral reefs are overfishing, coastal development, pollution, and climate change.

8. There are different types of marine reef environments. Define the following: a. Fringing Reefs: a reef system that grows fairly close to (or directly from) the shore, with an entirely shallow lagoon or none at all.

b. Barrier Reefs: A reef system that parallel the shore and is separated from it by a wide lagoon that contains at least some deep portions.

c. Atolls: A roughly circular (annular) oceanic reef system surrounding a central lagoon.

d. Coral Reefs: Are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals.

9. Draw a diagram of a marine environment and define the following: a. Intertidal: Area above the water at low tide and underwater at high tide. b. Pelagic: Water in a sea or lake that is neither close to the bottom nor near the shore. c. Abyssal: Pelagic zone that contains the very deep benthic communities near the bottom of the oceans. d. Benthic: Ecological region at the lowest level of a body water such as an ocean or lake.

10.What is winterkill in a lake? What happens? Winterkill happens in the winter when oxygen normally enters the water of a frozen lake through the inlet water streams, cracks in the ice and slow diffusion through the ice. A thick snow cover on a lake can reduce the amount of oxygen passing through the ice. Fish and other aquatic plants and animals use oxygen throughout the winter.

11.Describe the differences in the types of food webs found in the two ocean light zones, euphotic and aphotic. Where does the initial energy input for each come from? The aphotic zone is the portion of the lake or ocean where there is little or no sunlight. Most of its food source comes from dead organisms sinking to the bottom of the lake or ocean from overlying waters. Euphotic zones are the depth of the water in a lake or an ocean that is exposed to sufficient sunlight for photosynthesis to occur.

12.Explain how lakes turn-over yearly and what this process causes. Name one positive and one negative aspect of turn-over. It is the process of a lake when water turns over from the top to the bottom. During the summer the top is warmer due to the heat of the Sun, the deepest layer is the bottom. During the fall, the warm surfaces cools down when the water cools down, it becomes more dense causing it to sink. The dense water forces the water of the bottom to rise "turning-over" the layers.

13.Draw a diagram of a lake (see below) and define the following: a. Littoral Zone- is the part of a sea, lake or river that is close to the shore. b. Limnetic Zone - is the well-lit, open surface waters in a lake, away from the shore. c. Profundal Zone- is a deep zone of an inland body of free standing water, such as a lake or pond, located below the range of effective light penetration.

14. Complete this summary table of the aquatic ecosystem.

Location Physical Characteristics Coral Reef

Tropical oceans near the equator. They are tubular sac like animal with a central mouth surrounded by a ring of tentacles. Natural pigments in coral tissue produce a range of colors including white, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.

Sandy Beach
Along the coast Sandy

Mangrove Swamp
Salt and brackish water up to 4 feet deep in parts of the world, where it does not freeze. Coastal areas. distinct saline woodland or shrubland habitat characterized by depositional coastal environments

Salt Marsh
Coast Saltwater, dominated by dense stands of grasses, herbs and low shrubs.

Mudflat
Coast, bays, lagoons Muddy

Rockyshore
Seacoast Rocks and water