AQUATIC BIOME

Aquatic biomes are defined as the areas of

ocean and other water which have similar
climatic condition on the Earth. Aquatic biomes
are of two major regions marine and freshwater.
Freshwater biome consists of the lakes, ponds,
rivers, streams, and wetlands. The marine
regions include oceans, coral reefs and
estuaries.
Some of the key characteristics of aquatic biome
are:
• Aquatic biome is the largest of all the biomes.
• It is dominated by water.
• Life first evolved in the aquatic habitat.
• It is a three-dimensional environment and it plays
a major role in the world's climate.
• FRESHWATER BIOME
• The freshwater habitat is classified into lotic (moving water
bodies) and lentic (standing water bodies). Lotic
forms includes streams and rivers. Lotic refers to flowing
water, from the Latin lotus, washed. Lotic ecosystems can be
contrasted with lentic ecosystems, which involve relatively still
terrestrial waters such as lakes and ponds.
• Lentic forms include bogs, lakes, ponds, and inland wetlands.
Freshwater habitats are also influenced by land of the
surrounding areas, the pattern and speed of water flow and the
climatic condition. Lentic refers to stationary or relatively still
water, from the Latin lentus, which means sluggish. Lentic
ecosystems can be compared with lotic ecosystems, which
involve flowing terrestrial waters such as rivers and streams.
Together, these two fields form the more general study area of
freshwater or aquatic ecology.
• Freshwater Biome
In the freshwater biome, the average
temperature ranges from 65°F to 75°F in the
summer and in the winter it is about 35°F to
45°F.
• The climate of this region is determined by a
number of prominent factors like location,
season and depth of water.
PONDS AND
• Ponds and Lakes
• Lakes and ponds are divided into three different “zones”
which are usually determined by depth and distance from
the shoreline.
• The topmost zone near the shore of a lake or pond is the
littoral zone. This zone is the warmest since it is shallow
and can absorb more of the Sun’s heat. It sustains a fairly
diverse community, which can include several species of
algae (like diatoms), rooted and floating aquatic plants,
grazing snails, clams, insects, crustaceans, fishes, and
amphibians. the case of the insects, such as dragonflies and
midges, only the egg and larvae stages are found in this
zone. The vegetation and animals living in the littoral zone
are food for other creatures such as turtles, snakes, and
ducks.
• The near-surface open water surrounded by the littoral
zone is the limnetic zone. The limnetic zone is well-
lighted (like the littoral zone) and is dominated by
plankton, both phytoplankton and zooplankton. Plankton
are small organisms that play a crucial role in the food
chain.
• Plankton have short life spans—when they die, they fall
into the deep-water part of the lake/pond, the 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.
• Plants include water lilies, duckweed, cattail, bulrush,
stonewort, and bladderwort.
• ANIMALS

CLAMS CRUSTACEANS

GRAZING SNAIL PLANKTON DRAGONFLY

• PLANTS

BULRUSH
DUCKWEED

STONEWORT WATER LILIES

• Lake Baikal, in central Asia, is the biggest lake on Earth.
• Rivers/ Streams: A river or stream is a body
of water that flows only in one direction.
Unlike ponds and lakes rivers and streams
are constantly in motion. The temperature is
cooler at the source than at the mouth. The
most commonly types of plants include
tapegrass, water stargrass, willow trees, and
river birch. Animals that are found in or
around the river include fishes, crabs,
snakes, beavers, crocodiles, snails, insects
and otters.
• ANIMALS

OTTER
BEAVER

SNAKE
CROCODILE
• PLANTS

WATER STARGRASS
TAPE GRASS

WILLOW TREES RIVER BIRCH

• The Amazon River in South America is the largest river by
discharge volume of water in the world, and either the
longest or second longest.
• Wetlands: Wetlands is an area that is made up of standing
water. It can be thought of as land that is saturated with water.
This includes swamps, bogs, marshes, flood plain and prairie
pothole. They can be found throughout the world and are
often located near large bodies of water like lakes and rivers.
Wetlands are important because they prevent flooding by
absorbing water when it gets too high. They also help to
purify water. Plants that live in wetlands are called
Hydrophytes. Plants that are most commonly found in wetland
are milkweed, water lilies, grasses, tamarack,sedges,
duckweed, cattail, cypress trees, and mangroves.
Many species of amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds can
also be found in wetlands. Beavers, minks, raccoons, and
deer are among the types of animals found in wetlands.
WETLAND
S

BOGS
• ANIMALS

MINK RACCOON

DEER
• PLANTS

CYPRESS TREE MANGROVE

TAMARACK
MARINE BIOME

OCEANS ESTUARIE
S
• The marine biome consists of the oceans, seas, coral reefs
and estuaries. These are habitats with high saline
conditions. In these habitats we find mangrooves, salt
marshes, and mudflats.
• The oceans hold about 96.5 percent of all Earth's water.
• Oceans
The largest of all the ecosystems, oceans are very large
bodies of water that dominate the Earth's surface. Like
ponds and lakes, the ocean regions are separated into
separate zones: intertidal, pelagic, abyssal, and benthic.
All four zones have a great diversity of species. Some say
that the ocean contains the richest diversity of species
even though it contains fewer species than there are on
land.
• The marine habitat is divided into four separate zones:
• Intertidal zone - The zone where ocean meets the land.
• Open ocean or the Pelagic zone - The open ocean is usually
cold, there is lot of temperature variation since there is thermal
stratification as there is constant mixing of warm and cold
ocean currents.
• Benthic zone - Is the area below the ocean. The bottom zone
consists of sand, silt or dead organisms.
• Abyssal zone is the deepest layer of the ocean near the sea floor
- it starts at 13,000 feet and goes to about 20,000 feet. Lacking
higher plant life because of the absence of light.

Profundal zone is a deep zone of an inland body of freestanding

water, such as a lake or pond, located below the range of
effective light penetration.
• ANIMALS IN THE OCEANS

KING ANGELFISH
BARRACUDA
ATLANTIC TRUMPETFISH

BALEE WHALE BASKING SHARK

• PLANTS IN THE OCEANS

SEAGRASS
CAULERPA TAXIFOLIA

KELP SARGASSUM
• The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of the world ocean
basins. Covering approximately 59 million square miles and
containing more than half of the free water on Earth.
• Estuaries have been called the "nurseries of the sea"
because the protected environment and abundant food
provide an ideal location for fish and shellfish to
reproduce. Most commercially important fish species
spend some part of their life cycle in estuaries.
• An estuary is a partially enclosed, coastal water body
where freshwater from rivers and streams mixes with salt
water from the ocean.
• Many different habitat types are found in and around
estuaries, including shallow open waters, freshwater and
saltwater marshes, swamps, sandy beaches, mud and sand
flats, rocky shores, oyster reefs, mangrove forests, river
deltas, tidal pools and seagrass beds.
ANIMALS IN THE ESTUARIES

GREAT EGRET SKUNKS

SANDPIPERS GREEN HERON

• Because the definition of "estuary" is fluid, determining which
one is the world's largest is an ongoing debate. However, many
scientists say that that St. Lawrence River, which connects the
Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean, is the world's largest estuary.
• Functions of Coral Reefs: Coral reefs are important for
many different reasons aside from supposedly containing
the most diverse ecosystems on the planet. They: protect
coastlines from the damaging effects of wave action and
tropical storms. provide habitats and shelter for many
marine organisms.
• TYPES OF CORAL

PILAR CORAL ELKHORN CORAL ANTIPATHES

BLACK CORAL
 PRESENTED BY:
ANG, ALEXIA G. BEED-IV
INNING, RAFFY BEED-IV