AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY RESTORATION ECOLOGY ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT

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AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMSLANDSCAPE ECOLOGYRESTORATION
ECOLOGYECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT

• Chapters 8 and 10

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What are the basic needs of aquatic biota?

• CO2
• O2
• Sunlight
• Nutrients- food minerals

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What factors influence the availability of those
basic needs?

• Substances dissolved in water- Nitrates,
  phosphates, potassium, O2
• Suspended matter- (silt, algae) can affect light
  penetration
• Depth
• Temperature
• Rate of flow
• Bottom characteristics (muddy, sandy, or rocky)
• Internal convection currents
• Connection to or isolation from other aquatic
  ecosystems.

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Types of Aquatic Ecosystems

• Freshwater Ecosystems
• Standing Water- lakes ponds
• Moving Water- rivers streams
• Transitional Communities
• Estuaries
• Wetlands- bogs/fens, swamps, marshes
• Marine Ecosystems
• Shorelines
• Barrier Islands
• Coral Reefs
• Open Ocean

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Freshwater Ecosystems

• Usually 0.005 salt
• Some exceptions
• Great Salt Lakes-
• 5-27 salt
• Dead Sea- 30 salt
• Moving water- high elevations cold high O2
  trout streamlined plants
• Standing water- lower elevations warmer less
  O2 bass, amphibians cattails, rushes

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How is a lake stratified and what lives in each
level?

• Epilimnion- upper layer of warm water high light
  O2 ex water striders, phyto- zooplankton,
  fish
• Thermocline (mesolimnion) middle layer medium
  light O2 ex phyto- zooplankton, fish
• Hypolimnion- lower layer of cold water lower
  light O2 ex fish
• Benthos- bottom level no light little O2 ex
  anaerobic bacteria, leeches insect larvae
• Littoral- near the shoreline cattails, rushes,
  amphibians, etc.

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Transitional Communities

• ESTUARIES
• Where freshwater dumps into ocean
• Brackish (less salty than seawater)
• Has rich sediments that often form deltas
• Productive biodiverse
• Organisms adapted to varying levels of salinity
  as tide ebbs flows
• Nursery for larval forms of many aquatic
  species of commercial fish shellfish

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Transitional Communities

• WETLANDS
• Land saturated at least part of the year
• Swamps- have trees like bald cypress high
  productivity
• Marshes- no trees tall grasses high
  productivity
• Bogs/Fens- may or may not have trees waterlogged
  soil with lots of peat low productivity
• Fens- fed by groundwater surface runoff
• Bogs- fed by precipitation

Swamp
Marsh
Bog
Fen
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Importance of Wetlands

• Highly productive- get lots of sunlight, ? plants
  
• ? animals
• Nesting, breeding ground for migratory birds
• Slows flooding by absorbing runoff
• Silt settles, making water clearer nutrient
  rich
• Trap filter water
• Natural chemical rxns neutralize and detoxify
  pollutants
• Gives H2O time to percolate thru soil replenish
  underground aquifers.
• Threats- artificial eutrophication (see slide
  13), draining, sedimentation via construction
• Natures Septic Tank

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Marine Ecosystems

• SHORELINES
• Rocky coasts- great density diversity attached
  to solid rock surface
• Sandy beaches- burrowing animals
• Threats- due to hotels, restaurants, homes on
  beach, more plant life destroyed, destabilizing
  soil, susceptible to wind water erosion
• Insurance high danger of hurricanes, erosion
• Build sea walls to protect people but changes
  endangers shoreline habitat

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Marine Ecosystems

• BARRIER ISLANDS
• Low, narrow offshore islands
• Protect inland shores from storms
• Beauty attracts developers developers destroy
  land
• New coastal zoning laws protect future development

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MARINE ECOSYSTEMS

• CORAL REEFS
• Clear, warm shallow seas
• Made up of accumulated calcareous (made of
  calcium) skeletons of coral animals
• Formation depends on light penetration.
• Have a symbiotic relationship with algae
• Very diverse, abundant (rainforests of sea)
• Threats- destructive fishing (cyanide dynamite
  to stun fish), pet trade about 3/4ths have been
  destroyed

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What factors can alter aquatic ecosystems?

• Natural Succession- normal cycle of pond becoming
  forest
• Artificial Succession- humans add N P to water
  via fertilizer sewage causing succession to
  happen faster EUTROPHICATION

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What factors can alter aquatic ecosystems?

• Humans!
• Find food
• Recreation
• Waste disposal
• Cooling of power plants
• Transportation
• Dams, canals

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Biomes

• Which biome has the largest total area? The
  smallest total area?
• Which biome has the highest of undisturbed
  habitat?
• Which biome has the lowest of undisturbed
  habitat?
• Which biome has the highest human dominated
  habitat?
• Which biome has the lowest human dominated
  habitat?

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LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY
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LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY

• Landscape- geographic unit with a history that
  shapes the features of the land and organisms in
  it.
• Landscape ecology- the study of how landscape
  structure affects the abundance and distribution
  of organisms.
• Does not just focus on untouched nature

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LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY

• Uses geographical information systems (GIS) to
  map patch size, type and configuration to create
  3-D maps
• These maps assist land planners in analyzing land
  use patterns

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LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY

• Focus on how neighboring communities of a
  landscape interact

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RESTORATION ECOLOGY

• Chapter 10

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RESTORATION ECOLOGY

• Repair or reconstruct ecosystems damaged by
  humans or natural forces
• Growing field of science
• People are now being held responsible for their
  actions- restoring wetlands habitat for
  endangered species

Before
After
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The 5 Rs of Restoration Ecology

• Restoration- manipulation of nature to re-create
  species composition ecosystem processes as
  close as possible to the state they were in
  before humans interfered.

Before
After
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The 5 Rs of Restoration Ecology

• Rehabilitation- to bring an area back to a useful
  state for human purposes rather than a truly
  natural state.
• - reverse deterioration if cant be restored
  fully

These people in Africa are trying to use rocks to
create a sort of wind break to prevent wind
erosion of their soil. The soil will never be
like it was but it will hopefully be usable.
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The 5 Rs of Restoration Ecology

• Remediation- process of cleaning chemical
  contamination from a polluted area by physical or
  biological methods to protect human ecosystem
  health
• - Incinerate soil contaminated with oil
• - use special bacteria to clean up oil spills in
  water (bioremediation)

This is like an artificial wetland- wastewater
comes in, settles, roots cleanse the water
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The 5 Rs of Restoration Ecology

• Reclamation- techniques used to restore the
  shape, original contour and vegetation of a
  disturbed site
• - Surface Mining Control Reclamation Act
  (SMCRA) requires mining operations to restore the
  open pit mines they create to natural state.

Before
After
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The 5 Rs of Restoration Ecology

• Re-creation- attempts to construct a new
  biological community on a site so severely
  disturbed that there is virtually nothing left to
  restore.
• - often must build a wetland elsewhere to make
  up for the one destroyed by developer
• - Read story of Army Corp of Engineers Florida
  Everglades restoration

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Preservationists vs. Restorationists

• Preservationist- dont start destructive projects
  in the first place. Preserve nature- you cant
  always fix what you broke
• Restorationists- you are never going to be able
  to save every bit of land. Who says changes we
  make in restoring ecosystems is unnatural?
• Are we members of the community or separate from
  it?
• Should we use our creative energies to try to
  improve nature, or should we leave well enough
  alone?

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Tools of Restoration

• Prairies- collect native prairie grasses from
  graveyards and plant in abandoned farm fields to
  reestablish native grasslands
• Remove alien species- like privet _at_ nature
  center hunting goats on Galapagos
• Walk away from ecosystem let recover naturally-
  N. S. Korea after the Korean War

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Restoration Ethics

• If habitat was filled with diseased, ugly
  organisms, should you return it to that state?
  Should you reintroduce mosquitoes, black flies,
  leeches, ticks, poisonous snakes?
• Should you improve on nature?
• Where do you find plants for restoration? Do you
  take from small population nearby or find larger
  population farther away?
• Is there more than one natural state? What is
  the history of the area?
• Since humans are part of nature, whatever changes
  we make to landscape also are natural. Is that
  true?
• Can we use nature to solve human problems? Read
  story on page 121 about Arcata, Californias
  artificial wetland project.

Canal in China Before
Canal in China After Notice plants used as
filtering system
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Ecosystem Management

• How can we have progress and still maintain the
  environment?
• Aldo Leopold was one of the pioneers on his Sand
  County farm
• US Forest Services, Bureau of Land Management,
  National Park Service all adopted versions of
  ecosystem management
• Previously, these agencies used their lands for
  commercial or recreational uses did not focus
  on wildlife habitats, endangered species, etc.