Biomes: Global Patterns of Life

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Biomes Global Patterns of Life
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TERRESTRIAL BIOMES

• Biomes - Areas sharing similar climate,
  topographic and soil conditions, and roughly
  comparable communities.
• Temperature and precipitation determine biome
  distribution.
• Identified by the dominant plants

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Biomes
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Climatograms

• Climatograms-a graph of the average monthly
  rainfall and average monthly temperature from a
  given area

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Aquatic Biomes

• 2 types
• Marine (ocean, estuaries, coral reefs)
• Freshwater (lakes, streams, rivers, wetlands)

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Aquatic Living

• Differences from land
• fewer physical boundaries
• more complex food webs and chains
• more difficult to monitor
• Limiting factors
• temperature
• access to sunlight
• dissolved oxygen content
• availability of nutrients

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Marine Ecosystems

• Cover about 3/4s of the Earths surface and
  include oceans, coral reefs, and estuaries
• Described by depth and distance from the shore
• Organisms tend to form distinctive vertical
  sub-communities.
• Phytoplankton or algae basis of food web
• Ocean currents help distribute
  nutrients and phytoplankton

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Oceans

• largest of all the ecosystems
• dominate the Earths surface
• separate zones
• Intertidal
• Pelagic
• Abyssal
• Benthic
• richest diversity of species even though it
  contains fewer species than there are on land

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Oceans
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Intertidal Zone

• Where the ocean meets the
  land
• Sometimes submerged and at
  other times exposed
• Waves and tides come in and out
• Communities are constantly changing
• Types of organisms that live here?

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Pelagic Open Ocean

• Water further from the land, basically the open
  ocean
• Generally cold though it is hard to give a
  general temperature range
• Thermal stratification with a constant mixing of
  warm and cold ocean currents

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Epipelagic
Mesopelagic
Bathypelagic
Abyssalpelagic
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Epipelagic Open Ocean

• extends down to around 200m
• lowest depth that light can penetrate (photic
  zone)
• flora in the epipelagic zone include surface
  seaweeds
• fauna include many species of fish and some
  mammals, such as whales and dolphins
• many feed on the abundant plankton

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Mesopelagic Zone

• "twilight zone" of the ocean
• photic zone above
• darkness below
• food becomes scarce some animals
• migrate up to the surface at night to feed
• rely on food that falls down from above
• eat each other
• sometimes the only things to eat may be bigger
  than the hunter
• developed long sharp teeth
• expandable jaws and stomachs

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ctenophore related to
jellyfish Big Scale - ambush predator
cilia can be illuminated


Firefly squid


three kinds of
photophores Hatchet Fish only a few
inches long
Viperfish
specially adapted
hinged skull Dragonfish - stomachs hold
big meals Snipeel up to 1.2m

Siphonophores are colonies of animals

related to jellyfish

best known is Portugese Man of War
http//oceanlink.island.net/oinfo/deepsea/meso.htm
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Bathypelagic Zone

• extends down from 1000 to 4000m
• only light is from bioluminescent organisms
• only food is what trickles down from above, or
  from eating other animals
• water pressure at this depth is considerable
  (100 400 atmospheres)
• most animals are either black or red in color
• very little blue/green light penetrates this deep
  red is not reflected and looks black

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Narcomedusa Vampire Squid Snake
Dragon Angler Fish
Amphi - crustacean
Ctenophore
voracious predator

Deepstaria very slow swimmers,
no tentacles, close flexible bells
(up to a meter across) around
their prey
Big Red
grows to over
a meter across
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Abyssopelagic Zone - the Abyss

• 4000m to the sea floor
• home to pretty inhospitable living conditions
• near- freezing temperatures
• crushing pressures

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• Deep Water Squid
• 
  Basketstar
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  Sea Pig
  Sea Spider
  
• Shrimp
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  Winged Sea Cucumber
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  Medussa
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• Deep Sea Smoker - 648F
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  Deep-sea Anemone
  Hydrothermal Vent

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Coral Reefs

• Coral Reefs made up of skeletons of coral
  (calcium carbonate) algae live in top layer
  which is alive
• Highly productive area
• Usually found near land in shallow, warm salt
  water
• Lots of light
• Tropical temperatures, averaging 70-85 F
• Most coral cannot survive below 65 F

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Human Impacts on Coral Reefs

• Increased sediment from construction,
  agriculture, development
• Inhibits growth of coral polyps
• Inhibits algae growth
• Destructive fishing
• Rampling by tourists and divers
• Ship groundings, pollution,
• overfishing

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Tidal Environments

• Tidal Marshes and Estuaries partially enclosed
  body of water formed when rivers and oceans meet
• Brackish water
• Salinity typically grades from normal marine
  salinity at the tidal inlet to fresh water at the
  mouth of the river.
• Carry rich sediments from downstream
• Estuaries are extremely fertile because nutrients
  are brought in by rivers and recycled from the
  bottom because of the turbulence.
• High species diversity and productivity

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Estuaries

• Estuaries are sometimes called marine nurseries
  
• habitats for many juvenile organisms, especially
  for fishes
• many fish are born and grow up in estuaries
• 2/3 of all marine fish and shellfish spawn or
  develop in estuaries
• migrate to the open ocean

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Barrier Islands

• Barrier Islands - Low, narrow, sandy islands that
  form offshore from a coastline.
• Protect inland shores from storms, waves and
  tides
• Human impacts
• Development
• Loss of vegetation triggers erosion

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Freshwater Ecosystems

• Freshwater is defined as having a low salt
  concentrationusually less than 1

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FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS

• Lakes
• Divided into three different zones determined
  by depth and distance from the shoreline
• littoral zone
• limnetic zone
• profundal zone

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Littoral Zone

• warmest since it is shallow and can absorb more
  of the Suns heat
• 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 egg and larvae stages of some insects are
  found in this zone
• vegetation and animals living in the littoral
  zone are food for other creatures such as
  turtles, snakes, and ducks

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Profundal Zone

• Plankton have short life spanswhen they die,
  they fall into the deep-water part of the
  lake/pond
• much colder and denser than the other two
• little light penetrates all the way through the
  limnetic zone into the profundal zone
• animals are decomposers

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Limnetic Zone

• near-surface open water surrounded by the
  littoral zone
• well-lighted (like the littoral zone) and is
  dominated by plankton, both phytoplankton and
  zooplankton
• variety of freshwater fish also occupy this zone

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Lake Temperature

• Varies seasonally
• In summer warm layers on top, colder at bottom,
  separated by thermocline-where temp of water
  changes rapidly with depth
• In fall water turns over, mixing occurs.
• In winter ice forms cold at the top, warmer at
  the bottom.
• In spring another turnover. Spring turnover
  stimulates algae growth!

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Ponds and Lakes
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Streams and Rivers

• characteristics change during the journey from
  the source to the mouth
• At the source, temperature is cooler, water is
  clearer with high oxygen levels
• At the middle, width increases, as does species
  diversitynumerous aquatic green plants and algae
  can be found
• At the mouth, water becomes murky from all the
  sediments decreasing the amount of light that can
  penetrate through the water

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Streams Rivers
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Wetlands

• Land surface is covered with standing water at
  least part of the year.
• Swamps - Wetlands with trees.
• Marshes - Wetlands without trees.
• Bogs and Fens - Waterlogged soils that tend to
  accumulate peat.
• Importance
• Major breeding, nesting and migration areas
• Flood control, coastal protection, ground water
  recharge, water purification
• 1 acre of wetland holds 1.5 million gallons of
  water

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Wetlands
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WetlandOrganisms

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Use and abuse of fresh water

• dams, diversions, canals fragment large rivers,
  alters wildlife habitats
• levees alter and destroy habitat
• cities and farms add pollutants and excess
  nutrients
• draining or filling more than ½ in U.S from
  1600 no longer exist