FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEM

- A fresh water ecosystem is an aquatic system that contains drinkable water or

water of almost no salty content.
- Freshwater is defined as having a low salt concentration — usually less than 1%.
Plants and animals in freshwater regions are adjusted to the low salt content and
would not be able to survive in areas of high salt concentration 
- Freshwater usually has a salinity less than 7ppt.
SALINITY - the amount of dissolved salts contained in the water.
FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS INCLUDE:
• sluggish waters of lakes and ponds
• moving waters of rivers and streams
WETLANDS - areas of land periodically covered by water.
FACTORS THAT DETERMINE WHERE ORGANISMS LIVE IN THE WATER
INCLUDE:
• Temperature • Oxygen
• Sunlight • Nutrients
CHARACTERISTICS OF FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS
Aquatic organisms are grouped by their location and their adaptation.
THERE ARE 3 MAIN GROUPS OF ORGANISMS IN THE FRESHWATER
ECOSYSTEM:
1. PLANKTON - organisms that float near the surface of the
water.
- Plankton is a general term for the "floaters," the organisms
in the ocean that drift with the currents.
PLANKTON CAN BE DIVIDED INTO THREE FUNCTIONAL
GROUPS:
1.1 PHYTOPLANKTON- – microscopic plants that produce
most of the food for an aquatic ecosystem. Phytoplankton are autotrophic
prokaryotic or eukaryotic algae that live near the water
surface where there is sufficient light to support
photosynthesis.
1.2 ZOOPLANKTON- microscopic animals, some are large
enough to be seen with the eye. Zooplankton are small
protozoans or metazoans (e.g. crustaceans and other
animals) that feed on other plankton.
2. NEKTON – free-swimming organisms.
- A nekton is a group of water or marine organisms that travel together freely.
These organisms can be fish, crustaceans or mollusks that live in an ocean or a
lake. They tend to move without the help of the current. Generally speaking, they
are vertebrates, or animals that have bones or cartilage, are powerful swimmers,
and are larger than microbes.
- Swimming organisms that able to navigate at will and hence capable of avoiding
plankton, nets, water bottles etc. Fish amphibians, large swimming insects and
so forth.

3. BENTHOS – bottom-dwelling organisms.

-  Benthos have specially adapted themselves to live on the bottom substrate in
deep-water bodies with elevated pressure and cold temperatures. In fact,
organisms that inhabit the deep-water pressure areas cannot survive in the upper
parts of the water column. Most of this benthos are detritivores.
FRESHWATER BIOMES ARE SUBDIVIDED INTO THREE GROUPS:
1. LAKES AND PONDS- Lakes, ponds, and wetlands can form naturally where the
groundwater reaches the Earth’s surface. Beavers can also create ponds by
damming up streams.
- Humans’ intentionally create artificial lakes by damming flowing rivers and
streams to use them for power, irrigation, water storage, and recreation.
1.1 LAKES- Lakes are large standing waters bigger than 2 ha in area. We think
of them as natural, but there are now a lot of man-made lakes as well – the
result of gravel extraction, and other mineral mining, and the damming up of
rivers for water supply.
Why are they important?
Lakes are important because they provide habitats for plants and animals that need
permanent water – including fish like the arctic char, range of water plants, such as
Long-stalked Pondweed, and the highly endangered Glutinous Snail. Lakes are
important for a variety of water birds: naturally nutrient rich lakes in the lowlands can
be important breeding and wintering grounds for waterfowl. In Scotland, lakes may
support breeding Red-throated and Black-throated Divers.
 1.2 PONDS-
typically
smaller. A
pond can be
defined as a
body of water (normally fresh water, but occasionally brackish), which can
vary in size between 1 square meter and 2 hectares (this is equivalent in size
to about 2.5 football pitches), and which holds water for four months of the
year or more.
Where they can be found?
- They are found in gardens, towns and villages, countryside on farmland,
floodplains and heathlands; in woods, on grasslands and on moors.
Why are they important?
- Ponds support an extraordinary two thirds of all freshwater species, and creating
clean new ponds is one of the simplest and most effective ways to protect
freshwater wildlife.

LIFE ZONES IN A LAKE OR POND

LAKES AND PONDS CAN BE STRUCTURED INTO HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL
ZONES THAT INCLUDE:
1.1.1 LITTORAL ZONE – near the shore.
 - can be defined by the presence of sunlight at the sediment level, and the
corresponding growth of partially-submerged to fully-submerged aquatic plants. It
is also generally characterized by abundant dissolved oxygen, nutrients, water
motion, and alternating intervals of submergence and exposure.
- littoral zone typically extends from the beginning edge of the coast where
the substrate and the organisms that inhabit it are often exposed to air and risk of
desiccation, out to the beginning edge of the limnetic zone where the substrate is
never exposed.
1.1.2 LIMNETIC ZONE – open waters, away from shore.
- The limnetic zone is the open water area that is well lit and is dominated
by plankton. Many species of freshwater fish live in the limnetic zone because
food, such as plankton, is readily available. Minimal light can penetrate through
this zone unto the next zone.
1.1.3 PROFUNDAL ZONE – darker open waters away from shore.
- The deepest areas of a lake are known as the profundal zone. This zone is
therefore much colder and lower in oxygen than the other two zones. A limited
number of species live in this harsh environment.
- Most lakes (but few ponds) are very deep so not enough light reaches to support
the primary productivity. Which makes this zone depend on its calories by the
drifting down of organic matter from the littoral and limnetic 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. 
1.1.4 BENTHIC ZONE – the bottom of a pond or lake.
- The benthic zone refers to the ecological zone located at the bottom of any
marine or freshwater body, such as a river, ocean, lake or pond. The benthic
zone includes the sediment surface. Benthic zones are found all across the
world, wherever there is an appreciable water body.
The types of organism present in a pond or lake ecosystem depend on the amount of
sunlight available.
ADAPTATIONS OF LAKE AND POND ORGANISMS
Organisms have many different adaptations to help them better survive in their
environment. Below are some adaptations that lake or pond organisms may have:
• WATER BEETLES – use hairs under their bodies to trap surface air so that they can
breathe during their dives for food.
• CATFISH – have whiskers to help sense food as they swim over dark lake bottoms.
• AMPHIBIANS – burrow into the littoral muds to avoid freezing temperatures when the
lakes may freeze or partially freeze in winter.
THREE NUTRIENTS THAT AFFECTS LAKE OR PONDS;
1. EUTROPHICATION – the process by which a body of water becomes
enriched in dissolved nutrients (such as phosphates) that stimulate the
growth of aquatic plant life usually resulting in the depletion of dissolved
oxygen
2. MESOTROPHIC - Lakes with an intermediate level of productivity are
called mesotrophic lakes. These lakes have medium-level nutrients and
are usually clear water with submerged aquatic plants.
3. OLIGOTROPHIC - which has a relatively low productivity due to the low
nutrient content in the lake. The waters of these lakes are usually quite
clear due to the limited growth of algae in the lake. The waters of such
lakes are of high-drinking quality. Such lakes support aquatic species who
require well-oxygenated, cold waters such as lake trout. Oligotrophic lakes
are usually found in the cold regions of the world where mixing of nutrients
is rare and slow due to the low temperatures of the lake waters.
2. STREAMS AND RIVERS- Many rivers originate from snow melt in mountains. At its
headwaters, a river is usually cold and full of oxygen and runs swiftly through a
shallow riverbed. As a river flows down a mountain in may broaden, become
warmer, wider, slower, and decrease in oxygen.
- a natural and continuous flow of water in a long line across a country into
the sea.
 HUMAN IMPACT ON RIVERS
• Industries use river water in manufacturing processes and as receptacles for
waste
• For many years people have used rivers for dumping sewage and garbage.
• Runoff from land puts pesticides and other poisons into rivers and coats
riverbeds with toxic sediments
• Dams also alter the ecosystems in and around the river.

All of these practices have polluted rivers with toxins, which have killed river
organisms and made river fish inedible, as well as polluting some drinking water.

3. FRESHWATER WETLANDS – areas of land covered with freshwater for at least

part of the year.
- A freshwater wetland is an area of land covered or saturated with water for
extended periods of time. The supply of fresh water can come from a nearby
body of water, such as a creek or river. In some cases, the land mass may sit on
an underground supply of water, called an aqueduct. Some of the most common
types of freshwater wetlands include marshes, swamps, and bogs.
TWO MAIN TYPES OF FRESHWATER WETLANDS:
3.1. MARSH – contains non- woody plants.
- A marsh is a type of coastal freshwater wetland that may be periodically covered
by less than 6 feet (1.83 m) of water. Most marshes are covered in grass,
bushes, and flowers, and are not usually areas that promote tree growth.
3.2. SWAMPS – dominated by woody plants.
- Swamps are similar to marshes in many ways, but unlike marshes, they do
promote excessive tree growth. In addition, unlike marshes, much of the land
within a swamp may be fairly dry throughout the year. Swamps are host to many
exotic types of animals including alligators, caimans, and nutrias.
HUMAN IMPACT ON WETLANDS:
• Good purifiers of wastewater
• flood prevention
• Habitats for wildlife