VOCABULARY 1. Salinity: The saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of water or in soil. 2.

Plankton: Any organisms that live in the water column and are incapable of swimming against a current. Provide crucial source of food to many large aquatic organisms, such as fish and whales. 3. Nekton: Refers to aggregate of actively swimming aquatic organisms in body of water able to move independently of water currents. 4. Benthos: Community of organisms which live on, in, or near the seabed, also known as the benthic zone. 5. Littoral Zone: Part of a sea, lake or river that is close to the shore. 6. Benthic Zone: Ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean or a lake, including the sediment surface and some sub surface layers. 7. Eutrophication: Ecosystem response to the addition of artificial or natural substances, such as nitrates and phosphates, through fertilizers or sewage, to an aquatic system. 8. River Source/Course: Term upriver refers to the direction leading to the source of the river, which is against the direction of flow. Likewise, term downriver describes the direction towards the mouth of the river, in which the current flows. 10. River Mouth: Or stream mouth, is a part of a stream where it flows into another stream, river, lake, reservoir, sea, or ocean. 11. Marsh: Type of wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species. 12. Swamp: Wetland that is forested. 13. Bog: Wetland that accumulates peat, a deposit of dead plant material. 14. Lagoon: Shallow body of water separated from a larger bod of water by barrier islands or reefs. 15. Estuary: 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 fresh water and sediment. 16. Abundance: An extremely plentiful or over sufficient quantity or supply. 17. Diversity: Condition of having or being composed of differing elements. 18. Watershed: Carries water shed from the land after rain falls and snow melts. 19. Hydrophytes: Aquatic plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments. These plants require special adaptations for living submerged in water or at the water's surface. 20. Halophytes: A plant that grows in waters of high salinity, coming into contact with saline water through its roots or by salt spray, such as in saline semi deserts, mangrove swamps, marshes and sloughs, and seashores. CRITICAL THINKING 1. What are the three important benefits (ecosystem service) provided by wetlands? The 3 important benefits provided by wetlands are limiting damaging effects of wave, conveying and storing floodwaters and reducing floodwater. 2. What causes high and low tides? Explain. High and low tides are caused by gravitational forces of moon, sun, and rotation of earth. Shorelines with 2 high tides and 2 low tides are called semi diurnal. One high and one low is diurnal.

3. Where would you find an estuary? What type of organisms would you expect to find there? An estuary could be found in lagoons. The types of organisms expected to be found there are bacteria and photosynthetic organisms. 4. What is the definition of freshwater? Freshwater is water lacking a big amount of salt. 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? Three problems caused by murkiness are: soil can become eroded, water can be contaminated and there will be less sunlight in deeper zones of water. 6. Name 2 types of fish that can live in low oxygen environments: The two types of fish that can live in low oxygen environments are Teleost and Rainbow Trout. 7. Explain why reefs are so important to preserve. What are some of the dangers to coral reefs? Name 2. Reefs are important to preserve, because it supports human needs (such as medicine) and gives fish irreplaceable sources of food and shelter. Some dangers to coral reefs are anchoring and mass bleaching. 8. There are different types of marine reef environments. Define the following: a. Fringing Reefs: Reef system that grows fairly close to shore. b. Barrier Reefs: Reef parallel to shores, separated by a wide lagoon. c. Atolls: Circular oceanic reef system surrounding a central lagoon. d. Coral Reefs: Reef made of coral fragments, sands, and organic deposit. 9. Draw a diagram of a marine environment and define the following: a. Intertidal: Area exposed between high and low tides. b. Pelagic: The water itself is the pelagic. c. Abyssal: Contains deep benthic communities in the bottom of ocean. d. Benthic: Ocean bottom

10. What is winterkill in a lake? What happens? Winterkill in a lake is when a thick layer of snow reduces oxygen in lake. What happens is that Hypoxia occurs in winterkill.

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? In euphotic, there is enough light for photosynthesis. Most fish live in euphotic zone. Bacteria are in aphotic zone, including crust of earth. The initial energy input for each comes from sun. 12. Explain how lakes turn over yearly and what this process causes. Name a positive and negative aspect of turn over. Lakes turn over due to temperature at time. When temperature decreases, water density increases. This causes ocean to have distinct layers. When deep water stays cool and dense it forms a layer called hypolimnion (coldest). Less dense water, due to heat of sun, makes a top layer called epilimnion. Lake Turnover is process when epilimnion becomes hypolimnion. A pro is that water doesn't get cold that quickly. A con is that temperature changes will affect plants, animals, and fish that live in that place. 13. Draw a diagram of a lake and define the following: a. Littoral Zone: Zone that is closest to shore. b. Limnetic Zone: Well-lit open surface water. c. Profundal Zone: Below range of light penetration.

14. Complete this summary table of aquatic ecosystems: Location Coral Reef Sandy Beach Mangrove Swamp Tropics Great ; Barrier ReefAustralia Shorelines of beaches Tropical subtropical tidal areas Physical Characteristics Pigment of: orange, blue, green, and yellow (coral has 6-8tentacles Contain macro fauna, meio fauna, and insects Marine sediment Small number of tree species of

Other plants and shrubs Salt Marsh Mudflat Rocky Shore Low energy shorelines in temperature and high latitudes Bays, bayous, lagoons, and estuaries Everywhere Sand tolerant plants Terrestrial animals Regularly flooded by tides Silt, clay, and mangrove Seaweed, algae, rocky, and littlesediment