Freshwater Biomes
Freshwater Biomes
• Freshwater biomes are characterized
by the speed at which the water is
moving.
• Brooks, streams, and
rivers are ecosystems
based on moving water.
• Tributary- a trickle or
stream that joins a
larger stream.
Freshwater Biomes
• Organisms that live in
fast moving water
have special
adaptations to avoid
being swept away.
• Insect larvae live
under rocks, and
tadpoles use suction
disks to hold onto
rocks.
Melting Snow
Waterfall
Tributary
Lake or Ocean
Zones of Freshwater System
• Ponds and Lakes
have different
ecosystems than
streams and rivers.
• Lake Superior is
the largest lake in
the world.
Open-water zone
Litoral zone
Deep-water zone
Zones of Freshwater
Zones of Freshwater
• A) Littoral Zone- area where the water
meets the land.
-Plants include: cattails, rushes, water lilies
-Animals include:
snails, small
arthropods,
insects, clams,
worms, frogs,
salamanders,
turtles, snakes and
various kinds of
fish
Zones of Freshwater
• B) Open-water zone- extends from the
littoral zone across the top of the water.
Only goes as deep as light can reach
- Plants include: mostly phytoplankton
- Animals include: bass, blue gill, trout, and other fish
Zones of Freshwater
• C) Deep-water zone- part of the water
where no light reaches and organisms feed
on dead organic material.
- Plants include: no plant life
- Animals include: catfish, carp, worms, insect larvae,
crustaceans, fungi and bacteria.
Types of Freshwater Systems
• Three other types of freshwater
ecosystems that we will discuss are:
-Wetlands
-Marshes
-Swamps
Wetlands
• An area of land where the water level is
near or above the surface of the group
for most of the year.
• Plays an important role, in flood control
• Support a variety of plant and animal
life
Marshes
• A treeless wetland ecosystem where
plants such as cattails and rushes grow.
• Some organisms nest near wetlands to
escape large predators.
Swamps
• Type of wetland characterized by
flooded trees.
• Spanish moss and vines grow on the
trees.
• Water is very slow moving and causes
lots of growth on top of the water.