TOPIC OUTLINE FOR AQUATIC ENVIRONMENT LECTURE
A. Aquatic environments: Inland waters, estuaries, wetlands, and
the ocean
1. Inland waters
a. Lentic (lacustrine)
ecosystems
(1) Lake basins
(2) Sediments, varves and lake history
(3) Basin wetlands (swamps, marshes, vernal pools)
b. Lotic (fluvial)
ecosystems
(1) General features of streams
(2) Origin of stream beds, erosion and deposition
(3) Riverine (riparian) wetlands
2. Estuaries
a. General features
of estuaries
b. Types of
estuaries
c. Importance
of estuaries
d. Fringe wetlands
(tidal marshes and mangrove swamps) and their importance
3. The Marine Environment
a. General features
of the ocean
(1) Importance
(2) Morphology of basins
(a) Continental shelves
(b) Continental slope
(c) Abyssal plains
(d) Submarine canyons
(e) Trenches
(3) Islands and reefs
(4) Seamounts and guyots
(5) Beaches
b. Oceanic sediments
(1) Primary origins of ocean sediments
(a) Lithogeneous
(b) Biogeneous
(2) Shallow-water sediments
(a) Terrigenous
(b) Biogenic
(c) Volcanic
(3) Deep-water sediments (eupelagic sediments)
(a) Biogenic
(c) Hydrogenic
(b) Red clays
B. Physical limiting factors in aquatic environments
1. Temperature
a. General considerations
b. Thermal properties of
lentic ecosystems
c. Thermal characteristics
of lotic ecosystems (Test to Here)
d. Thermal properties of
estuaries
e. Thermal features of marine
waters
2. Insolation (solar radiation)
a. Impact on the biota
b. Spectral features of
light
c. Penetration and extinction
in aquatic ecosystems
(1) Transparency and absorption
(2) Reflectance
(3) Turbidity and color
(a) Types, and methods of determination
(b) Lakes
(c) Streams
(d) Estuaries
(e) Marine waters
d. Zonation based on light
penetration
(1) Lakes
(2) Marine environments
3. Pressure
a. Effects of depth on hydrostatic
pressure
b. Effects on organisms
c. Divisions of marine pelagic
environment based on water depth
d. How organisms adapt to
increased hydrostatic pressures of abyssal depths
4. Hydrodynamics of inland waters
a. Lentic (lacustrine) environments
(1) non-periodic current systems
(2) periodic current systems
b. Lotic (fluvial) environments
5. Hydrodynamics of estuaries
a. Marine vs river dominated
estuaries
b. Evaporite estuaries
6. Hydrodynamics of marine environments
a. The atmosphere and surface
currents
b. Coriolis effect on currents
c. Vertical circulation
and upwelling
d. Waves and tides
C. Chemical limiting factors
1. Atmospheric gasses
a. Gas solubility
(1) Henry's law
(2) Effects of altitude, temperature and salinity
b. Atmospheric gases in
lakes
(1) Dissolved oxygen
(a) Sources
(b) Utilization
(c) Vertical distribution
(d) Determination
(e) Redox potential
(2) Carbon dioxide
(a) Importance
(b) Sources
(c) Occurrence
(3) Other lake gases
c. Atmospheric gases in
streams
(1) Sources and utilization of dissolved oxygen
(2) Carbon dioxide
(3) Other gases
d. Atmospheric gases in
estuaries
e. Dissolved gases in the
oceans and vertical circulation
2. Dissolved solids
a. General considerations
b. Ways of measuring dissolved
solids
c. Dissolved solids in inland
waters
d. Dissolved solids in estuaries
e. Dissolved solids in marine
waters (Salinity)
(1) Sources of sea salts
(2) Dissolved chemical constituents
f. Effects of salts on organisms
D. Nutrient cycling and energy flow
1. Model for nutrient cycling and energy flow in
a lake ecosystem
2. Energy flow in a stream ecosystem
3. Nutrient cycling and energy flow in marine ecosystems
4. Wetlands productivity and detrital food chains
E. Collection and analysis of aquatic organisms
1. Collection and analysis of plankton
2. Collection and analysis of benthos
3. Collection and analysis of nekton
F. Biological assessment methods for estimating water quality and environmental
conditions
1. Benthic biodiversity
a. Indices of diversity
b. Indicator organisms (Hilsenhoff's
species level tolerance characterization system)
c. Rapid bioassessment protocols
(RPBs) adopted by the USEPA
2. Nekton analysis
a. Using fish as indictors
of pollution
b. RPBs for fish
3. Bioassay
a. Establishing the toxicity
of chemicals or effluents (LC50s)
b. Animal tissue bioassays
for the detection of toxicants
c. Flesh tainting
G. Community structure of aquatic environments
1. Producers
a. Chemosynthetic autotrophs
(Bacteria)
b. Photosynthetic autotrophs
(1) Phytoplankton
(2) Aquatic macrophytes
(3) Algae
(a) Chlorophyta
(b) Chrysophyta
(c) Phaeophyta
(d) Rhodophyta
(e) Dinophyta (Pyrrophyta)
(f) Euglenophyta
(4) Cyanophyta (Diatoms)
(5) Tracheophyta
(a) Primitive tracheophytes
(b) Gymnosperms
(c) Angiosperms
(d) Adaptations of salt marsh plants
2. Consumers
a. Zooplankton
(1) Inland waters
(2) Estuaries
(3) Marine
(a) Holoplankton
(b) Meroplankton
b. Nekton
(1) Inland waters (fish, crustaceans, reptiles)
(2) Estuaries (anadromous fish, crustaceans)
(3) Marine (fish, crustaceans, cephalopods, reptiles, mammals)
c. Zoobenthos
(1) Lakes and streams
(a) Littoral bottom fauna
(b) Profundal bottom fauna
(c) adaptations of lotic bottom fauna
(2) Estuaries
(a) Adaptations of estuarine benthos
(b) Benthic communities on mud flats
(c) Benthic communities in mangrove swamps
(3) Marine
(a) Benthic shelf communities
* Rocky shores
* Coral Reefs
* Sand beaches
(b) Deep sea bottom communities