What is the most productive aquatic ecosystem in the world?
Highly productive aquatic ecosystems. Taking the world ocean as a whole, most of the primary production is carried out by phytoplankton. Within coastal embayments and estuaries, however, it is commonly the case that the benthic macrophytes account for most of the primary production. For St Margaret's Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada,...
What is the average primary productivity of an aquatic biome?
These highly productive areas have an average annual net primary production of over 1,000 grams per square meter per year. The aquatic biome with the highest level of primary productivity is the coral reef biome with around 2,500 grams of biomass per square meter per year.
What is the most productive biome on Earth?
tropical rain forest is the most productive biome on earth. b. Furthermore, what are the two major aquatic biomes? Aquatic biomes can be generally classified based on the amount of salt in the water. Freshwater biomes have less than 1% salt and are typical of ponds and lakes, streams and rivers, and wetlands.
Why are the most productive natural aquatic plant communities benthic?
The rooted members of the benthic flora - seagrasses in marine waters and the various kinds of aquatic angiosperms in fresh waters - have the additional advantage that they can derive nutrients from the sediments in which they are growing. It is thus not surprising that the most productive natural aquatic plant communities are benthic.
Which aquatic biome is most productive and why?
The answer is coral reef ecosystem . More than 25% of marine flora and fauna live in this ecosystem, but corals occupy only 1% of the ocean floor.
What are the most and least productive aquatic biomes?
Lakes are generally larger than ponds. Lakes are classified by how productive they are. Oligotrophic lakes have low levels of nitrogen and phosphorus and are the least productive. Lakes with moderate productivity are called mesotrophic lakes, and lakes with a high level of productivity are called eutrophic lakes.
What is a productive aquatic ecosystem?
The most productive aquatic ecosystems are shallow-water marine ecosystems where light is ample and autotrophs are multicellular with complex structures or associations (e.g., corals and kelp). From: Fundamentals of Ecosystem Science, 2013.
What are the two most productive aquatic ecosystems Why?
The two most productive are estuaries swamps and marshes and tropical rain forests. The two least productive are open ocean tundra and desert.
What are the two most productive aquatic ecosystems?
In marine waters the most productive systems are brown algal beds, seagrass beds and coral reefs.
Which ecosystem is highly productive?
Tropical rainforestsTropical rainforests show the highest productivity in terrestrial ecosystems.
What area of the ocean is most productive?
coastal upwelling areasAlthough they occupy less than two percent of the oceans, the coastal upwelling areas in the eastern parts of the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean are among the biologically most productive marine areas worldwide.
Which freshwater ecosystem is the most productive?
Located in Central Cambodia, Tonle Sap Lake is the largest lake in Cambodia and is considered one of the world's most productive freshwater ecosystems. Also known as the Great Lake, Tonle Sap is an ecological hotspot and was named the first UNESCO biosphere in Cambodia in 1997.
Which aquatic ecosystem has the highest net primary productivity?
In an aquatic ecosystem, coral reefs have the highest net primary productivity. It experiences a high photosynthesis rate due to the high light intensity in such an ecosystem.
Which of the following ecosystem is most productive for aquaculture?
UPLOAD PHOTO AND GET THE ANSWER NOW! Solution : In terms of net primary productivity tropical rain forest is at the top followed by coral reef, easturies and desert and ocean.
What is the most productive marine environments and why are they so productive?
Higher chlorophyll concentrations and in general higher productivity are observed on the equator, along the coasts (especially eastern margins), and in the high latitude ocean (Figure 4a and b).
Which freshwater ecosystem is least productive?
Answer and Explanation: The bog freshwater ecosystem is the least productive.
What is the largest biome?
Aquatic Biome. The aquatic biome is the largest of all the biomes, covering about 75 percent of Earth’s surface. This biome is usually divided into two categories: freshwater and marine. Typically, freshwater habitats are less than 1 percent salt. Marine life, however, has to be adapted to living in a habitat with a high concentration of salt. ...
What is the difference between freshwater and marine life?
Typically, freshwater habitats are less than 1 percent salt. Marine life, however, has to be adapted to living in a habitat with a high concentration of salt. Freshwater habitats include ponds, lakes, rivers, and streams, while marine habitats include the ocean and salty seas.
What are the animals that live in estuaries?
Estuaries are home to many species of fish and shellfish, as well as several species of migratory birds that depend on estuaries for a place to nest and raise their young. A hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) swings by a coral reef at the Turneffe Atoll in Belize. Brian J. Skerry.
What are rocky oceans made of?
rocky ocean features made up of millions of coral skeletons.
What is the term for the area of the planet that can be classified according to the plant and animal life in it?
biome. Noun. area of the planet which can be classified according to the plant and animal life in it. chemosynthesis. Noun. process by which some microbes turn carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates using energy obtained from inorganic chemical reactions. climate change. Noun.
What is the water in a river?
Rivers and streams are moving bodies of freshwater. The water in a river or stream is largely made up of runoff from sources such as melting glaciers or rainwater. Rivers and streams usually empty into a lake or the ocean. At the beginning of a fast-moving river or stream, the water is clear and oxygen is abundant.
Is the ocean salt water?
The ocean is a large body of saltwater that spans most of Earth’s surface. Like ponds and lakes, life in the ocean is adapted to certain regions of the water. For example, the deepest parts of the ocean are too dark to support photosynthesis, but many creatures still manage to survive here.
What are the most productive marine ecosystems?
In marine waters the most productive systems are brown algal beds, seagrass beds and coral reefs. The kelps, brown algae of the genera Laminaria and Macrocystis, form dense forests in the sublittoral zone of rocky coasts in cool waters. According to Mann and Chapman (1975), these plants achieve annual net production rates in the range 1000 to 2000 g Cm"2. The intertidal brown seaweeds such as Fucus and Ascophyllum in temperate and subarctic latitudes have annual net production rates of 500 to 1000 g Cm"2. Tropical sublittoral sea-grass beds dominated by the genus Thalassia achieve annual net production rates of 500 to 1500 g Cm"2 and in temperate waters, beds dominated by genera such as Zostera, fix in the range of 100 to 1500gCm~2. In Posidonia oceanica meadows in the Mediterranean, Pergent et al. (1997) estimate that 32 to 36% of the carbon fixed annually is stored in the sediments in the form of rhizomes and attached leaf sheaths. For the globe as a whole, Duarte and Chiscano (1999) calculate, on the basis of literature data for 30 species, an average seagrass annual production of 1012 g dry weight m~2 yr"1, corresponding to ~340gCm~2yr_1. They estimate that the average surplus carbon produced by seagrasses globally is about 0.16 Gt per year, which corresponds to 15% of the total excess carbon produced in the global ocean (i.e. the net CO2 uptake by oceanic biota).
How do aquatic plants achieve high primary production?
To achieve a high rate of primary production, an aquatic plant community must achieve a high rate of collection of light energy and an efficient utilization of this absorbed energy by its photosynthetic system, followed by conversion of photosynthate to new cell material.
Why are phytoplankton less productive than benthic plants?
The major factor responsible for the lower productivity of the phyto-plankton, compared to the benthic plants, is, as we have noted, the lower average irradiance they receive as a consequence of vertical circulation . One solution to this problem, adopted by the blue-green algae (§12.6), is the evolution of a flotation mechanism enabling the algae to move vertically within the water to a depth that suits them, without (as in the dinoflagellates) the need for continual expense of energy to drive flagella. This may in part account for the fact that the natural water bodies with the highest phytoplankton productivity are dominated by blue-green algae: annual net yields from such water bodies are commonly in the region of 300 to 1000 gCm~2 but values in the region of 2000 gCm~2 have been reported.520
What is the primary production of coral reefs?
In coral reefs primary production is carried out by multicellular algae and seagrasses, as well as by the symbiotic zooxanthellae living within the cells of the coral. Total annual primary production on coral reefs is typically in the range of 300 to 5000 g Cm"2.801,968. If the immediate products of photosynthesis, which are carbohydrate in nature, ...
What are the immediate products of photosynthesis?
If the immediate products of photosynthesis, which are carbohydrate in nature, are to be used for cell growth and multiplication, proteins, nucleic acids and other cell constituents must be synthesized, for which mineral nutrients are required. A problem faced by aquatic plants is that at the time of year when high solar altitude favours ...
What is the chlorophyll concentration of phytoplankton?
In the sea, phytoplankton chlorophyll a concentrations are typically in the range 0.02 to 0.2 mgm-3
Which biome is the largest?
The ocean is the largest marine biome. It is a continuous body of salt water that is relatively uniform in chemical composition; it is a weak solution of mineral salts and decayed biological matter. Within the ocean, coral reefs are a second kind of marine biome. Estuaries, coastal areas where salt water and fresh water mix, form a third unique marine biome.
How are aquatic biomes influenced by abiotic factors?
Like terrestrial biomes, aquatic biomes are influenced by a series of abiotic factors. The aquatic medium—water— has different physical and chemical properties than air. Even if the water in a pond or other body of water is perfectly clear (there are no suspended particles), water still absorbs light. As one descends into a deep body of water, there will eventually be a depth which the sunlight cannot reach. While there are some abiotic and biotic factors in a terrestrial ecosystem that might obscure light (like fog, dust, or insect swarms), usually these are not permanent features of the environment. The importance of light in aquatic biomes is central to the communities of organisms found in both freshwater and marine ecosystems. In freshwater systems, stratification due to differences in density is perhaps the most critical abiotic factor and is related to the energy aspects of light. The thermal properties of water (rates of heating and cooling) are significant to the function of marine systems and have major impacts on global climate and weather patterns. Marine systems are also influenced by large-scale physical water movements, such as currents; these are less important in most freshwater lakes.
What are the abiotic factors that affect the life of a lake?
Lakes and ponds can range in area from a few square meters to thousands of square kilometers. Temperature is an important abiotic factor affecting living things found in lakes and ponds. In the summer, thermal stratification of lakes and ponds occurs when the upper layer of water is warmed by the sun and does not mix with deeper, cooler water. Light can penetrate within the photic zone of the lake or pond. Phytoplankton (small photosynthetic organisms such as algae and cyanobacteria that float in the water) are found here and carry out photosynthesis, providing the base of the food web of lakes and ponds. Zooplankton (very small animals that float in the water), such as rotifers and small crustaceans, consume these phytoplankton. At the bottom of lakes and ponds, bacteria in the aphotic zone break down dead organisms that sink to the bottom.
What is the photic zone of the ocean?
The benthic zone extends along the ocean bottom from the shoreline to the deepest parts of the ocean floor. Within the pelagic realm is the photic zone, which is the portion of the ocean that light can penetrate (approximately 200 m or 650 ft). At depths greater than 200 m, light cannot penetrate; thus, this is referred to as the aphotic zone. The majority of the ocean is aphotic and lacks sufficient light for photosynthesis. The deepest part of the ocean, the Challenger Deep (in the Mariana Trench, located in the western Pacific Ocean), is about 11,000 m (about 6.8 mi) deep. To give some perspective on the depth of this trench, the ocean is, on average, 4267 m. These zones are relevant to freshwater lakes as well.
What are the limiting nutrients in lakes and ponds?
Nitrogen and phosphorus are important limiting nutrients in lakes and ponds. Because of this, they are determining factors in the amount of phytoplankton growth in lakes and ponds. When there is a large input of nitrogen and phosphorus (from sewage and runoff from fertilized lawns and farms, for example), the growth of algae skyrockets, resulting in a large accumulation of algae called an algal bloom. Algal blooms (Figure 4) can become so extensive that they reduce light penetration in water. As a result, the lake or pond becomes aphotic and photosynthetic plants rooted in the lake bottom cannot survive. When the algae die and decompose, severe oxygen depletion of the water occurs. Fishes and other organisms that require oxygen are then more likely to die, and resulting dead zones are found across the globe. Lake Erie and the Gulf of Mexico represent freshwater and marine habitats where phosphorus control and storm water runoff pose significant environmental challenges.
What are abiotic features of rivers and streams?
Abiotic features of rivers and streams vary along the length of the river or stream. Streams begin at a point of origin referred to as source water. The source water is usually cold, low in nutrients, and clear. The channel (the width of the river or stream) is narrower than at any other place along the length of the river or stream. Because of this, the current is often faster here than at any other point of the river or stream.
What is the deepest part of the ocean?
The deepest part of the ocean is the abyssal zone, which is at depths of 4000 m or greater. The abyssal zone (Figure 1) is very cold and has very high pressure, high oxygen content, and low nutrient content. There are a variety of invertebrates and fishes found in this zone, but the abyssal zone does not have plants because of the lack of light. Cracks in the Earth’s crust called hydrothermal vents are found primarily in the abyssal zone. Around these vents chemosynthetic bacteria utilize the hydrogen sulfide and other minerals emitted as an energy source and serve as the base of the food chain found in the abyssal zone .
Which biome has the highest primary production?
The aquatic biome with the highest level of primary productivity is the coral reef biome with around 2,500 grams of biomass per square meter per year. The biome that includes swamps and marshes and the estuary biome are ...
Which biome has the lowest productivity?
These low levels are due to the very small amounts of rainfall and extreme temperatures. Although there are plants adapted to live in these biomes, they are slow growing and do not produce a large amount of biomass. The aquatic biomes with the lowest levels of primary productivity are the open ocean and lakes and streams. These biomes have low production because of the limited amount of nutrients available. In addition, the open ocean also has low primary productivity because the sunlight is not able to penetrate the deep water and photosynthesis can only occur in more shallow areas.
What Is Primary Productivity?
Take a minute and think about the food you ate today. Now, think about the food you would expect a deer or an eagle to eat during a day. What do you think these diets have in common? Although there is a great deal of diversity in what these animals are consuming, the major thing they all have in common is the origin of the food materials.
How many different biomes are there?
For this lesson, we will discuss fourteen different biomes and how they relate to primary productivity. The aquatic biomes discussed will include the open ocean, coral reefs, estuaries, lakes and streams, and swamps and marshes. The terrestrial biomes will be divided into four different types including tropical, temperate, polar, and desert. The tropical biomes include tropical rainforests, tropical seasonal forests, and tropical savannas. The temperate biomes include temperate deciduous forests, temperate evergreen forests, and temperate grasslands. The polar biomes include boreal forests and the tundra, while the desert biome does not have any subdivisions.
Why are the desert biomes so low in productivity?
These low levels are due to the very small amounts of rainfall and extreme temperatures. Although there are plants adapted to live in these biomes, they are slow growing and do not produce a large amount of biomass.
Why do biomes have increased productivity?
Several biomes, including tropical savannas, boreal forests, and temperate grasslands have moderate levels of primary productivity due to less precipitation and varying temperatures.
Which biome receives less rain than the other?
All three biomes in this category are terrestrial and include tropical savannas, boreal forests, and temperate grasslands. These biomes receive less rain than the biomes that produce high levels of primary productivity and are more prone to long periods without water. Biomes with Low Primary Productivity.