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Ecosystem Structure, Function, and Change

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Ecosystem Structure, Function, and Change
Hector Canseco
SCI/256
04/30/2015
Carolyn Miller

Freshwater Ecosystem is a relatively small in area about 1.8% of the earth’s surface. It consists of ponds and lakes which range in size from just a few square meters to thousands of square miles. All throughout the earth several are remnants from glaciers thousands of years ago. Many ponds are seasonal, lasting just a couple of months while lakes may exist for hundreds of years or more. Ponds and lakes may have limited species since they are often isolated from one another and from other water sources like rivers and oceans. Lakes and ponds are divided into three different zones, which are usually determined by depth and distance from the shoreline. Streams and rivers are also part of the fresh water ecosystem. These are bodies of flowing water moving in one direction. Streams and rivers can be found everywhere, they get their starts at headwaters, which may be springs, snowmelt or even lakes, and then travel all the way to their mouths, usually another water channel or the ocean. The type of a river or stream changes during the journey from the source to the mouth. The temperature is cooler at the source than it is at the mouth. The water is also clearer, has higher oxygen levels, and freshwater fish such as trout and bass can be found there. Towards the middle part of the stream or river, the width increases as does species, numerous aquatic green plants and algae can be found. Toward the mouth of the river or stream, the water becomes murky from all the sediments that it has picked up upstream, decreasing the amount of light that can penetrate through the water. Since there is less light, there is less types of plants, and because of the lower oxygen levels, fish that require less oxygen, such as catfish and carp, can be found. Wetlands are areas of standing

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