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Water conservation aims to sustainably manage the natural resource of fresh water, protect the hydrosphere, and meet current and future human demand. Water conservation makes it possible to avoid water scarcity. It covers all the policies, strategies and activities to reach these aims.
The Oceanic carbon cycle is a central process to the global carbon cycle and contains both inorganic carbon (carbon not associated with a living thing, such as carbon dioxide) and organic carbon (carbon that is, or has been, incorporated into a living thing). Part of the marine carbon cycle transforms carbon between non-living and living matter.
They provide various marine animals with food, protection, and shelter which keep generations of species alive. [13] Furthermore, coral reefs are an integral part of sustaining human life through serving as a food source (i.e., fish and mollusks) as well as a marine space for ecotourism which provides economic benefits. [ 14 ]
Key objectives are general protection of the aquatic ecosystem, protection of drinking water resources, and protection of swimmable waters. [23] These objectives are realized through river management measures at basin scale. [4] The WFD requires the delineation of water bodies that will be targeted for specific diagnosis and management measures.
Production of organic compounds like carbon is what gets transferred up the food chain. Primary producers are consumed by herbivorous invertebrates that act as the primary consumers . Productivity of these producers and the function of the ecosystem as a whole are influenced by the organism above it in the food chain.
Biogeochemistry is the scientific discipline that involves the study of the chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes and reactions that govern the composition of the natural environment (including the biosphere, the cryosphere, the hydrosphere, the pedosphere, the atmosphere, and the lithosphere).
The structurally diverse macrophyte beds are important sites for the accumulation of organic matter, and provide an ideal area for colonization. The sediments and plants also offer a great deal of protection from predatory fishes. [3] Very few invertebrates are able to inhabit the cold, dark, and oxygen-poor profundal zone.
The food base of streams within riparian forests is mostly derived from the trees, but wider streams and those that lack a canopy derive the majority of their food base from algae. Anadromous fish are also an important source of nutrients. Environmental threats to rivers include loss of water, dams, chemical pollution and introduced species. [12]