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Freshwater ecosystems are a subset of Earth's aquatic ecosystems. They include lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, springs, bogs, and wetlands. [1] They can be contrasted with marine ecosystems, which have a larger salt content. Freshwater habitats can be classified by different factors, including temperature, light penetration, nutrients, and ...
An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem found in and around a body of water, in contrast to land-based terrestrial ecosystems. Aquatic ecosystems contain communities of organisms — aquatic life —that are dependent on each other and on their environment. The two main types of aquatic ecosystems are marine ecosystems and freshwater ecosystems. [1]
Fresh water makes up less than 3% of the world's water resources, and just 1% of that is readily available. Just 3% of it is extracted for human consumption. Agriculture uses roughly two thirds of all fresh water extracted from the environment. [1] [2] [3] Fresh water is a renewable and variable, but finite natural resource.
Phytoplankton (/ ˌfaɪtoʊˈplæŋktən /) are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words φυτόν (phyton), meaning ' plant ', and πλαγκτός (planktos), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'. [ 1 ][ 2 ][ 3 ] Phytoplankton obtain ...
e. An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system that environments and their organisms form through their interaction. [2]: 458 The biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Ecosystems are controlled by external and internal factors. External factors such as climate, parent material which ...
Ecosystem services are ecologically mediated functional processes essential to sustaining healthy human societies. [6] Water provision and filtration, production of biomass in forestry, agriculture, and fisheries, and removal of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO 2) from the atmosphere are examples of ecosystem services essential to public health and economic opportunity.
Eutrophication is a general term describing a process in which nutrients accumulate in a body of water, resulting in an increased growth of microorganisms that may deplete the water of oxygen. [1][2] Eutrophication may occur naturally or as a result of human actions. Manmade, or cultural, eutrophication occurs when sewage, industrial wastewater ...
Natural-resource meaning [:] An actual or potential form of wealth supplied by nature, as coal, oil, water power, timber, arable land, etc. A material source of wealth, such as timber, fresh water, or a mineral deposit, that occurs in a natural state and has economic value. Something, such as a forest, a mineral deposit, or fresh water, that is ...