LOTIC ECOSYSTEMS: What are and examples

Before entering to talk about the logical ecosystems, we will begin by clarifying the Main types of aquatic ecosystems:

Fresh water ecosystems

Fresh water ecosystems cover around 0.8% of the land surface and give habitat to organisms as disparate as reptiles, amphibians and more than 40% of fish species. These ecosystems contain very little or no salt, being able to differentiate in: rivers and streams (lobbyic ecosystems, fast movement), lakes, ponds and wetlands (lentic ecosystems, slow movement).

Wide this information with these other ecology articles in which we explain why river water is sweet and we talk about freshwater water ecosystems with examples.

Salt water ecosystems

The marine or salt water ecosystems are the existing larger ecosystems and cover more than 70% of the earth’s surface, containing about 97% of the existing water. In them, different organisms live, from corals and echinoderms to brown and dinoflagellated algae. These ecosystems are characterized by their high content of dissolved minerals and salts. Some of the types of salt water ecosystems are: oceans, estuaries, wetlands, hydrothermal sources, marshes and coral reefs.

Here you can learn more about this topic what are the water ecosystems of salt water.

Lobal ecosystems are systems with water flowing quicklyin a single direction. They include any body in motion, such as rivers, streams, springs, channels, etc. Next, we specify the Characteristics of the Libytic Ecosystems or of moving waters.

• During the entire route of its waters they carry dissolved materialsthat is, sediment load materials that are in solution (they are usually ions from the chemical wear of the substrate).
• Its waters have a certain degree of turbidityunderstanding this as the amount of opacity it has, which can be determined by the quantity clays, sands and mud, bacteria and other microorganisms or chemical precipitates that it presents. If you have a lot of turbidity, it will be difficult to see through water and, if the turbidity is low, the waters will be transparent
• They have a longitudinal temperature progression (the temperature tends to increase along the system route; the lower the river or the stream, the greater the temperature and faster variation is the response to environmental temperature fluctuations and, as the volume of water increases with the route of the river or stream and it becomes more constant, the range of variation of the temperature decreases).
• They contain atmospheric gases and, in fact, they present a High oxygen concentrationespecially in areas of greater water movement and when the temperature is lower, since with the increase in water temperature decreases the amount of dissolved oxygen.
• Generally, the lobal ecosystems shelter a Great biodiversitysuch as insects (for example, ephemeral or plecoptera), fish (trout, eels …) or mammals (such as otters or beavers).
• Lobal ecosystems are characterized by having two types of zones: Fast and backwaters. Rapid areas are areas where water flows so quickly that the majority of sediments in solution or suspension carries, while backwaters are deeper parts of the river where the speed of the water current and the transported sediments decreases tend to deposit and accumulate in the bed.

Some Examples of lobal ecosystems They are any ecosystem that presents moving water, such as rivers, streams, springs, streams, and channels.

LOTIC ECOSYSTEMS: rivers and streams

The water of the rivers and streams is always flowing, in constant movement, which makes both the plants and the animals that inhabit are better adapted to these moving water conditions, as is the case of salmon.

Examples of lobal ecosystems: the springs

Manantiales are areas where groundwater is exposed, usually flowing from the earth’s surface. The water of the springs comes from aquifers or the water table and may have traveled long distances from their point of origin until they flow externally. There are different types of springs and their waters can vary in quality (there are drinkable and non -potable), the amount of ions they contain (it depends on the course followed and the geological conditions of the aquifer from which the spring proceeds) and at temperature (some are cold waters and others can exceed 500 ° C). In addition, springs can be perennial and emerge seasonally or ephemeral and present intervals throughout the year in which they emerge erratically.

In this other post you can learn more about how groundwater is formed.

The main differences between lentic and lobal ecosystems are:

• The lentic ecosystemsunlike the Lotics, they are those formed by stagnant watersas is the case of lakes, seas, ponds, ditches, seasonal ponds and swamps.
• In lobal ecosystems, algae, floating and rooted and invertebrate plants are found, such as crabs and prawns, amphibians such as frogs, salamanders and reptiles such as water snakes and caimanes. In the case of stagnant waters, having greater penetrability of light, they can support a wide variety of aquatic plants.
• During hottest periods of droughtunlike the Lotics, lentic ecosystems tend to resist these unfavorable conditions for longer and take longer to dry completely, so that organisms that live in these systems can continue to do so despite the decrease in supplies.
• In lentic systems 3 strata are differentiated: Epilimnion, Metalimnion and Hipolimnion. Epilimnion is the surface water layer, which presents the highest concentration of oxygen and light, as well as life; Metalimnion is the intermediate layer, in which water temperature begins to decrease (it is usually in this stratum where thermoclin is located) and life, although it continues to present numerous organisms; The hypolimnion is the deepest area, which maintains the temperature in winter (it takes longer to heat but also to cool) and where the amount of light capable of penetrating the waters greatly decreases, being able to become total darkness. It is for this reason that in this last layer there are the least number of living organisms.
• Another of the differences between both types of ecosystems is that Lobal ecosystems tend to be more superficial than lentics And this causes the temperature to be one of the most important abiotic factors for life in these systems. The water of the lobal ecosystems freezes and thaws more quickly than the deep waters of the lentics. Lobal ecosystems depend on rainfall, the melting of snow and springs to maintain water flowing. In times of drought, these superficial systems dry and this entails the death of many organisms that live in them.

Learn more about this other type of ecosystems with this article in which we talk about lentic ecosystems: what are and examples.

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