Aquatic Ecosystems Essay

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------------------------------------------------- Freshwater Wetlands Wetlands are places where the land is covered by shallow water: marshes, ponds, the edges of large lakes and rivers, and low-lying areas that flood regularly. Wetlands brim with life: microscopic animals and plants, fish, amphibians, birds and mammals. Wetlands also have their special plant communities - rooted plants like reeds, sedges, and waterlilies in the shallows and floating plants like duckweed and water hyacinth in deeper water. The muddy lake bottom is home to a host of creatures - flatworms, segmented worms, molluscs, crustaceans and insect larvae. The tangled roots of reeds and rushes provide shelter for breeding fish, frogs and newts. Water birds and a variety of mammals nest and feed in the wetland vegetation near the shore. Wetlands are great places to see a wide variety of bird life. Birds that feed and breed in freshwater wetlands include ducks and geese, wading birds like sandpipers and plovers, gulls and terns, herons, cranes, fish eagles, and a huge number of smaller birds like kingfishers, weavers, warblers and finches. Mammals found in wetlands include fish-eaters like otters and minks, and those that feed on wetland vegetation like beavers and water-voles. Temperatures vary greatly depending on the location of the wetland. Many of the world's wetlands are in temperate zones (midway between the North and South Poles and the equator). In these zones, summers are warm and winters are cold, but temperatures are not extreme. However, wetlands found in the tropic zone, which is around the equator, are always warm. Temperatures in wetlands on the Arabian Peninsula, for example, can reach 122°F (50°C). In northeastern Siberia, which has a polar climate, wetland temperatures can be as cold as -60°F (-5l °C). ------------------------------------------------- The open ocean

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