ABSTRACT
Chapter 30 introduces categories used to define waterways, such as marine versus fresh, and stream versus lake and wetlands. Waterways are further categorized by salt content. Fresh standing water is further divided into categories like swamp, marsh, and others. From here the chapter provides ecological characteristics of streams, lakes, and the ocean, following the flow of water from basins and watersheds to the seas. The stream order concept is described as is the river continuum concept. Habitat classification within lakes is described from near-shore littoral regions to deep water limnetic areas. The epilimnion is distinguished from the hypolimnion and the concept of thermocline is described along with chemical formulae describing the source of dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide. Zooplankton and phytoplankton are described. The Reynold’s number concept is introduced. Oligotrophic versus eutrophic lakes are distinguished. Ocean characteristics are introduced, including an explanation of tides. Major communities are described including nekton, Sargasso Sea, kelp forests, hydrothermal vents, and black and white smokers.
