Wright 6

Jessie Wright

Ecology

Dr Bartelt

Lab Report 1

Objective:
To understand and document the structure of lake and marsh ecosystems

through analysis and correlation of the data sampled at Lake Catherine and the

adjacent marsh land. The data obtained will be used to demonstrate what the

differences in light intensity, temperature, oxygen concentration, and pH at

different depths means to the ecosystem of the body of water. We will also use the

initial oxygen concentrations and concentrations after 24 hours in light or dark

conditions. This will be used to calculate the net primary production of the

photosynthetic organisms living in the ecosystems.

Background:

Lakes and ponds are characterized by size and shape they consist of mainly

standing fresh water there are a few exceptions like the Great Salt Lake, which has

a very elevated salt concentration that resembles water found in the oceans. If

lakes are large enough they can be broken up into zones. Waves, changing

temperature and the grinding of ice act in the shallow regions of the lake and leads

to the formation of course sediments. This shallower region of the lake has good

light penetration; this is where most submergent and emergent aquatic plants grow.

This zone is called the littoral zone, it includes all areas where light penetrates to

the bottom, and extends from the shore to the depth that rooted plants disappear.
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This zone is also home to a wide variety of aquatic animals, plants and

decomposers.

The next zone is the limnetic zone; it is located between the shores and

reaches to the depth of light penetration. This zones production is characterized by

photosynthetic alga and a wide range of planktonic organisms. In shallower lakes

this is the only other zone that might be present because light penetration can

reach the bottom there for photosynthesis can occur through ought the water

column.

The bottom zone is called the profundal zone, in this zone light penetration is

weak or nonexistent. This area is also lacking in oxygen concentration, only fish that

are tolerant of such conditions can function in this zone like cat fish, carpe, and

bullheads. The primary producers of the profundal zone are bacterial decomposers.

These three zones make up the bulk of most lakes there are other forces at work in

the ecosystem that also contribute to the net production of these areas.

The temperature is a contributing factor to production in bodies of water. If a

lake is large enough it has thermal stratification. This means that different layers of

the lake are different temperatures. The epilimnon is the top layer that is warmed

by the sun and cooled by the wind; generally this layer is the warmest throughout

the part of the year that temperatures are above freezing. The middle layer is

called the thermocline; this is the area that temperature and oxygen levels

decrease rapidly with increasing depth. The bottom layer is called the hypolimnon,

this layer is usually very cold compared the epilimnon and most generally lacks

sufficient oxygen levels. This layering is called stratification, and can account for the

different organisms in different areas of the lake.

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In addition to light penetration and temperature, oxygen and nutrient

concentration is important to the primary production of the lake, so is pH. If a lake is

deep, clear, has low productivity, and is lacking in nutrients it is called oligotrophic.

If a lake is shallow, murky, warm, and nutrient rich it is a eutrophic lake. These two

classifications are at the opposite ends of a broad spectrum of lake productivity.

Even though most generally every lake will become eutrophic eventually and fill in,

it is a natural cycle. The speed that lakes are becoming eutrophic has increased due

to human effects, like fertilization, and dumping sewage. Humans have a great and

terrible impact on the majority of ecosystems that span the globe.

Most organisms need optimum conditions to be productive, lakes and ponds

are host to broad spectrum of aerobic and anaerobic organisms that either live in

the lake or use it as their primary habitat. Everything from minute bacteria to

beavers and water fowl use the lake and its surrounding ecosystem for their homes.

Fresh water is very important to all walks of life, if they aren’t taking care of and

rehabilitated the earth will die.

Marshes, wetlands, and swamps are another set of fresh water ecosystems

that are very important to the health of the earth and its organisms. These systems

general lack high oxygen levels are very nutrient rich. Even though they lack in

some areas their net primary productivity is usually greater than that of lakes and

ponds. These areas of standing water can be characterized by whether they hold

water year round, depth, nutrients, and plant species.

Marshes have nutrient rich soils which support a wide variety of water

tolerant vegetation, usually grasses. Most marshes have large areas of alga and

other photosynthetic organisms like duckweed, a small vascular plant that has roots

and flowers but lives on the surface of marshes. With all this vegetation surrounding
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and in the marsh ecosystem most would think there should be an abundance of

oxygen but there isn’t. Most marshes are characterized by having very little to no

free oxygen in the water called hypoxia. This is caused by vascular plants pulling

dissolved oxygen out of the standing water at night for respiration.

The vegetation in marshes and wetlands also aids in the blocking of wind, this

prevents the water surface from cooling and sinking which would result in high

turnover rates. It also aids the surface vegetation by letting it not be disturbed

frequently, letting it produce more. Marshes also tend to be warmer than lakes, they

are shallower and can absorb more heat energy from the sun, but they have little to

no light penetration, most vegetation lives on the surface or has roots below the

surface and leaves above. Marshes and wetlands are also home to a wide variety of

aquatic flora and fauna, water fowl often stop to feed or rest. Bacteria and

anaerobic organisms flourish in the nutrient rich waters and soils of marshes and

wetlands. They are characterized as being quite eutrophic, compared to lakes.

The differences of marshes and lakes are very important to the environment

as a whole. They both play host to a diverse field of organisms and are important to

all living organisms. Lakes are larger and hold more water but marshes have more

nutrients and can have a higher net productivity. All fresh water habitats and

ecosystems are important, only about two percent of the earth’s water supply is

fresh and in it all needs to be preserved in any ways possible.

Hypothesis:

Structure of a Lake Ho: There will be distinct correlations between the

concentration gradients at different depths. The concentration of nutrients and

oxygen will decrease as the light intensity decreases the deeper it gets. The

temperature will also decrease with depth.

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Primary Production Ho: That production will decrease with depth and

decreasing oxygen concentrations.

Lake verses Marsh Ho: There will be a more pronounced concentration

gradient found in the lake ecosystem compared to the marsh, because the lake will

have greater light intensity, more oxygen and more nutrients present.

Structure of a Lake Ha: There will be no correlations between the

concentration gradients at different depths. There will be no increase or decrease of

the concentrations of nutrients and oxygen as the light intensity decreases. The

temperature will remain constant.

Primary Production Ha: There will be no difference in production related to

the depth of the sample taken.

Lake verses Marsh Ha: There will be no difference in the ecosystem of the

lake compared to the ecosystem of the marsh, due to oxygen, light, and nutrients

present.

Methods:

We used a Van Dorn bottle sampler to sample the water at different depths.

This water was measured for temperature and initial oxygen concentrations in the

field with a glass bulb thermometer and special ampoules that change color with

increasing or decreasing oxygen concentration. Back in the lab we tested the water

taken from different depths for nitrate concentrations, ammonia concentrations and

phosphate concentration. We used a spectrometer to measure the wavelengths of

the different water samples. We also obtained further samples with the Van Dorn

bottle these samples that were taken at different depths were immediately put into

light and dark bottles. Oxygen concentrations was taken after 24 hours for light

and dark at each depth to measure the productivity of the photosynthetic

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organisms and the respiration of all organisms this will help us calculate the gross

primary production.

Conclusion:

I conclude that further data should be obtained before accepting or denying

any of the given hypotheses. The data obtained may have been compromised for

lack of more hi tech equipment and lack of more favorable conditions like a deeper

lake. There is some correlation between concentration gradients but not enough.

Some samples that were taken deeper were sometimes warmer and had a greater

concentration of oxygen. The only way I can account for this is that the surface

water would be cooler then the water at 1m deep, but this isn’t what happened the

temperature at 2m deep was warmer than the temperature at 1m deep. This data

doesn’t seem right. The net primary production doesn’t seem to correlate as much

as the gross primary production with depth.

In the marsh verses lake study it is clear that the marsh has a higher net

productivity than the lake. The lakes productivity seems to vary too much it goes

from being positive to being negative and then goes back to being positive. There

should be a correlation that can be identified by a distinct curve, but that wasn’t

present in the data obtained. The marshes net productivity stayed positive, even

though it’s lacking in free oxygen concentration.

Further data should be collected to accept or reject the hypotheses that have

been given. All the background known to me doesn’t correlate to data collected.

There should be a correlation between all gradients from oxygen to ammonia

concentrations with the depth of the sample taken. One thing that maybe accounts

for the missing correlations maybe the annual fall turnover, every fall the surface
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water cools and sinks bring the warmer deeper water to the surface and continues

to do this until it freezes. This stirs the entire lake from top to bottom, this may

account for the strange differences between the two meter and three meter marks.

Overall there was correlation between gradients but it wasn’t related to depth which

it should have been.