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 vegetation. There are three basic types of freshwater ecosystems: Lentic (slow moving water, including pools, ponds, and lakes), lotic (faster moving water, for example streams and rivers) and wetlands (areas where the soil is saturated or inundated for at least part of the time).[2][1] Freshwater ecosystems contain 41% of the world's known fish species.[3]
Freshwater ecosystems have undergone substantial transformations over time, which has impacted various characteristics of the ecosystems.[4] Original attempts to understand and monitor freshwater ecosystems were spurred on by threats to human health (for example cholera outbreaks due to sewage contamination).[5] Early monitoring focused on chemical indicators, then bacteria, and finally algae, fungi and protozoa. A new type of monitoring involves quantifying differing groups of organisms (macroinvertebrates, macrophytes and fish) and measuring the stream conditions associated with them.[6]
Threats to freshwater biodiversity include overexploitation, water pollution, flow modification, destruction or degradation of habitat, and invasion by exotic species.[7] Climate change is putting further pressure on these ecosystems because water temperatures have already increased by about 1 °C, and there have been significant declines in ice coverage which have caused subsequent ecosystem stresses.[8]
^ abWetzel, Robert G. (2001). Limnology : lake and river ecosystems (3rd ed.). San Diego: Academic Press. ISBN 978-0127447605. OCLC 46393244.
^Vaccari, David A. (8 November 2005). Environmental Biology for Engineers and Scientists. Wiley-Interscience. ISBN 0-471-74178-7.
^Daily, Gretchen C. (1 February 1997). Nature's Services. Island Press. ISBN 1-55963-476-6.
^Carpenter, Stephen R.; Stanley, Emily H.; Vander Zanden, M. Jake (2011). "State of the World's Freshwater Ecosystems: Physical, Chemical, and Biological Changes". Annual Review of Environment and Resources. 36 (1): 75–99. doi:10.1146/annurev-environ-021810-094524. ISSN 1543-5938.
^Rudolfs, Willem; Falk, Lloyd L.; Ragotzkie, R. A. (1950). "Literature Review on the Occurrence and Survival of Enteric, Pathogenic, and Relative Organisms in Soil, Water, Sewage, and Sludges, and on Vegetation: I. Bacterial and Virus Diseases". Sewage and Industrial Wastes. 22 (10): 1261–1281. JSTOR 25031419.
^Friberg, Nikolai; Bonada, Núria; Bradley, David C.; Dunbar, Michael J.; Edwards, Francois K.; Grey, Jonathan; Hayes, Richard B.; Hildrew, Alan G.; Lamouroux, Nicolas (2011), "Biomonitoring of Human Impacts in Freshwater Ecosystems", Advances in Ecological Research, Elsevier, pp. 1–68, doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-374794-5.00001-8, ISBN 9780123747945
^Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Parmesan, Camille; Morecroft, Mike; Trisurat, Yongyut; et al. "Chapter 2: Terrestrial and Freshwater Ecosystems and their Services" (PDF). Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-02-28. Retrieved 2022-03-03.
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