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Life Forms of Aquatic Organisms

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Freshwater and Marine Ecology

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Abstract

This chapter gives a kind of minimal introduction to the organisms living in water, as far as it is needed for an ecology textbook. It will not focus on taxonomy, because this would just be a repetition of a taxonomy textbook. All phyla and most of the classes and orders have representatives living in water (Sect. 3.1). Instead of a taxonomic approach, a “life form” approach will be taken, focusing on the traits most important for growth and survival in the aquatic realm.

Classification of life form types starts with basic nutritional types (Sect. 3.2). The next most important dimension of a functional characterization is body size (Sect. 3.3), an ecological “master trait” with far-reaching consequences for many other traits, like metabolic rates, growth rate, and longevity. A further functionally important trait is the stoichiometry of biomass (Sect. 3.4) which defines the elemental requirements of organisms.

The remining sections are devoted to a grouping by major habitats, in pelagic waters plankton (drifting organisms, Sect. 3.5) and nekton (swimming organisms, Sect. 3.6) and benthos on solid substrates (Sect. 3.7) and benthos on soft substrates (Sect. 3.8).

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Abbreviations

b:

allometry coefficient

I:

ingestion rate

L:

body length

Ra:

absolute metabolic rate

Rs:

specific metabolic rate

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, University of Kiel, Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

    Ulrich Sommer

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  1. Ulrich Sommer
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Exercise Questions

Exercise Questions

The right-hand column of the table below indicates the place where the answer can be found or deduced logically from the information contained in the text.

Question

Section

1. Which major group of plants is not represented in water?

3.1

2. Which is the most important underrepresented animal higher taxon in water?

3.1

3. What is the meaning of the terms “photolithoautotrophic” and “chemoorganoheterotrophic”?

3.2

4. What is the carbon source of mixotrophic organisms?

3.2

5. Explain the difference between the photosynthesis of purple bacteria and cyanobacteria

3.2.1

6. Why is chemosynthesis bound to redox gradients?

3.2.2

5. Explain the difference between osmotrophy and phagotrophy.

3.2.3

6. How are absolute and specific metabolic rates related to body mass?

3.3.1

7. Can relationships between metabolic rates and body mass depend on food supply?

3.3.2

8. Which major groups of organic substances increase C:N ratios in biomass?

3.4.1

9. Which major groups of organic substances decrease C:P ratios in biomass?

3.4.1

10. Why is the C:N:P ratio of primary producers more variable than the C:N:P ratio of animals?

3.4.2

11. What is the numerical value and what is the biological basis of the Redfield ratio?

3.4.2

12. What distinguishes plankton from nekton?

3.5

13. How does plankton size relate to the methods of sampling, identification, and counting?

3.5.1, Box 3.2

14. Which higher taxon of phytoplankton has the biggest range in sizes?

3.5.2

15. Which higher taxon of phytoplankton is more diverse in freshwaters than in the ocean?

3.5.2

16. Which phytoplankton groups are mineral skeletal substances and which are the minerals?

3.5.2

17. What is the usual abundance and the main role of heterotrophic nanoflagellates?

3.5.3

18. What are the main functional differences between cladocerans, copepods, and appendicularians?

3.5.3

20. Which zooplankton taxonomic groups are gelatinous?

3.5.3

21. What is the difference between lecitotrophic and planktotrophic larvae?

3.5.3

22. How is the ontogenetic vertical migration of long-living copepods related to their life cycle?

3.5.3

19. What are the proximate and the ultimate causes for the diel vertical migration of zooplankton?

3.5.3

20. What is the usual abundance of heterotrophic bacteria in surface waters?

3.5.4

21. Can aquatic fungi have negative effects on phytoplankton? If yes, which groups and why?

3.5.5

22. Are viruses a problem for other plankton? If yes, why?

3.5.6

23. Which are the major higher animal taxa belonging to nekton?

3.6

24. Which nektonic animals breed on land?

3.6

24. Do pelagic fish have a typical shape? If yes, why?

3.6

25. Why do whales have no fur and seals have fur?

3.6

26. What is the difference between anadromic and catadromic migrations? Provide examples!

3.6

27. Why do humpback whales perform long north–south migrations?

3.6

28. Explain epibiosis

3.7.1

29. How can flat rock surfaces become a three-dimensional habitat for benthos?

3.7.1

30. Which are the most important primary producers in periphyton?

3.7.2

31. Which are the most important groups of benthic macroalgae?

3.7.2

32. What determines the upper limit of macroalgal distributions in the eulittoral?

3.7.2

33. Which major taxa of zoobenthos are exclusively marine and which contain also freshwater representatives?

3.7.3

34. Compare the mobility patterns of the various groups of mollusks and crustaceans

3.7.3

35. Explain the uniqueness of the locomotion of Echinodermata.

3.7.3

36. Are benthic fish morphologically distinct from pelagic ones?

3.7.3

37. Which effects have microbial mats on sediments?

3.8.2

38. Describe the life forms of flowering plants in water.

3.8.2

39. Can you find protists and animals in reduced sediment layers?

3.8.3

40. What are the morphological adaptations of animals living in the interstitial space?

3.8.3

41. How do buried polychaetes and bivalves get oxygen?

3.8.3

42. Give examples for endo- and epibenthic fish.

3.8.3

43. Why do sediments contain the biggest diversity of bacterial metabolic types at small spatial scales?

3.8.4

44. How many heterotrophic bacteria are found in oxidized sediments?

3.8.4

45. What are the reduced end products of nitrate and sulfate respiration?

3.8.4

46. Which oxidized and reduced substances are necessary for >N-based and for S-based chemosynthesis?

3.8.4

47. Compare the larval and the adult life spans of aquatic insects.

3.9

48. How do stream insects cope with the problem of the downstream drift of larvae?

3.9.1

49. Which aquatic insects can cause human health problems?

3.9.2

Glossary

abundance

number of individuals per volume or area

aerobic

in the presence of oxygen

ammonification

production of ammonium by →nitrate respiration

annamox: anaerobic

bacterial oxidation of ammonium by nitrate

anadromous migration

spawning migration from the sea to freshwaters

anaerobic

in the absence of oxygen

autotrophic

using carbon dioxide or bicarbonate as C-source for biomass production

bacteriochlorophyll

chlorophyll of photosynthetic bacteria, without Cyanobacteria

bacterivory

feeding on bacteria

bacterioplankton

bacterial plankton, usually excluding Cyanobacteria

benthos

organisms living at the bottom or at the margin of water bodies

biomass

mass of living organisms, usually expressed as fresh weight, dry weight, carbon content

carnivory

feeding on animal material

catadromous migration

spawning migration from freshwaters to the sea

chemolithoautotrophy

production of biomass using redox reactions as energy source, inorganic substance as electron donor, and carbon dioxide or bicarbonate as carbon source

chemosynthesis

chemolithoautotrophy

chlorophyll

primary photosynthetic pigment of plants, algae, and Cyanobacteria

C:N:P ratio

here used for the elemental composition of body mass

denitrification

production of N2 by nitrate respiration

detritus

dead organic matter

detritivory

feeding on detritus

DIC

dissolved inorganic carbon

DOC

dissolved organic carbon

endobenthos

benthos living within the substrate

endopelon

benthos living within mud

endopsammon

benthos living within sand

epibenthos

benthos living on the substrate

epipelon

benthos living on mud

epipsammon

benthos living on sand

eulittoral

intertidal zone

femtoplankton

plankton <0.2 μm (viruses)

fermentation

energy gain by splitting organic molecules into an oxidized and a reduced component

filtration

feeding by taking food particles from a suspension by sieve- or filter-like structures

flagellate

unicellular organism moving by flagella

gas vacuoles

gas-filled vesicles in cells of Cyanobacteria

herbivory

feeding on plant material

heterotrophy

biomass production by using organic substances as C-source

HNF

heterotrophic nanoflagellate (2–20 μm)

holoplankton

organisms with complete life cycle in plankton

induction

triggering of morphological or behavioral changes by environmental stimuli

intraspecific

within species

interspecific

between species

interstitial

space between sediment grains

kairomone

substance released from a predator which induces responses by a prey

lithotrophy

biomass production using inorganic electron donors

littoral

marginal zone of water bodies

macrobenthos

benthos >1 (2) mm

macroplankton

plankton 2 mm–2 cm

megaplankton

plankton >2 cm

meiobenthos

benthos 100(200) μm–1(2) mm

meroplankton

organisms with part of their life cycle in plankton

microbenthos

benthos <100(200) μm

microplankton

plankton 20–200 μm

mixoplankton

mixotrophic plankton

mixotrophy

combination of auto- and heterotrophic nutrition

nanoplankton

plankton 20–200 μm

nekton

swimming open water organisms

nitrate respiration

respiration using nitrate as oxidative agent

nitrogen fixation

use of N2 as a nitrogen source for biomass production

organotrophy

biomass production using organic substances as electron donors

osmotrophy

heterotrophic nutrition based on DOC

parasite

heterotrophic organisms feeding on body substances of the (usually bigger) host

parasitoid

lethal parasite

phagotrophy

heterotrophic nutrition based on POC

photosynthesis

biomass production using light as energy source

phototrophy

photosynthesis

plankton

drifting open water organisms

POC

particulate organic carbon

POM

particulate organic matter

proximate factor

environmental trigger for morphological or behavioral changes

Redfield-ratio

C:N:P ratio (106:16:1) typical for phytoplankton under sufficient N and p supply

respiration

oxidation of organic matter to gain energy for vital processes

reef

hard bottom structure built by benthic organisms

specific metabolic rate

metabolic rate per unit body mass

sulfur bacteria

bacteria using redox reactions of sulfur for energy gain

sulfate respiration

respiration using sulfate as oxidative agent

ultimate factor

environmental factor which has selected for morphological or behavioral traits in evolutionary past

vertical migration

diel up and down migration of plankton and nekton or ontogenetic shift in vertical position

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Sommer, U. (2023). Life Forms of Aquatic Organisms. In: Freshwater and Marine Ecology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42459-5_3

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