Grayce P. Storey
Freshwater biome includes both still and running water. Lakes and ponds are still water while streams and rivers are running water.
Temperature, sunlight, the amount of oxygen, food availability and speed of stream, affect fresh water life. Organisms living in fast moving streams have developed special structures to prevent them from being swept away such as strong roots or stems that bend easily, suckers on the body, or streamline bodies.
Fresh water serves as a habitat for organisms such as the water lilies, cattails, algae, fish, water snakes, frogs, and microscopic plants to mention a few. Freshwater biomes may receive visits from ducks, raccoons, and other animals to feed or nest.
The Chesapeake Bay, situated on the eastern coast of the United States, is the largest estuary in the United States. An estuary is the boundary between a freshwater biome and a maine biome. Estuaries include salt marshes, lagoons, mangrove swamps, and that mouth of rivers that empty into an ocean. This area contains both freshwater and saltwater.
Because of the shallowness of estuarians, sunlight can reach all levels of the water. Organisms found growing in estuaries are marsh grass, algae, and all kinds of plant life that provide food for a variety of fish, crabs, oysters, and shrimp (scavengers). It also serves as nurseries for many different types of fish before heading to the open ocean. Many birds can be found nesting there.
The Chesapeake Bay estuary has benefitted man tremendously by producing many crabs, oysters, and fish. It has enhanced the economy of Virginia and Maryland.
Sometimes the impacts of environmental pollution can be difficult to see, where as at other times they are obvious. A major oil spill causes a potential impact to wild life. Feathers of birds are damaged, embryos are killed because oil seeps into eggs, fish suffocate when gills are clogged, and death comes to marine and terrestrial animals by ingesting food and water contaminated by the oil.
Cleanups are not always successful. The detergents used to clean up the spill and remove the oil from the birds wings can cause damage to the structure and arrangement and water proofing of the feathers. Birds may also be more susceptible to disease during this time of stress, and weakened to the point that it is difficult to secure necessary food and water. Because of the pollution, food and water sources may be affected quality wise.
Animals are threatened when crowded by humans and their discomfort may be displayed by fleeing, grinding of teeth, coiling, hissing, stomping feet, snarling, coughing or woofing. However, flight is the usual way of showing stress. Many animals have certain distances they keep from their own kind. An example is the wolf. The wolf may demand a large range which no other wolf outside their pack may enter.