Freshwater Ecosystems

The study of inland waters is known as:

• ecology

• limnology

• ichthyology

• biology

Which of the following terms describes a stream that flows year round?

• ephemeral

• perennial

• depositional

• intermittent

Includes lakes and ponds.

• lotic system

• lentic system

Flowing bodies of water.

• lotic system

• lentic system

Include streams and rivers.

• lotic system

• lentic system

You lie in the middle of Nowhere Texas and you live close to a dried riverbed. Every time it rains, the riverbed will fill up and flow for a week or so and then dry up until the next heavy rain. What type of river is this classified as?

• intermittent stream

• perennial stream

• ephemeral stream

• gulf stream

You decide to go swimming in a lake you found while hiking. As you start to walk into the shallow part of the lake, you noticed there are a lot of rooted plants. These plants include submerged and emergent plants because light can reach all portions of this zone. What distance from the shore, lake zone is being described?

• eutrophic

• littoral

• profundal

• limnetic

What zone of the lake is known as the thermocline zone and is not found in all lakes?

• eutrophic zone

• littoral zone

• profundal zone

• limnetic zone

Which of the following is the distance from shore zone, that is the main photosynthetic area of the lake?

• euphotic zone

• benthic zone

• profundal zone

• limnetic zone

You are hiking in the mountains when you come across a crystal clear blue lake with a sandy bottom. However, you noticed that ther are not many aquatic plants, nor many organisms present. What category of lake, or trophic level, would this fall under?

• hypereutrophic

• benthotrophic

• oligotrophic

• eutrophic