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]
^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. JSTOR25031419.
^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, ISBN9780123747945
^Cite error: The named reference Dudgeon was invoked but never defined (see the help page).