Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Lakes
Rivers
Coral reefs
Mangroves
Figure 5-23
Natural capital:
distribution of the world's major saltwater oceans, coral reefs, mangroves, and
freshwater lakes and rivers. The photo on the left shows a coral reef in the Red Sea. The photo on the right
shows a mangrove forest in Daintree National Park in Queensland, Australia.
water bring nutrients from the ocean bottom to the
surface for use by producers.
Most creatures living on the bottom of the deep
ocean and deep lakes depend on animal and plant
plankton that die and drift into deep waters. Because
this food is limited, deep-dwelling species tend to re-
produce slowly. As a consequence, they are especially
vulnerable to depletion from overfishing.
5-6
SALTWATER LIFE ZONES
Why Should We Care about the Oceans?
Although oceans occupy most of the earth's surface
and provide many ecological and economic services,
we know less about them than we know about the
moon.
