Aquatic Biomes

Marine biomes

A marine biome includes salt water, these biomes include seas and oceans. Different parts of these biomes differ in abiotic factors, such as salinity, depth, light, and temperature. The oceans contain a large amount of biomass, or living material. Most of these organisms can't be seen because they are so small, but larger creatures such as baleen whales depend upon them for food.

Scientists have spilt marine biomes into photic zones (shallow, sunlit) and aphotic zones (deep, unlit). Photic zones include the shallow marine enviornments found on coastlines, as welll as coral reefs. Aphotic zones are deeper in marine biomes where sunlight does not reach the bottom, such as seas and oceans.

Minecraft Biome	Biome ID
Ocean	0
Deep Ocean	24

Estuaries

An estuary is a coastal body of water where freshwater and salt water mix. The salinity in an estuary ranges and depends on how much freshwater the river brings into the estuary. Salinity also changes with the tide.

Estuaries may contain salt marsh ecosystems, which have salt-tolerant grasses. These grasses grow very thick and traps food material, providing a "nursery" for small organisms. The small organisms attract large preataors, such as birds.

Freshwater Biomes

The water near the top of a lake is warmer than the water deeper in a lake, and warmer water is less dense than cold water, which leads to greater species diversity. Temperature variations within a lake are an abiotic factor that limits the kinds of organisms that can survive in the deep parts of lakes.

Light is another abiotic limiting factor in deep lakes. Light does not penetrrate the bottom of lakes, so photosynthesis can not occur, and as a result population density is lower in deeper waters. Dead organisms drift to the bottom of lakes, and bacteria use oxygen to break them down, although this happens at a slower rate because of the depth.

Minecraft Biome	Biome ID
River	7
Frozen River	11

Other Aquatic Biomes

Other aquatic biomes include wetlands, where water and land meet. There are several types of these biomes, including swamps, which have trees, and marshes, which do not. Both usually have water flowing through them. Marshes are found inland and in coastal regions. Both biomes are highly productive and the source of food for migratory birds, among other animals. Bogs are another kind of wetland area, but they do not have water flowing through them.

Minecraft Biome	Biome ID
Swampland	6