What makes freshwater unique

At school, you take sips from the drinking fountain after gym class, enjoy your lunch, and learn during class time.

During after-school activities, you always remember to take plenty of water breaks, especially if you're playing sports. But all of these daily routines and activities have something very important in common that you use: water. And not just any water… freshwater. Freshwater has a low salt concentration.

Humans have a special connection to the freshwater biome since they cannot live without it. Freshwater biomes exist on all of the continents, in many different forms. The main thing that makes an aquatic system part of the freshwater biome is the amount of salt dissolved in the water. While you might think this absence of salt is a good thing, because many animals need freshwater to survive, those animals also need salt. As a result, animals have adapted to these salt-less biomes in many unique ways.

These water stores can be thought of as underground lakes or rivers that are underneath the top layer of soil, but within a slab of rock. Because of the way the freshwater is stored, most organisms cannot access most of this freshwater without help from either technology or the environment itself. For example, humans access underground aquifers by drilling wells, whereas the environment might expose inaccessible water through erosion or melting of glacial ice.

Within these categories, there is a lot of variation. In fact, no two freshwater ecosystems are ever the same. Each freshwater ecosystem is unique in its geology, chemistry, and biology. Some of these freshwater systems flow, such as rivers and streams, and they are called lotic ecosystems.

Others, such as lakes, ponds, and wetlands, have water that stays put for the most part. These make up the stationary, or lentic, freshwater ecosystems. What makes the ecosystem lotic flowing or lentic stationary is the surrounding landscape.

For example, a steep mountain allows precipitation or melting snow to run down the mountain as a stream or river. Alternatively, a basin in the ground that is deeper than the groundwater level can create a lake. Depending on the location and landscape, the source of freshwater can also vary. Glaciers, underground aquifers, and precipitation like rain and snow are the main sources of freshwater.

Freshwater biomes are always changing and they can also change the landscapes that surround them. A winding river may cut away at the land for hundreds of years, becoming more twisted over time. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher.

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Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives. Freshwater is a precious resource on the Earth's surface. It is also home to many diverse fish, plant, and crustacean species.

The habitats that freshwater ecosystems provide consist of lakes, rivers, ponds, wetlands, streams, and springs. Use these classroom resources to help students explore and learn about these places.

Most people have heard Earth referred to as "the water planet. In photographs taken from space, we can see that our planet has more water than land.

However, of all the water on Earth, more than 99 percent of Earth's water is unusable by humans and many other living things - only about 0. The teacher guide describes our current understanding of water cycling and freshwater issues that affect natural and human communities. Access to fresh water is essential for life. A lack of freshwater access can be a cause of conflict between communities. Join our community of educators and receive the latest information on National Geographic's resources for you and your students.

Skip to content. Photograph by Education Images. Twitter Facebook Pinterest Google Classroom. Article Vocabulary. Friday, August 2, Every living thing on Earth needs water to survive, but more than one hundred thousand species, including our own, need a special kind of water that can only be found in certain places and is in very rare supply: fresh water. Where is Fresh Water?

Balancing Change Freshwater ecosystems naturally share resources between habitats. Signs of Danger Humans use fresh water in many ways, but these activities can be dangerous for freshwater ecosystems when we are not careful.

A mountain stream flowing through Inverpolly, Scotland. Also called a food cycle. Bedrock is made of different types of rocks like granite, sandstone and limestone. Water can seep through the cracks between these rocks, and it can dissolve limestone. Beavers can even create wetlands by building dams on rivers and streams.

The largest freshwater habitat in the world is the Everglades , a 1. This North Asian body of water contains one-fifth of all the freshwater on the planet. All rights reserved. Personality Quizzes. Funny Fill-In. Amazing Animals. Weird But True! Party Animals. Try This! Explore More. What is Freshwater?