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Aquatic Plants and Animals in a Closed Ecosystem

Aquatic refers to anything living in or around water. Unlike the term marine -- which exclusively pertains to the ocean -- aquatic organisms can live in waters that range from saline oceans to freshwater aquariums. An ecosystem is an interdependency of living and nonliving things within their environment. When an ecosystem does not rely on factors outside of its ecology to sustain life, then it is called a closed ecosystem. With that in mind, aquatic plants and animals in a closed ecosystem are those that live in a water-driven, self-sustaining habitat.

Earth
- The Earth is the ultimate example of a closed ecosystem. Everything within the Earth relies solely on other Earth components to sustain life. This also includes how the Earth's atmosphere transforms and utilizes the sun's energy. Considering this, because all natural aquatic ecosystems of the Earth are sustained by the Earth, they can be viewed as "closed" from a global perspective. However, for practical applications, a closed ecosystem is usually meant to describe a man-made apparatus such as certain types of aquariums. Lakes (natural or artificial) that do not feed from or into other bodies of water are also seen as closed ecosystems.
Roles
- In order to maintain a viable closed ecosystem, the roles of food/energy production, food/energy consumption to sustain life, procreators to continue cycles of life and waste control must be filled by members of the environment.
Plants
- Plants are crucial to the survival of an ecosystem because they fill the role of production in the environment. One of the most common "plants" used in a man-made closed ecosystem is algae. Algae are actually animals with plantlike properties, such as engaging in photosynthesis. Algae serve as a food source and provide chemical energy to other aquatic organisms by producing oxygen. Other plants such as water clover (Marsilea hirsuta) and Java fern (Microsorum pteropus) also contribute to the biodiversity of a man-made ecosystem. Landlocked lakes generally contain a wide array of plant life including various forms of algae, kelp, plankton, pickerel weed and cattails.
Animals
- Animals that are frequently included in a small man-made ecosystem are shrimp, snails and aquatic worms. They don't require feeding beyond the plant life in the ecosystem; they are procreators; and they recycle waste material. Enclosed lakes usually contain snails, aquatic worms and bacteria that contribute to waste control. They also contain a variety of other animals such as turtles and fish -- including bass, trout, perch and catfish -- which are consumers and procreators.

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