Meaning & use
freshwater ecosystem
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Meaning
nouncountablebiology
A community of living things and their non-living surroundings in water that has little or no salt, such as a river, lake or pond.
Grammar: Has a plural: lakes and rivers are different freshwater ecosystems.
Patterns
- a freshwater ecosystem of something
- protect a freshwater ecosystem
A pond in the park is a small freshwater ecosystem full of insects, frogs and plants.
Pollution from farms can seriously damage a freshwater ecosystem.
Students compared a fast-flowing stream with a still lake to see how each freshwater ecosystem supports different fish.
Word forms
| plural | freshwater ecosystems |
|---|
Common combinations
- healthy freshwater ecosystem
- Clear water and many species are signs of a healthy freshwater ecosystem.
- fragile freshwater ecosystem
- The dam changed the flow and harmed a fragile freshwater ecosystem downstream.
- protect a freshwater ecosystem
- The council passed new rules to protect the freshwater ecosystem around the lake.
- restore a freshwater ecosystem
- Volunteers worked for years to restore the freshwater ecosystem of the river.
- freshwater ecosystem services
- Clean drinking water is one of the many freshwater ecosystem services people rely on.
Synonyms and how they differ
- aquatic habitat
- An aquatic habitat is the place where water organisms live, so it can be salty or fresh and focuses on the home rather than the whole living system.
- inland waters
- Inland waters is a geographic term for rivers and lakes and says nothing about the living community in them.
- wetland
- A wetland is land soaked with water and is only one kind of freshwater ecosystem, not a general term.
Opposites
Word family
- ecosystem noun
- a community of organisms and their environment
- ecology noun
- the study of how living things relate to their surroundings
- ecological adjective
- relating to ecology or the environment
- freshwater adjective
- living in or relating to water without salt
Commonly confused: freshwater ecosystem or marine ecosystem?
freshwater ecosystem vs marine ecosystem
A marine ecosystem is in the sea or ocean and contains salt water, whereas a freshwater ecosystem has very little salt.
Practice
Which of these is an example of a freshwater ecosystem?
Choose one answer.
A lake holds fresh water. A coral reef, an estuary and a deep-sea trench all involve salt or brackish water, so they are not freshwater ecosystems.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “freshwater ecosystem”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.