Biome

Lake

Freshwater and Wetland Biomes

The lake biome, known to ecologists as a lentic freshwater system, covers standing bodies of fresh water from small ponds to vast lakes such as the African Great Lakes or Lake Baikal, distinguished from the river biome by its still or very slowly circulating water rather than a continuous downstream current. Larger lakes typically stratify into distinct zones, a sunlit, plant-rich shallow margin near shore, an open-water zone where light still supports plankton, and a deep, dark zone below where light cannot reach, and many temperate lakes also stratify by temperature and mix seasonally as surface water warms and cools with the year. Lakes can persist for a human lifetime or, in the case of the oldest ancient lakes, for millions of years, giving some the time to develop remarkable levels of endemic species found nowhere else.

Facts

Climate

Typical Low Temperature (C)

0 1

0C is the winter surface temperature (ice) the source states for a temperate lake; the bottom stays near 4C year round due to water's density maximum.

Typical High Temperature (C)

22 1

22C is the summer surface temperature the source states for a temperate lake; alpine, tropical and polar lakes vary from this. Annual precipitation is left unfilled: lakes occur in every precipitation zone on every continent, the same reasoning already recorded on this entity's sibling, Freshwater.

Disputed

Annual Precipitation (mm)

1143 2

1143mm is the midpoint of the cited source stated 10 to 80 inch range, the same figure and source already used on the Freshwater, River, Wetlands, Fen, Freshwater Marsh and Riparian Zone biome entities; lakes occur in every climate so no single figure is fully meaningful.

Connections