Philippines Freshwater

About the Area

The largest lake in the Philippines, Laguna de Bay, is shallow and close to sea level and was probably part of the ocean a long time ago. The second largest, Lake Lanao, is 2,296 feet (700 m) high in the mountains, and several rivers feed its deep basin, which supports a very productive fishery, as well as a unique group of fish found only here. The streams and lakes of the Philippines freshwater ecoregion support high numbers of endemic species, particularly fish. The seven thousand islands with more than 21,000 miles of shoreline, numerous rivers, swamps, and unique mountain lakes harbour fish and freshwater crab species that evolved over thousands of years from marine ancestors to fill new habitats and conditions over time. For example, the Taal herring, found

in Taal Lake, is a sardine that has adapted to live in a freshwater environment.

 Freshwater Lakes
Freshwater lakes are bodies of still, unsalted water surrounded by land. They are usually found in low lying areas and are fed from streams, rivers and runoff from the surrounding area. Freshwater lakes provide a unique habitat for microbes because they differ from other aquatic habitats such as oceans and moving water. This habitat is home to a plethora of microbes such as Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Cyanobacteria, and Bacteroidetes. These microbes help sequester inorganic compounds, mineralize nitrogen, and decompose organic matter, as well as other important processes.

 Physical Environment
Freshwater lakes are formed in a variety of different ways and depending on how a lake was formed, it can affect the microbes that are able to live and survive. Common types of lakes are stream or river fed lakes, glacial lakes, which are created by melting glaciers, and artificial lakes, which can be formed by the addition of a dam from old mines or quarries which have filled in after use. Another more unique lake type is a subglacial lake, which is a lake permanently covered by ice such as in Antarctica. In addition to the formation affecting microbial composition, lake stratification can make a difference throughout a lake.

 Stratification

Environmental factors such as pH, dissolved oxygen, nutrient concentrations, and light availability are affected by lake stratification. Thermal differences are what cause a lake to stratify into a warm upper layer, the epilimnion, a lower cool layer, the thermocline, and the deepest coldest layer, the hypolimnion, due to cooler water having a higher density than warm water. These differences cause completely different habitats to exist throughout a lake. The epilimnion has the highest dissolved oxygen, and light availability, but is low on nutrients. Aerobic microbes are most abundant here. The thermocline has less oxygen and light, but more nutrients creating a habitat for facilitative anaerobes. The cold hypolimnion contains almost no oxygen or light, however, it contains abundant nutrients. Anaerobes thrive in these conditions, but because of their metabolisms, they are unable to take full advantage of the nutrients (Ndebele 2010).

 River Fed
These lakes have their input and output from rivers. This differs then from other types of lakes because they can receive storm water run off from not only the surrounding area but from all the areas in the basin of the lake and feeding rivers.

Subglacial
A subglacial lake is one in which there is flowing water under a glacier, ice cap, or ice sheet. They are found is regions such as Antarctica which are constantly under the freezing point. Only certain types of unique bacteria are able to thrive in such environments. This is also the only type of lake which is known to exist in an extraterrestrial location. Jupiters moon Europas surface is entirely covered in an ice sheet, and it is believed to be one of the most likely locations for extraterrestrial life.

 Artificial
Dammed

These include lakes formed from dams,man-dug, or mines and quarries.

Dammed lakes are fed by rainwater and inflow of a river, and drain from outflow from drains on the dam. Water quality testing is done often in this type of lake to insure the dam or other inputs are not polluting the water.

Man-made

These lakes only receive water run off from the surrounding areas and precipitation. Lakes such as these are often built near roadways and other urban areas and have a higher about of pollutants than more natural lakes.

 Mines/Quarries
Old and abandoned mines and quarries often become lakes because most require the use of water control devices to keep ground water from seeping in. Lakes formed this way often have high amounts of contamination due to chemicals and machinery used in the harvesting process.

 Chemical

Many factors contribute to the chemical environment in which lake microbes live. These include the drainage basin, the amount of water flowing in and out of a lake, the concentrations of nutrients and dissolved oxygen, the pH, and any pollutants and sedimentation in a lake. The overall drainage basin will affect the amount of run off from other sources in the surrounding area, which will, in turn, affect the amount of nutrients available to microbes and will increase pollutants and sedimentation. The lake level, which is regulated by inflow and outflow of a lake, the pH and the dissolved oxygen content in a lake, will also determine what types of microbes can survive because each microbe has its own unique environmental conditions in which it can outcompete the competition (Paul 2008).

 Stratified Lakes
Lake stratification also has an affect on chemical characteristics, and the redox reactions microbes are able to perform. In the epilimnion, the abundant oxygen and light allow for anaerobes to use oxygen as their terminal electron acceptor. Aerobic respiration is capable of producing the most amount energy. The thermocline and hypolimnion, have less oxygen and are forced to use anaerobic respiration when lacking oxygen. This includes reduction of sulfur and iron by microbes and does not produce a lot of energy.