Key abiotic characteristics of the ocean

• Temperature- Cold at the poles

- Cold in the deep• Depth – Avg depth: 2.5 Miles - Deepest: 7 Miles

• Light- Dark below 1000 ft - Most life in first 1000 ft• Salinity - Salty

Plankton• DRIFTERS- don’t actively swim• Found worldwide

Phytoplankton• Producers• Base of oceanic food web• Make over half of world’s oxygen

Zooplankton• Consumers• Most are microscopic, some, like

jellyfish can be 10 ft wide or 100 ft long

Coral Reef• Few nutrients in water – Clear• Coral live symbiotically with

zooxanthellae (algae)• Coral get food from the algae• Algae get fertilizer (waste) from

coral.

Kelp Forest• Cool, nutrient rich water• Habitat and Food• Can grow 2ft per day, and 100ft

deep

Estuary• Mix of fresh and salt water• Nutrient rich• Abundant life – three biomes in

one: land meets fresh and salt water.

Deep Sea• Cold, dark, high pressure• No producers• Most of ocean is the deep sea

Sargasso Sea• Open ocean with rafts of Sargasso floating (sea weed)• Fish and invertebrates mimic Sargasso

Polar Ice• Ice covered seas• Life dependent on Plankton (Krill)