MARINE LIFEMARINE LIFE

START HERE FOR EXAM V

Environmental Zones Fig. 12.21 p 363

• Epipalagic Zone - plankton - jelly fish -

• Bathyoalagic - fish with bioluminescent organs

• Nekton - most fish - mammals

• Intertidal Zone - cyanobacteria - crustations - mollusk - flat fish

• Hadal - bacteria

Animals along the shore

• Rocky shore Fig 15.2 p 440- 441– Inter-tidal zonation– Plants Fig 15.14 p 449 (book)

• Tide pool

• Soft sediment Fig 15.8 p 445

Life in the ocean• Living conditions in the open ocean

– Three dimensional world– Largest space for life on Earth

• Oceanic life styles (three)– Drifting (planktonic or pelagic)– Swimming (nektonic)– Attached (benthic)

• Sea water density (1.025 g/cc) greater than air (0.0012) therefore able to support the plants/animals, so heavy skeleton is not needed

• Distributions controlled by ocean conditions

• Most marine organisms are cold blooded – warm water increases metabolism, cold water decreases metabolism

• Effect of sinking

– drag - resistance to sinking (your hand out of the car window)

– density of organism– body morphology - appendages– Fig 12.9 p 355– a. warm water b. cold water– fat in tissues– warm water less dense, thus more appendages

• Defensive strategies – small size - include bacteria

– transparency - difficult for predators to see

– schooling - safety in numbers - confuse predators

– vertical migration - stay in darker water at day, and move to top at night to feed - some may migrate several hundred meters daily

• Defensive strategies cont.– color - blue on top - red further down (red light is

absorbed by water) - gray or black in deepest oceans

– counter shading - darker on top, lighter on bottom Fig. 12.19 p 378 (book)

– change size by adding water - makes organism look bigger than it is (puffer fish)

– spines - harder to swallow (rock fish)

– See next slides

Camauflage

Camauflage

Pigment cells, camouflage

PLANKTONIC LIFE

Phytoplankton

• Food source for most marine organisms

• Fig 12.3 p 350

• Classified by size – nannooplankton - < 50 micrometers coastal- and

open- equatorial waters– bacterioplankton (ultraplankton) < 0.005 mm in

diameter

– microphytoplankton 0.07 - 1 mm– macroplankton (large floating organisms) -

large standing crop at higher latitudes

• Diatoms Fig 12.11 p 356 (book)– diatoms -> smaller with each split of shells -

eventually so small that it looses shells and grows to larger size then divide to -> two daughter cells

Rock Snot Invasive algae

• Didymosphenia geminata• River bed covered by Didymo

• Dinoflagellates - second in abundance after diatoms Fig 13.9 c, d p 381(book)– nutrients in low concentrations taken up by

molecular diffusion– favors microscopic organisms– have a flagellum

Dinoflagellates

• Nannoplankton and bacteria– widespread in open ocean– dominant producers in open ocean 90% of standing

crop– coccolithophores Fig 4.8 a p 109 & Fig 13.9 b p

381 (book)– silicoflagellates p 115

– Using the next slide find the names of the organisms from Fig 4.8

Coccolithophores & silicoflagellates

Box 13.1 p 382- 383 Read this• Red tides - dinoflagellates

• caused by Gonyaulax

• plankton blooms that discolor water

• often concentrated by physical processes - water run off - fertilizers - top of water column gets more sun - cyanobacteria thrive

Fig 13B

Red Tide

PLANKTONIC LIFE

ZOOPLANKTON

ZOOPLANKTON

• Fig 12.3 p 350

• Feed on phytoplankton, usually by filter-feeding

• Few can swim and pursue prey

• Narrow temperature range (few degrees)

• Many are larval forms of benthic organisms

ZOOPLANKTON

Three types of zooplankton

• 1. Holoplankton

• 2. Meroplankton

• 3. Gelatinous plankton

1. Holoplankton

• entire life as plankton - dominate in the open ocean

• Foraminifera live nearly everywhere in the ocean - porous CaCO3 shells Fig 4.8 c, & d p 109 Fig 14.4 p 407 (book)

• Radiolaria entirely pelagic - siliceous skeletons Fig 4.8 d p 109 Fig 14.3 d p 407

ZOOPLANKTON• Crustaeca - most numerous - 70+% of all

zooplankton– copepods occur throughout the ocean - among

numerous marine herbivores Fig 14.5 a with egg sacs, b mating, d appendages to cling to rocks or other larger zooplankton p 408

• euphausiids (krill) shrimp like large fishes and whales eat krill - krill eat diatoms Fig 14.6 p 409

Crustaeca cont.

– pteropods small - pelagic snails - swim vertically (migrate) hundreds of meters daily without shells (carnivorous),

– with shells (herbivores) (carbonate shells - form pteropode ooze)

2. Meroplankton

• larval forms of (bottom dwelling) benthic animals -Abundant in coastal waters

• 80% of shallow-water benthic organisms in the tropics have planktonic larvae

Meroplankton cont.

• Eggs and sperm of benthic animals are discharged to be fertilized in the water

• Maturing larvae must find suitable bottom material on which to settle and grow

Meroplankton cont.

• Success of the young fish in a particular year class is affected by environmental factors: 1) temp, 2) currents, 3) nutrition, and 4) perdition

• eggs: days--> larvae: weeks--> juveniles: months--> adult (sexual maturity 4 yrs)

3. Gelatinous plankton• nearly transparent organisms - trailing tentacles

• Siphonophores Portuguese man-of-war - colonies of individuals that live together and function as one animal - nematocysts - threadlike poisonous stingers that can penetrate human skin Fig 14.7 p 409 (book)

Can jellyfish mix the ocean?

Gelatinous plankton cont.• Ctenophores Sea walnuts or comb jellies

Gelatinous plankton cont• Tunicates - barrel-shaped animals Fig 12.3

j p 350

Feeding strategies• Herbivores - dominate near the surface –

feed on phytoplankton

• Carnivores - mid-depths - feed on herbivores - vertically migrating organisms

• Omnivores - dominate the deeper parts of the ocean - eat anything that sinks out of the surface zone

Reproductive strategies

dependent upon resources and population

two strategies: opportunistic and nurturing

Opportunistic

• common among planktonic organisms

• depends upon abundant resources - food energy goes into producing gametes

• can live in a hazardous environment - food for adults and other animals

Opportunistic cont.

• mature early

• produce many eggs or small forms

• short life span

• do not care for their young

Nurturing• common among larger animals

• resource limited - food energy goes into growth and development

• produce few offspring

• long-lived

• care for their young

Open-ocean biological provinces

• Controlled by surface currents

• Each province supports distinct group of organisms

• Phytoplankton widespread - but patchiness due to physical properties (remember the Baring Sea)

Open-ocean biological provinces cont.• Zooplankton more restricted distributions

temperature dependent

• Physical properties– Langmuir cells

– Western boundary currents with their rings

– Up welling

Environmental Zones

• Fig. 12.21 Table 15.1 p 455– Benthic - most species and found at all depths

Chapter 15 Fig 15.1 p 438 • Rocky shore zonation (epifauna) algae, crabs • Vertical and intertidal zonation Fig 15.2 a p 440• Supraliteral zone (splash zone) • Littoral zone (between high and low tide)• Sublittoral zone (always under water)

– Grazers, herbivores, ditritus feeders, filter feeders, predators

• Soft sediment zone (infauna)• Soft sediment benthos

Snail and anemone (Symbiosis)

Soft sediment zones

• Fig. 15.8 p445

Soft sediment benthos sea whip and a crinoid

Environmental zones cont.

– Epipalagic Zone - plankton - jelly fish Fig 14.7 p 408 (book)

– Nekton - most fish - mammals Fig 12.5 p 352

– Check out p 365 Some good stuff here

– Bathypalagic - fish with bioluminescent organs (see figures in the book, read this)

• Deep sea floor– Remember what the sea floor looks like Fig. 4.12

Environmental Zones cont.

– Littoral (intertidal) - cyanobacteria - crustations - mollusk - flat fish

– Neritic - associated with continental shelf • high species diversity

• influenced by tides, waves, temperature, and salinity

– Mesoplagic - rapid decrease in oxygen, increase in nutrients, animals with eyes and bioluminescence

Environmental Zones cont

– Abyssoplagic - increased O2 and increased nutrients

– Hadal - deep trenches, bacteria

Coral reef • Complex with interdependent species Fig. 15.19

p 454– Very slow growing

– Destroyed by bottom trawl fishing as well as crown of thorn star fish 15.21 p 455

Coral-algal reef• The individual coral polyp is a hollow, cylindrical animal (1). • The mouth is surrounded by tentacles armed with stinging cells for

capturing plankton. During the day these tentacles are folded in the digestive sac (2).

• Microscopic single-celled algae that give the coral its green, blue or brown colour are located in the tissue of the living coral (3).

• These symbiotic algae process the wastes produced by the polyps. They use the nitrates, phosphates and carbon dioxide produced in the polyp. Through photosynthesis they generate oxygen and organic compounds which the polyps themselves can use.

• They may also help the polyp lay down calcium carbonate.• In addition to their role as primary producers, the other algae coating

much of the reef's surfaces also produce substantial amounts of calcium carbonate.

• Algae are so important to reef life that it has been suggested that "coral-algal reefs” is a more accurate term than coral reefs. Fig 15.18 p 453

• From the web. Type in coral and symbiotic algae.

You are expected to understand this graphic

• animal (1).

• Coral reef zonation Fig. 15.19 p 454– Horizontal and vertical zonation

• differing environmental conditions

• Wave action and water depth

• Circulation of O2, and waste disposal

Coral reef distribution and diversity

• Warm water coral Fig 15.17 p 451

• Cold water coral– Live at depths as deep as 2000 m– No light– Temperatures as cold as 4o C

Cold water coral

Cold water coral

Healthy coral

Unhealthy coral reef

Nemo says “that‘s all Nemo says “that‘s all Folks”Folks”