Unit 3 Review

Marine Ecology

Unit 3 Review

1. List some examples of producers in marine ecosystems.AlgaeKelpPlanktonPickleweedSeagrassesTrees (in mangroves)

Unit 3 Review2. Why are food webs

useful tools in ecology? What do they represent? They show the

relationship between the producers and consumers.

They represent the energy flow in the ecosystem.

Unit 3 Review3. What is a niche?

The way of life of a species, its roll in the community. Each species is thought to have a separate, unique niche

Can be described as what it eats, where it lives, and what eats it.

Examples?

Unit 3 Review4.Why are there so

many more producers in an ecosystem than top consumers?Energy is lost as it

passes up through the trophic levels.

5.What is a trophic level?The trophic level of an

organism is the position it occupies in a food chain.

Unit 3 Review6. Describe how energy flows through an

ecosystem.Sunproducersprimary consumers

Secondary consumers Tertiary consumers Decomposers

Unit 3 Review

A. NeustonIncludes the organisms that live on the top

surface of the ocean and just below the surface, only includes a few inches.

Covers about 71% of the Earth’s surface

Lots of plankton and algae

Unit 3 ReviewB. Continental shelf

Between the low tide mark and the open ocean

Located in the photic zone, so there is photosynthesis and abundant plant life

Upwellings of nutrients occur here

Abundant animal life

Unit 3 Review

C. EstuariesWhere fresh water empties

into the ocean’s salt water

Act as a dumping ground, filter, and absorber of nutrients

Wide range of salinities

Make an excellent nursery for juveniles of ocean species

Unit 3 ReviewD. Salt Marshes

Exist in estuaries where there are flat, gently sloping, nutrient rich sediments.

Lots of plant life like pickleweed, cordgrass, and salt grass

Can find large communities of invertebrates, water birds, juvenile fish, larva, eggs, etc.

Unit 3 ReviewE. Mangrove Swamps

Found in tropical climates

Salt water and fresh water

Tangled stilt-like roots allow for air exposure for oxygen exchange and provide habitat for juvenile fish and invertebrates

Unit 3 ReviewF. Seagrasses

Live entirely under water, except during rare ultra-low tides

Live as deep as 30m, no fresh water

Usually in under water colonies like pastures

Release pollen into the current to reproduce

Provide food for microbes, invertebrates, fish, turtles, manatees, and dugongs.

Unit 3 ReviewG. Intertidal Zones

Underwater part time and exposed to the air part time

Lots of invertebrates like barnacles, limpets, mussels, sea stars-with adaptations to help them maintain moisture when exposed to air

Unit 3 ReviewH. Beaches

Sand and waves

Sand helps protect coastlines from waves

The sand looks empty, but it is full of meiofauna and other organic material-rich in life

Worms, mollusks, and fish live in submerged sand

Unit 3 Review I. Kelp & Seaweed Forests

Found globally in cool water

Most productive are in coastal waters with upwellings

Ample sunlight and nutrients

Provide habitat for substantial ecosystem

Kelp, sea urchins, otters

Unit 3 Review J. Coral Reefs

Most scientists believe coral reefs are the most taxonomically diverse ecosystems in the ocean

The Indo-West Pacific has the world’s highest marine diversity

More than 2,000 species of fish

Water is relatively free of nutrients

Unit 3 ReviewK. Arctic

Northern ring of shallow continental shelf, with a deep sea

Much of this is permanently frozen

Life is scarce under the ice cap, around the edges life is more abundant

Polar bears, seals, walruses, whales, fish

Unit 3 ReviewL. AntarcticMore extreme climate then Arctic

Massive amounts of nutrients result from the spring melting of ice-the largest nutrient rich area on Earth

Supports massive phytoplankton blooms

Copepod and krill populations are larger than any other species population found in any other ecosystem

Unit 3 Review

M. Abyssal ZoneDeep ocean beyond the continental shelves

Most of the nutrients come from marine snow-the constant fall of sediment, dead organisms, and fecal pellets from above.

Brittle sea stars, sea cucumbers, sea lilies, angler fish, viperfish

Unit 3 Review

N. Whale Falls deep ocean

Whale carcasses provide massive amounts of nutrients

Scavengers first-hagfish, deep sea spider crabs, sleeper sharks

Second stage-worms, small crustaceans, other small organisms feed

Third stage-decaying bone feed chemosynthetic bacteria

Unit 3 ReviewO. Hydrothermal vents

Heated water, near edges of continental shelves, Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Chemosynthetic bacteria that feed on sulfides form basis of food web

Tube worms, crabs, shrimp

Unit 3 Review

P. Hadal depthsDeep ocean trenches

where continental plates collide

Deepest parts of the ocean

High pressure, no light, not much known about the ecosystem or life there