Marine Biology Exam

what is the most common salt in sea water

sodium chloride

how does brackish water compare to normal sea water

its less salty

what color penetrates the deepest in seawater

blue

what is the average number of high and low tides on the east coast each day?

2 each day

What is the average number of high and low tides along the Gulf coast?

two of each a day

Which way do the north Atlantic and north Pacific oceanic gyres rotate?

clockwise

Which way do the south Atlantic and south Pacific oceanic gyres rotate?

counterclockwise

what does the doppler effect explain

the change in frequency and wavelength of waves

What are some environmental factors that affect an ecosystem?

Water, air, temperature, and nutrients 

What are some biological factors that affect an ecosystem?

 Producers, consumers, predation, competition, disease

What are some man-made factors that affect an ecosystem?

Pollution, habitat destruction, deforestation, overfishing, construction

what happens to a sea cucumber that is put in salt water?

water moves out of its cells to balance salt concentration. Cucumber shrinks and becomes stressed

what happens to a sea cucumber thats in fresh water

water moves into its cells to dilute the high salt concentration. cucumber will swell up and die

What mechanisms are used by fish to regulate salts?

gills, kidney, and guts

mutualism

two animals benefit

ex:clownfish finding shelter in sea anemones and sea anemones are protected by clownfish

commensalism 

 one is beneficial, the other one is not helped nor harmed

ex: Remoras attach to whale sharks, feeding on leftover food and getting a free ride without harming the shark

paratism

ex: one animal is helped, the other one is harmed (sea lice feeding on fishes skin and blood

holoplankton

plankton that stays the same their whole life

meroplankton

only plankton in larval stage

picoplankton

smallest plankton

how stratification or lack of stratification (thermocline) would affect phytoplankton productivity at the poles and the tropics.

 Limit nutrient mixing causing surface blooms. Lack of: bring up deep nutrients but reduced light, shifting phytoplankton to large fast growing types

Compare areas with upwelling and no upwelling to phytoplankton productivity

areas with upwelling have dramatically higher phytoplankton productivity

What is primary production?

The process by which organisms convert inorganic substances into organic matter using energy from sunlight or chemical reactions, this forms the base of the food web