Test 1 Marine Ecology 6-everything else

Ridge to reef conservation

Integrated “whole of ecosystem” or integrated management approach

Inter-connections and management

Land and seascapes conservation

2 types of estuaries

• Salt marshes (temperate)

• Mangrove forests (tropics) 70% of tropic coastlines

Estuaries + what happens in them

Where marine world starts.

Big fluctuations in: tidal cycles, salinity changes, precipitation.

What makes estuaries among the most fertile ecosystems in the world?

• Nutrients are transported from land to water

• Tidal action circulates nutrients and removes waste products

• High levels of light in the shallow water

• Lots of plants that trap detritus forming the base of the detritus food web

Biology of Mangroves

• Facultative halophyte

• Tree/shrub that grows in saline coastal sediment habitats

Functional role of mangroves

• Critical habitat for many marine organisms

• Important buffer habitat

• Better at dissipating ocean energy than concrete walls

Mangrove adaptations

1) Salt glands: specialized osmosis-regulatory cells that prevent plasmolysis

2) Prevents desiccation: Stomata allow gas exchange for photosynthesis and restrict opening to conserve water. Also has cuticle that is a thick waxy layer surrounding the leaf. Waterproof and succulent leaves

3) Pneumatophores: Aerial roots used for gas exchange in water logged soil

4) Viviparous propagules: Birth to live young. Live seedlings that have begun to develop their roots and shoots while still attached to parent tree. Grow quickly.

What changed are happening to mangroves?

Mangroves are marching north because the northern areas are becoming warm enough for them to thrive.

What is the intertidal zone?

• Transition zone between land and ocean

• Dominated by algae using lots of sunlight

• Abundant food, highly productive

• Stressful habitat: wave action, desiccation, tides, temp

Intertidal zone ecosystem services

Recreation and storm protection

Zones of Intertidal zone

     <__________Intertidal zone_____________>

Supratidal,         Upper, Middle, Lower,                                                        Subtidal

Fewer resources,                                                                                                More resources, and

energy , diversity,                                                                                                energy, and niches

less organisms,

harsher

      <_________________________________Stressors___________________________________>

Physical                                                                                                                                 Biological

(temp, light, etc)                                                                                                           (Competition, eating  

                                                                                                                                        each other, etc)           

Mangrove ecosystem services

• Store carbon

• Provide coastal protection

• Fish want to live there

• Biodiversity

• Buffer area

Tide pools

Microcosms of marine life below the tide line.

Depressions in rock when tide recedes

Sessile and motile plants and animals

Ecological Niche

How, when, and where it fits in natural world

Fundamental niche

Habitats it can live and the resources it can exploit all the diff spots

Realized Niche

Habitats it actually lives and the resources it actually consumes, given interactions w/ other species

Kelp Forests

• Most productive cold water marine habitat

• Brown algae

• Require lots of water movement

• Holdfast, roots, blades, and air bladders

• Short dominant kelp species: kelp beds

• Tall dominant kelp species: kelp forests

Key species in kelp forests

• sea otters and sea lions

• sea urchins, abalones, sea hares, (herbivores) etc

• sponges, barnacles, turf algae

• sheephead fish and rckfishes

Positive feedback loop in kelp forests

Destructive grazing 

ex: removal of sea otters—> urchins increase and eat kelp—> loss of kelp canopy—> urchin barren stable state

Negative feedback loop in kelp forests

Lots of sea otters—> low urchin population—> maintain high kelp population—> kelp forest stable state

Blue carbon

Carbon captured by coastal ocean ecosystems

Kelp forest ecosystem services

• Medicine

• Removing carbon and nutrient pollution

• Reduces wave size by 60% 

• Cultural immigration?

• Food itself

• Generates $500 billion per/year 

Threats to Kelp Forests, intertidal zones, and mangrove forests

• Coastal development

• Runoff

• Fertilizer

• Pesticides

• Invasive species

• Sedimentation

• Climate change

• Overfishing

Comprehensive definition of Marine Biodiversity

Encompasses variety at all levels from genes to ecosystems

How do lobsters communicate?

Quite urine at each other from bladders on either side of their heads

5 main measures of biodiversity

1) Genetic diversity

2) Species diversity

3) Population diversity

4) Habitat diversity

5) Landscape diversity

Maintaining 1 level does not necessarily maintain the others

Why is species diversity important?

If we don’t have it we get:

• Reduction in ecosystem productivity

• Reduction in community stability

• Increase in species invasion risk

• Leads to general decline in ecosystem health

Why is MB important?

• Ecosystem services

• Focal point of ecology and evolution

• Provides variety of diets and robust food webs

• Impacts conservation and management plans

Biodiversity controls function in communities like resistance to disturbances and speed of recovery.

MB credits

• Environmental credit system focused on protecting and restoring marine ecosystems

• Represent conservation outcomes

• Still debating on how to effectively and what to monitor for biodiversity.

Hotspot

Marine geographic area that harbors a disproportionate # of species, usually endemic

Biggest marine hotspot in the world

Indo-pacific coral triangle:

• 10x more diverse than Caribbean.

• 6 countries touch it

• 76% of world’s corals

• 2000 species of fish

Galapagos

• high endemism and uniqueness

• 2,900 marine species

• 20% if marine life here is endemic

Convergence of warm and cold currents-mix of tropical and temperate species and nutrients

Trouble spots of marine biodiversity

MB is concentrated in regions of:

• High river flow

• Deforestation

• Nutrient and sediment input

• Overall declining water quality

• 20% of human pop live/in near

Most threatened biodiverse areas

• Islands

• Near rivers

• Continental shelf

Common metrics for diversity:

• Dominance (D): most common species

• Species Richness (S): Measure of the # of species in a sample “Simpsons Index”

• Evenness (E): Relative abundance compared w/ one another

• Species Diversity (SD): Measurement of how evenly distributed organisms are among species (based on proportion)

• Biocriteria (B): Index of rarity or ecosystem health based on species rarity or sensitivity.

Species Richness Calculation

S= total number of species / sampling area

Species Diversity (SD) calculation

SD= (1/sum of (proportion of species)²

Biocriteria Calculation

B= [(# of sensitives or rares) x 2.0] + [(# of semi-sensitive or
uncommon) x 1.0] + [(# of tolerants or common) x 0.5]