Aquatic Ecosystems and Benthic Environments Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards defining key aquatic ecosystem terms, benthic zone concepts, hydrothermal vent structures, and coral reef features.

Lakes and Ponds

Inland depressions containing standing water.

Benthic

Refers to the floor of the sea.

Benthos

Refers to the plants and animals that live on the floor of the sea.

Heterotrophic

Describes organisms that cannot produce their own food and rely on food that comes from other organisms.

Bacteria of the Sediments

Important organisms in the benthic food chain that synthesize protein from dissolved nutrients and serve as a source of protein, fat, and oils for other organisms.

Hydrothermal Vents

Structures formed when cold seawater flows down through fissures and cracks in the basaltic lava floor, heated to a high temperature, and re-emerges through mineralized chimneys rising up to $13\,\text{m}$ above the sea floor.

White Smokers

Hydrothermal chimneys rich in zinc sulfides that issue a milky fluid with a temperature of under $300\,^\circ\text{C}$.

Black Smokers

Narrower hydrothermal chimneys rich in copper sulfides that issue jets of clear water from $300\,^\circ\text{C}$ to more $450\,^\circ\text{C}$ that are soon blackened by precipitation of fine-grained sulfur-mineral particles.

Chemosynthetic Bacteria

Primary producers in hydrothermal vent systems that oxidize reduced sulfur compounds such as hydrogen sulfide to release energy used to form organic matter from carbon dioxide.

Hydrothermal Vent Primary Consumers

Organisms including giant clams, mussels, and polychaete worms that filter bacteria from water and graze on bacterial film on rocks.

Coral Reefs

Unique accumulation of dead skeletal material built up by carbonate secreting organisms, lying in warm, shallow waters about tropical islands and continental landmasses, generally found at depths of less than $45\,\text{m}$.