Oceanography Terms 3 Set 15

The sublittoral zone at hard bottom has

-_________ intertidal

-exposed _____ and gravel

-______ and uneven rock surfaces provide niches

high energy, bedrock, seaweeds

Kelp are ___ plants, they have no vascular tissue. they are protists / _________

not, macroalgae

Soft-bottom subtidal communities are made up of _____ substrate and/or _______ substrate

muddy, sandy

the nature of the substrate (sand or mud) and grain size controls the ________ of the inhabitants (cleaner/whiter sand means more bivalves, darker sand means more filter feeders like sea cucumbers)

composition

the group of organisms larger than microfauna but smaller than macrofauna are: (usually found in between sand grains)

meiofauna

The open ocean is the _______ habitat on Earth

largest

Life is sparse in the open ocean because of ___ _______ _______ and great water depths

low nutrient concentration

Diversity is to high, but

The abundance of __________ in the Sargasso Sea nad in continental shelf waters reflects changes in ___________ with distance offshore

phytoplankton, nutrient levels

The major phytoplanktons are:

diatoms, dinoflagellates, coccolithophores