MSC

autotrophic

make their own energy (photosynthesis)

heterotrophic

obtain energy from consuming others

suspension feeders

use appendages to strain particulate food from water

filter feeders

take in water and filter food particles and expel water

deposit feeders

process mud and remove food particles (sand dollars)

Littoral zones (intertidal) characteristics

-depth depends on tidal range
-extreme temp
-altering flooding/dessication
-changing salinity/temp
-organisms tolerant to extremes

Interstitial organisms (meiofauna)

-live in the sand
-low biodiversity and competition (few large orgs)
-tolerant to wave impact/ dessication

Epifauna

organisms that live ON the surface

Infauna

organisms that live IN the surface

Salt marsh

coastal wetland flooded by sal by tides

Estuary

inlet of ocean water towards freshwater and freshwater flowing outside
-marine nurseries
-flunctuating salinity

euryhaline species

organisms tolerable to changing environments

mangrove wetlands

-habitat for birds
-nursery for fish
-rich nutrient source

seagrasses

-highest primary productivity
-stabilize sediment
-tolerate various salt concentrations

coral reef limiting factors

- light (water clarity/depth)
-temperature (latitudinal limits)
-salinity (little flunctuation)
-wave energy (turbulence)
-nutrients (algae overgrowing)
-sedimentation (river runoff=coral buried/tired of cleaning themselves)

Coral characteristics

-cnidarians
-nematocysts
-CaCO3 skeleton

Coral symbiotic relationship with Zooxanthellae

Coral gives zooxanthellae cells shelter and their waste which the cells use as nutrients for photosynthesis creating a higher coral calcification rate

Coral reef threats

coral bleaching (loss of zooxanthellae) due to:
-temperature stress
-UV radiation
-high O2 tension due to increased photosynthesis bc too much light
-high eutrophication+algae covering algae

eutrophication

high amount of nutrients due to sewages, runoffs, fertilizers causing algae growth covering corals

organisms adaptations at intertidal zones

motiles: crawl under rocks
sessiles: have tough shells and stick tightly to surfaces

hydrothermal vents

-chemosynthesis
-microbes and bacteria form at base
-found in divergent boundaries
-discovered in 1970s

chemosynthesis

process by which food (glucose) is made by bacteria using chemicals as energy source instead of sunlight

compensation depth

depth where primary production=respiration depth
-O2 accumulates above and no net loss below

Polar areas productivity levels

temperate areas productivity levels

subtropical area productivity levels

4 groups of phytoplankton

-Cyanobacteria
-Diatoms
-Dinoflagellates
-Coccolithophores

Cyanobacteria

-most tiny and abundant
-"sea green algae"

diatoms

-silica skeletons
-abundant in polar regions

dinoflagellates

-2 flagella for motility
-large phytoplankton
-form red tides
-bioluminescent

coccolithophores

covered in calcium carbonate plates (chalk)

primary production

conversion of dissolved inorganic carbon (CO2) and nutrients to biomass

major factors for primary production

-light
-temperature
-nutrients

who makes primary production

microbes and phytoplankton (bacteria and eukaryotes)

gross primary production (GPP)

biomass created from photosynthesis

\

net primary production (NPP)

the difference between the amount of carbon produced through photosynthesis (GPP) and the amount used for respiration
NPP= GPP- RESPIRATION

how to measure primary production?

-satellite measuring amount of chlorophyll (green)
-oxygen in light and dark bottles incubation

photosynthesis

ENERGY+CO2+H2O------->ORGANIC MATTER+O2

respiration

ORGANIC MATTER+O2------->ENERGY+CO2+H2O

phytoplankton growth factors

Redfield ratio
C:N:P
106:16:1

holoplankton

planktonic for entire life cycle

meroplankton

planktonic for part of their life

holoplankton examples

-copepods
-cnidarians
-ctenophores (comb jelly)
-chaetognaths (arrow worms)
-euphosids (krill)
-pteropods (sea butterflies)

meroplankton examples

-ichtyoplankton (fish eggs and larvae)
-mollusks

importance of studying icthtyoplankton

-monitor trends in population if rising/declining faster and earlier
-cheaper sampling

plankton stresses

-predation
-sinking
-food availability

diel vertical migration

journey of organisms from surface to deep to reduce vulnerabilty with predators
-day in the deep and night in the surface

heterocercal (sharks)

lunated

forked

turnicated

rounded

fusiform

torpedo shape
speed

laterally compressed

short burst of speed
quick turns

flattened

sea floor adapted

elonagted

hiding

irregular

camouflage

oviparous

organisms that lay eggs

viviparous

organisms that give birth

ovoviviparous

organisms that give birth with no embryo connection, yolk sacs instead (seahorses)

anandromous

live in ocean and spawn in freshwater

catadromous

live in freshwater and spawn in ocean

shoaling

unstrcutured, mixes species

schooling

tightly organized, single species

advantages of schooling

mating
safety
effective traveling

how do fish breath?

take in water with dissolved oxygen through mouth and pump water out with their gills, releasing CO2

buccal pumping

water through mouth and past gills by muscles called gill pumps

ram ventilation

water through mouth and past gills by forward swimming

poikilothermic (cold blooded)

body temp same as exterior env

homeothermic (warm blooded)

body temp independent of external env

rate mireable

arteries use countercurrent blood flow within net to retain heat generated by swimming muscles

agnatha

jawless snake liked

chondricthyes

sharks/rays
cartilagnious fish no swimm bladder

osteichtyes

bony fish

cephalopods

squid, octopus, cuttlefish

lateral line

sensory body line to detect movement and vibration

ampullae of lorenzini

electrive sensitive cells for prey

fisheries challenges

high nutrients to feed fish
antibiotics for diseases
possible escape of invasive fish

magnuson-stevenson act

governs marine fisheries management in U.S. federal waters.

maximum sustainable yield

highest amount of population that can be fished while maintaning stable population

impacts of abundance in fisheries

-mortality rate
-dispersal (movement of fish to adult recruit)
-succesful settlement of new adult habitats

cetaceans

whales,dolphins, porposises

pinnipeds

seals,sea lions, walruses

sirenians

manatees, dugongs

fissipeds

polar bears, otters

2 types of cetaceans

mysticetes: baleen whales
odontocetes: toothed whales

marine mammals risks

-historical whaling
climate change (melting ice and warm sea)
slow reproduction
sound disruptions

how to study marine mammals

visual survey
acolustics sound tags
satellite tags
necropsies (study dead animals)

How do we study Earth’s past climate?

paleo proxy
-oxygen isotopes in the ice cores
-carbon isotopes in carbonate shells in sediment cores
-thickness of tree rings

What things can we infer from paleo proxies?

-temperature
-evaporation/precipitation
-ice volume/sea level

What processes have controlled Earth’s climate over hundreds of millions of years?

-plate tectonics: weathering of rocks consumes CO2, exchange CO2 with atmosphere
-solar intensity
-orbital change

solar forcing

incoming solar radiation or insolation (how much energy comes in from the sun)

solar forcing factors

intensity of the sun
orbital forcing

orbital forcing

orbit of earth around sun defines insolation balance

radiative balance

how much incoming radiation is reflected (albedo) versus absorbed, how much outgoing radiation is absorbed by atmosphere and re-emitted (feedback)

radiative balance factors

-albedo
-greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
-ice dynamics

feedback process example

less ice-less albedo-ocean absorbs more heat-ocean warms...

ocean role in CO2

-large reservoir of dissolved CO2
-transfer CO2 out of atmosphere (changes in circulation and photosynthesis)

Biological
carbon
pump

moving carbon from the surface to the deep

When was the last ice age (Last Glacial Maximum)?

20,000 years ago