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Marine Life and the Marine Environment.

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Presentation on theme: "Marine Life and the Marine Environment."— Presentation transcript:

1 Marine Life and the Marine Environment.

2 Marine Life/Environment.
Marine Biologists have identified over 250,000 oceanic species. This number increases every year. Most marine life lives in shallow water near shore. Sunlight is the key to life. (I.E. shallow water).

3 Marine Life/Environment.
I. Defining and Classifying Life. A. Defining life. Living things can capture store and transmit energy. They are capable of reproduction. They can adapt to environments. They can change through time (evolution).

4 Marine Life/Environment.
B. The 3 domains of life (Most inclusive subdivision of life) 1. Bacteria – Single celled, very small, no nuclei, no organelles. a. Cyanobacteria is an marine example.

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2. Archaea – Single celled bacterial “like” organisms that prefer extreme environments (eg. Volcanic vents). Often produce methane and oxidize sulfer.

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Eukarya – Often multicellular, have nuclei, have organelles, often large and complex. a. Include Plants, Animals, Fungi and Protista

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C. Domains can divided into 5 kingdoms. 1. Monera – Bacteria. Single celled, lack nuclei. a. Include cyanobacteria, heterotrophic bacteria and archaea. Plantae – Multicellular plants (includes algae. Animalia – Multicellular animals Fungi – Fungus, molds and ½ of lichens. Mostly terrestrial. Protoctista – “catch-all” of organisms that do not fit neatly into the other kingdoms. Examples range from some types of algae to protozoans (like amoeba).

8 Marine Life/Environment.

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D. Kingdoms are then divided in to Phylum, Subphylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and finally Species.

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E. Species is the most exclusive order of taxonomic classification. 1. Members of a species may interbreed and produce fertile and viable offspring. Canis lupis

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2. Species name is always 2 words (the genus and species), in italics, first word (the genus) capitalized, and the second in small case. Eg. Homo sapien Carl Linnaeus

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Classifying Marine organisms. (A. Plankton, B. Nekton, and C. Benthos) - Typically classified by what they do and where they live.

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Nekton Plankton Benthos

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Plankton (Floaters) – plants and animals that drift with ocean current. -Do not swim, or paddle with direction. - Make up most of earth’s biomass. -Jellyfish are the largest plankton species.

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Different types by feeding strategy. a. Phytoplankton – make their own food (photosynthesis) AKA autotrophic. b. Zooplankton – heterotrophic = eat their food.

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Some is bacterial = Bacterioplankton Some is viral = Viroplankton

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4. Some is catagorized by life cycle. a. Holoplankton – whole life spent as plankton. b. Meroplankton – Only larval stages are plankton.

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Some categorized by size Macroplankton – large (eg. Jellyfish) Picoplankton – very small.

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B. Nekton (swimmers) – they can swim. - most live in shallows near shore. -some spend part of life in fresh water and another part in salt water (salmon or eels).

20 Marine Life/Environment.
C. Benthos (Bottom Dwellers) - Much higher concentration in shallows - Epifauna – live on surface of sea floor - Infauna – live buried in sediment at the bottom. - Nectobenthos – live on the bottom but can swim or crawl. (like crabs)

21 Marine Life/Environment.
-Some benthos utilize deep water hydrothermal vents as energy. Dispelled hypothesis that they only existed in shallow water (sunlight).

22 Marine Life/Environment.
III. How many marine species exist? We will not know for a very long time. Over two thousand new marine species cataloged each year. In 2000 The Census of Marine Life (CoML) began. -Extensive 10 year project to assess and catalog oceanic diversity.

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Currently only 250,000 of 1,750,000 known species are marine. One reason is the difficulty of underwater research. Another is the oceans constant environment (less evolutionary pressure)

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Of known marine species 98% live in the Benthic Zone (bottom dwellers). = Benthos 2% inhabit pelagic environment (within the water column) = nekton/plankton.

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Organisms adaptation to oceanic conditions. - Ocean environment is much more stable than terrestrial environments. - Therefore marine organisms have not evolved complex means of adaptation to change. -Therefore, small changes in Temperature, salinity etc. can be devastating.

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- Water provides support for marine creatures . = Therefore animals must depend on buoyancy and frictional resistance to sinking (I.e. swimming and floating) =This requires special adaptations.

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A. Adaptations to Water Viscosity. - Viscosity is a substance’s resistance to flow. = high viscosity means substance does not flow easily (toothpaste) = low viscosity = flows easily (water)

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=Viscosity is affected by temperature and salinity. i. As temp increases, viscosity decreases. ii. As salinity increases, viscosity increases.

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-Therefore, very small organisms in cold or very salty water do not require as many “extensions” to stay afloat (Plankton). = More extensive projections = more surface area to volume in ratio. = More surface area to volume = more buoyancy.

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-Large animals must be streamlined to move efficiently through more viscous water. Fish shape is a prime example.

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B. Temperature adaptations -Ocean temp is far more stable than terrestrial temperatures. =Including daily temps and seasonal temps.

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-Four reasons for ocean temp stability. 1. Heat capacity of water is higher than land. 2. Evaporation slows heating of ocean. 3. Sunlight is distributed throughout many meters of depth in the oceans. 4. Currents, waves and tides distribute heat.

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-Warm vs. Cold water species. = Warm water plankton smaller with more projections (more ornate). = Warm water organisms = shorter life cycle. =Warm water organisms = more biodiversity, BUT less biomass.

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C. Salinity – Due to osmotic pressure organisms have varying degrees of tolerance to salinity change. - Euryhaline – organisms that can tolerate a range of salinity (estuaries) - Stenohaline – organisms that tolerate little range of salinity (open ocean)

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Diffusion – movement of molecules (often dissolved in water) from high concentration to low concentration. Osmosis – movement of water from high “free water” concentration to low “free water” concentration across a membrane.

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- Isotonic solution – Solution with equal solutes on both sides of membrane (no net movement).

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- Hypotonic sol. – Solution with less solutes than inside cell or organism. (Water diffuses into cell/organism).

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- Hypertonic sol. – Sol. with more solutes than in cell / organism. (Water diffuses out of cell / organism).

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Osmotic pressure – increases as the difference in solute concentration increases.

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-Adaptations – = Saltwater fish are hypotonic to their environment. They drink large amounts of water and release salt from gills and through urine.

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= Freshwater fish are hypertonic to their environment. They do not drink water and release large amounts of diluted urine.

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Dissolved Gasses – Cold water dissolves More gas than warm water. - High latitude oceans produce large quantities of plankton due to high CO2 and O2 concentrations. - Most marine organisms utilize gills to exchange gasses.

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-Most marine organisms utilize gills to exchange gasses. -Water enters through mouth, passes gills and exits through gill slits.

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Water’s high transparency. - Light penetrates ocean water to 1000 meters. - Due to transparency predators often rely on site.

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-To counter predation marine organisms often migrate vertically to remain just under light penetration. - Some counter-shade (dark on top light underneath). -Some are transparent……Jellyfish.

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Main Divisions of the Marine Environment. -Two main divisions = Pelagic Environment (open sea) and Benthic Environment (Sea bottom).

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-Sunlight penetration side note. = Euphotic Zone – From surface to about 100 meters (enough light for photosynthesis). = Disphotic Zone – 100m through 1000m (small but measurable light). = Aphotic Zone – 1000m+ (No light)

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A. Pelagic Environment – Divided into neritic and oceanic provinces.

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1.Neritic province ( from coast seaward- water less than 200m in depth). -High concentration of species diversity– biodiversity typically decreases moving from continental margins to open sea. - Influenced by breaking waves, tidal movements, seasonal variations in temperatue and salinity.

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2. Oceanic Province – Seaward from point where depth exceeds 200m – -Divided into 4 biozones (Epipelagic, mesopelagic, bathypelagic and abyssopelagic zones).

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a. Epipelagic Zone – Only zone with enough light for photosynthesis (photic zone).

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b. Mesopelagic Zone – Minimum light. -Many organisms capable of bioluminescence. -Deep scattering layer (caused by high concentration of plankton) located here.

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c. Bathypelagic and Abyssopelagic Zones – No light. - Most organisms blind. - Most predatory -Most have sharp teeth, very large mouths and small bodies.

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Benthic Environment (Sea Bottom) – Divided into Supralittoral zone, Subneritic province, and Suboceanic province. 1. Supralittoral zone – only emersed during tsunamies and severe storms (spray zone).

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2. Subneritic Province – High tide shoreline to 200m depth. a. Littoral zone – Between high and low tide. b. Sublittoral zone – Low tide to 200m deep. i. Inner sublittoral zone– area algae remains attached to the sea floor (about 50m depth) ii. Outer sublittoral zone – Algae free- floating (50m to 200m depth)

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Suboceanic Province – divided into bathyal, abyssal and hadal zones. a. Bathyal zone – 200 – 4000m depth. b. Abyssal zone – 4000 – 6000m depth. c. Hadal zone – 6000+m i. Associated with deep-sea trenches.

57 Marine Life/Environment


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