1. Ecology is the study of the inter-relationships between the physical and biological aspects of the environment.
It is the study of how organisms adapt to their environment and in turn alter it.

2. There are two major marine provinces:
Ocean habitats
There are two major marine provinces:
Benthonic (bottom)
The benthonic environment is divided by depth into the: Intertidal zone, Sublittoral zone, Bathyal zone, Abyssal zone, and the Hadal zone
Pelagic (water column)
The pelagic environment is divided into the Neritic Zone and the Oceanic Zone

3. Ocean Habitats
The ocean can also be divided into zones based upon depth of light penetration
The photic zone is the depth where light is sufficient for photosynthesis
The dysphotic zone is where illumination is too weak for photosynthesis
The aphotic zone receives no light from the surface because it is all absorbed by the water above

4. Classification of Organisms
In 1735 Linnaeus developed the following hierarchical taxonomic classification
Kingdom - Animalia
Phylum - Chordata
Class - Mammalia
Order- Primates
Family - Hominidae
Genus - Homo
Species - sapiens

5. Five Kingdoms of Life

7. Classification of Organisms
Kingdom Monera: prokaryotes (no nucleus) include bacteria, cyanobacteria (formerly known as blue-green algae)

8. The next four kingdoms are eukaryotes (nucleus)
Kingdom Protista: microorganisms such as dinofagelata, algae, seaweed, Foraminifera.
Kingdom Fungi: mushrooms, molds, yeast, lichens.
Kingdom Metaphytae (Pantae): mosses, ferns, trees, flowering plants, salt-marsh grasses.
Kingdom Animalia (Metazoa): jellyfish, corals, sponges, sea stars.

9. Plantae (Salt-marsh grass)
Protist (Foram)
Fungi (mushroom)
Plantae (Salt-marsh grass)

10. Classification by Lifestyle
Plankton: organisms which float in the water and have no ability to propel themselves against a current
-phytoplankton (photosynthetic autotrophs)
-zooplankton (heterotrophs)
Nekton: active swimmers and include marine fish, reptiles, mammals, birds and others
Benthos: organisms which live on the bottom (epifauna) or within the bottom sediments (infauna)
Some organisms cross from one lifestyle to another (pelagic early in life and benthonic later)

12. Evolution
Charles Darwin: “I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful is preserved, by the term Natural Selection.” (The Origin of Species, 1859)
Darwin’s theory was based on:
Natural Selection
heritable variation
differential survival
Reproduction
*but he offers no mechanism

13. Mechanisms for this theory include:
Neo-Darwinism or
New Synthesis
Is a combination of genetics and Darwinism: postulates that natural selection is the product of mutations in DNA (slow and gradual process)

14. Lateral gene transfer
The acquisition of genetic material induced changes with in a single generation
Symbiosis
Close association of two unlike organisms, usually lasting for a long time

15. Evolutionary Pathways for Organisms
Speciation: is the splitting of a single species, most commonly brought about by populations becoming geographically isolated
Divergent evolution: when a single group of organisms splits into two groups and each group evolves in increasingly different directions
Convergent evolution: evolutionary change in two or more unrelated organisms that results in the independent development of similar adaptations to similar environmental conditions

16. Basic Ecology
Environmental factors in the marine environment: temperature, salinity, pressure, nutrients, dissolved gases, currents, light, suspended sediments, substrate (bottom material), river inflow, tides and waves.
Ecosystem is the total environment including the biota (all living organisms) and non-living physical and chemical aspects. A self-sustaining system.
Temperature can control distribution, degree of activity and reproduction of an organism.
Salinity can control the distribution of organisms and force them to migrate in response to changes in salinity.
Hydrostatic pressure is the pressures exerted by a column of water surrounding an organism.

17. Salinity Adaptation Diffusion
1. Differences between the concentration of salts in cell fluid and the surrounding seawater = Chemical Gradient
Osmotic regulation – adaptive technique
Temperature metabolic rate change
Nutrient recycling of elements
Chemical cycle

18. Osmosis- Regulation of water molecules
Osmoregulation
• Control of diffusion through the cell wall
and the maintenance of sufficient body
fluids

19. • Marine organisms
– Drink large amounts of water
– Chloride cells extract and dispose of excess salt

20. – Produce large amounts of dilute urine
• Freshwater organisms
– Don’t drink
– Produce large amounts of dilute urine

21. Pressure Effects on Organisms
Hydrostatic Pressure (Buoyancy)
Pressure increases 1 atm per 10 meter of water column
Nitrogen narcosis – causes decompression sickness; gas pressure increases with increasing dive depth, the partial pressure of nitrogen increases and more nitrogen becomes dissolved in the blood.
Decompression sickness: “the bends” - nitrogen bubbles in the bloodstream and tissues of the body. The bubbles occur if you move from deep water towards the surface (where the surrounding pressure is lower) in too short a space of time.
Adaptive mechanisms
Gas bladder - Fish to control their buoyancy and thus to rise or sink in the water column. Also called air bladder or swim bladder

22. Sharks and rays: Large oily liver, light skeleton, pectoral fins for stability; Advantages: rapid changes in depth possible
Bony fish: Gas-filled
swim bladder, pectoral
fins freed for other uses-
great diversity of forms

23. Selective Adaptive Strategies
- Size is the single most important characteristic affecting the ecology of phytoplankton Advantages to being small (microscopic): -Slow settling rates -High frictional drag (directly related to the surface area-to-volume ratio) -Functional Morphology and Camouflage

24. More than 90% of marine plants are algae and most are microscopic
To photosynthesize (produce organic material from inorganic matter and sunlight) plants must remain within the photic zone.
Diatoms are single cells enclosed in a siliceous frustrule (shell) that is shaped as a pillbox.
Dinoflagellates are single cells with two whip-like tails (flagella).

26. The morphology of fish has evolved to allow them to move through the water easily.
The fish’s body must overcome three types of drag (resistance): Surface drag, Form drag, and Turbulent drag.
Speed is dependent upon body length, beat frequency, and the aspect ratio of the caudal fin.
There is a strong correlation between predation success and body form.

27. Biological Productivity in the Ocean
Chapter 10

28. Figure 10-2 (a) Simple food chain

29. Energy pyramid
Trophic relationships within a community. Energy passes upward as organisms in the higher compartments feeding organisms.

30. Figure 10-2 (b) Food web

31. Plants as Primary Producers
Photosynthesis:
6 CO2 + 6 H2O + solar energy  C6H12O6 + 6 O2, carbon dioxide + water + sunlight  sugar + oxygen
Conversion of water and carbon dioxide into organic matter.
Figure 9-14

32. Plants as Primary Producers
Algae – microscopic plankton (and benthic)
Algae - seaweeds and kelps
Cyanobacteria or “blue green algae”
Plus:
sea grasses, marsh grasses, mangroves
coral reefs (by zooxanthellae,really a symbiont)

33. Photosynthesis versus Respiration
Complementary chemical reactions
Nutrient cycling is vital to life

34. General Marine Productivity
Food webs operate differently in regions of the ocean:
Sunlight
Nutrients
Circulation, upwelling and mixing
Comparison with terrestrial productivity
Patterns of primary production in the ocean
Seasonal variation in productivity
Ocean color and satellite oceanography

35. Primary Production in the Ocean
Solar radiation
Nutrient concentration
Upwelling and mixing
Grazing
Water turbidity

36. Nutrient Concentration
Given enough light, algae will deplete water of nutrients—Bionic Potential
Growth will be halted by a limiting nutrient
Sustained productivity requires input of nutrients by:
advection or mixing
remineralization

37. This productivity is not always positive, Phytoplankton Blooms
Rapid cell division and high abundance
Millions to tens of millions of cells per liter
Diatoms and dinoflagellates
Red and brown tides
Can discolor the water

38. Can be toxic
Can lead to hypoxia, anoxia
Can lead to fish kills
Often symptom of high nutrients or “eutrophication”

39. Productivity, Terrestrial versus Marine
Higher productivity per unit area
About 30% of Earth’s surface
Less productivity per unit area on average
Larger area
Ocean has approximately same primary productivity as land.

40. Variation in Productivity
Only the top-most 100 m or less…of a 4,000-m deep ocean can support photosynthesis!
Light, physics and chemistry control
Regional and seasonal patterns

41. Global Patterns of Productivity Colors of Life Web Site-NASA
By monitoring the color of reflected light via satellite, scientists can determine how successfully plant life is photosynthesizing.

42. Three, Whole Earth Years
Seasonal cycles, northern hemisphere versus south
Regional and seasonal difference in color and color changes
Upwelling and equatorial regions
Variability with geographic and depth productivity (gyres)