Transcript Oceans - SchoolRack

Oceans
Marine Environments
•
Environment: The air, water, minerals, organisms, and all
other external factors surrounding and affecting a given
organism at any time.
•
Life in the ocean is affected by water depth and the
amount of sunlight that passes into the water
•
Major Environmental Zones:
1. Intertidal Zone
2. Neritic Zone
3. Oceanic Zone
4. Benthic Zone
Marine Environments
Intertidal Zone
Neritic Zone
Oceanic Zone
Benthic Zone
Marine Environments
A
B
C
D
CONTINENTAL SHELF
Intertidal Zone
• Where ocean meets the land
• Exposed to air part of day
• Waves constantly crashing
• Covered at high tide,
exposed at low tide
• Mudflats: worms and crabs
• Sandy Beaches: worms,
clams, crabs, plankton
• Rocky Shores: sea stars
Neritic Zone
• Water becomes deeper
• Ocean floor starts to
slope downward
• Water warm and gets a
lot of sunlight
• Many plants/animals live
here:
Ex: corals, sponges,
seaweeds, sea turtles,
fishes, dolphins
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Oceanic Zone
• Sea floor drops sharply
• Deep water of open ocean in
this zone
• Plankton can be found near
the water’s surface
• Fishes, whales, sharks live
here
• Some animals live in very
deep water and get food from
material that sinks down from
ocean surface
Benthic Zone
• Ocean floor
• Deepest parts of this zone do
not get sunlight and get very
cold
• Fishes, worms, sea urchins,
and crabs have special
adaptations to live here
• Get food from material that
sinks down from above
• Other organisms, like bacteria,
get energy from chemicals that
escape from thermal vents on
ocean floor (vents form at
cracks in Earth’s crust)
– CHEMOSYNTHESIS
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Marine Ecosystems
Ecosystem: all the living/nonliving parts of an
environment that live in the same habitat
The Earth’s Marine Ecosystems:
• Intertidal Areas
• Coral Reefs
• Estuaries
• Mangrove Swamps
• The Sargasso Sea
• Polar Ice
Intertidal Organisms
• Must be able to live in and out of
the water
• Organisms in this zone have
adapted to keep from being
washed away by crashing waves
• Holdfasts – root-like structures
attach to rocks
• Other organisms attach to the
rock by releasing a special glue
• Sea grasses, snails, herons,
clams, crabs, and conchs are all
found in the intertidal zone
Coral Reefs
• Found in warm, shallow
waters
• Made of small animals
called corals
• Live in large groups
• Corals die and leave their
skeletons behind
• New corals grow on these
remains
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Estuaries
• Area where fresh water
from streams and rivers
spills into oceans
• In estuaries, fresh water
and salt water constantly
mixing
• Tides help mix fresh and
salt water creating an
environment that is very rich
in nutrients so area is very
productive ecosystem
• NC estuaries are being
polluted by urban
development and
agricultural runoff, which kill
fish and plants
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Why estuaries are so important?
• Rich in nutrients from both land and ocean
– plants and soils in an estuary trap nutrients
and help break down waste and pollution
– also support large numbers of plankton
• Plankton provides food for larger animals, like fish
• Dolphins, manatees, seals and other mammals
feed on fish and plants in estuaries
• Birds, like the egret or heron, feed on fish and
invertebrates (worms) that live in estuaries
• Estuaries also provide protected area for
migratory birds to rest and breed
• Acts like a nursery for many juvenile organisms
– Especially your seafood!
Mangrove Swamps
• Swamps located along
coast of warm or
tropical areas
• Mangrove trees grow
here and help prevent
erosion of coastline…
especially during
storms
• Breeding and feeding
area for many different
organisms
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The Sargasso Sea
• Found in the middle of
Atlantic Ocean
• Contains floating rafts of
algae called sargassum
• Many animals that live in
the Sargasso Sea are the
same color as the
sargassum, which helps
them hide from predators
• Weedline 
Polar Ice
Beluga Whale
• Found in Arctic Ocean and in the
ocean around Antarctica – N/S
poles
• Rich in nutrients which support
large numbers of plankton
• Plankton forms the basis of the
Arctic and Antarctic food webs –
many fishes, birds and mammals
rely on it for food
• Beluga whales and penguins also
live in these areas
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S
There are 17 species
of penguins, and five
of them live in and
around Antarctica.
Life in the Ocean
• Can a cow live on the ice in Alaska?
• No – polar bears live in this unique place.
• Just like a cow and a polar bear live in different places
on Earth, an octopus and a dolphin live in different parts
of the ocean.
• Studying life in the oceans is very complicated because
they are so large.
• There are still many organisms we don’t know of or know
little about.
• To make things easier, scientists classify marine
organisms into three main groups.
Three Groups of Marine Life
• Organisms are placed in groups based on
where they live and how they move
– Plankton
– Nekton
– Benthos
PLANKTON
• Organisms that float or
drift freely near ocean’s
surface
• Microscopic
• Food for many organisms
– Phytoplankton
plant like – provides most
of Earth’s oxygen
– Zooplankton
animal like
NEKTON
• Swim actively in open
ocean
– mammals like whales,
dolphins, and sea lions
– fish
BENTHOS
• Live on or in ocean
floor
• Crabs, starfish,
worms, coral,
sponges, seaweed,
and clams
Food Web vs. Food Chain ?
Do terrestrial and aquatic
food webs ever cross?
Example?
Interconnected Food Webs
• Aquatic and Terrestrial
• They interconnect in an estuary or intertidal zone
• Animals like frogs and birds live in water and on land
– A frog can eat a fly on land and be eaten by a
snake in the water
• Microbes – recycle nutrients/wastes of other
organisms, including nitrogen from sewage
• Humans are top consumers fishing/agricultural
industries
Estuarine
Plants & Animals
Make Your Own Food Web
•
Choose 10 organisms: estuaries/intertidal zones
•
Create a food web for your ten organisms
•
The web must overlap between land/water
•
Label/draw each organism
•
Draw arrows to show the
web and how the
animals are connected
•
Color your food web