Download 1. From Basics to the Extremophiles

Marine Life
and Ecology
1. From Basics to the
Extremophiles
Heterotrophy
Autotrophy
Phytoplanktonic pigment
concentration (mg/m3)
Summer
Winter
Biological productivity in
Land versus Oceanic
Environments
Average
Fraction Total Production
Productivity of Earth’s (tons of Carbon
(g C/m2/yr) Surface assimilation per
year)
Land
160
Oceans 50
28%
72%
25 million
20 million
Planktons come in all sizes and
shapes. Mostly, though, their shear
helplessness has promoted such
defensive strategies as schooling and
transparency for avoiding the
predators.
Average plant productivity
in different Oceanic
Environments
Annual
Productivity
(g C/m2)
Upwelling 300
Coastal
100
Open Ocean 50
Fraction Total Production
of Ocean
(tons of annual
Surface
C assimilation)
0.1%
9.9%
90.0%
0.5
18.0
81.5
Ocean Habitats
Biozones
Light zones
Pelagic
Photic
Neritic
Benthic
Oceanic
Twilight
Aphotic
Biozones
LIGHT ZONES
• photic,
• twilight and
• aphotic waters
Depths at which the surface
radiation of water is reduced to
10% and 1% for various colors
in clear ocean water
Photosynthesis
in the
Terrestrial
versus
Marine
Environments
Ocean
Gross
Gross
primary
primary
productivity
productivity
(gC/m
/yr)
(gC/m22/yr)
Open ocean
<50
<50
Continental
margins
50-150
50-150
Upwelling/
divergence areas
Shallow estuaries,
coral reefs
150-500
150-500
500-1250
500-1250
Land
Deserts
Forests, grasslands,
croplands
Pastures, rain
forests
Swamplands,
intensively
developed farmland
Phytoplanktons abound in the surface waters of continental
shelves and upwelling and/or divergence areas, and tend to
be scarce in the open ocean.
Zooplanktons distribution mimics that of the phytoplanktons,
because zooplanktons are the primary consumers, and therefore thrive in the waters where primary production is high.
Even the abundance of benthic animals of the ocean parallels
the pattern of primary production.
Typical seasonal variations in the abundance of
sunlight, nutrients, phytoplanktons and grazers
(zooplanktons) in surface waters at …...
Winter
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
Productivity (gC/m2/day)
Guess where these data are from?
As Robert May (Scientific American, October 1992) has
argued, most of the species display a predictable
relation between physical size and population
size: the smaller they are, the more
abundant they tend to be.
Implication: More species
< 1 mm await discovery
than ones > 1 cm.
1 mm
1 cm
Characteristic size (meters)
1m
The deep scattering layer
Brock: Biology of Microorganisms (Prentice Hall, 1997)
The Pompeii worm (Alvinella pompejana) can survive an
environment as hot as 80° C (176° F) — nearly hot enough to
boil water. The worm’s rear end sits in water as hot as 80° C
(176° F), while its head, which sticks out of the worm’s tube
home, rests in water that is much cooler, about 22° C (72° F).
Formerly, the Sahara desert ant was believed to be the most
heat-hardy creature, foraging briefly in the desert sun at
temperatures up to 55° C (131° F).
Archaea Habitats: Rotorua, New Zealand
Archaea Habitats: Rotorua, New Zealand
April 1997
The
iceworm is
one of many
organisms in
the seafloor
ecosystem
supported by
naturally
seeping
hydrocarbons in
the Gulf of
Mexico.
http://ocean.tamu.edu/Quarterdeck/QD5.3/macdonald.html
http://www.ocean.udel.edu/deepsea/home/home.html
Resembling giant lipsticks, tubeworms (Riftia pachyptila) live over
a mile deep on the Pacific Ocean floor near hydrothermal vents.
They may grow to about 3 meters (8 ft) long. The worms’ white
tube home is made of a tough, natural material called chitin
(pronounced “kite-in”). These tubeworms have no mouth, eyes, or
stomach (“gut”). Their survival depends on a symbiotic relationship with billions
of bacteria that
live inside them.
These bacteria
convert the
chemicals that
shoot out of the
hydrothermal
vents into food
for the worm.
This chemicalbased foodmaking process
is referred to as
chemosynthesis.