Download 6-5 Ocean Life Zones PPT - Lyndhurst School District

THE GLOBAL OCEAN
Ø  global ocean
Ø  huge, continuous body of salt water that
surrounds the continents
Ø  covers almost ¾ Earth s surface
Ø  divided into 4 sections separated by continents
1.  Pacific (largest: 1/3 Earth s surface & ½ water)
2.  Atlantic
3.  Indian
4.  Artic
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THE GLOBAL OCEAN
Ø  vast wilderness, much of it unknown
Ø  affects cycles of matter on land, influences
climate, & weather, provides food
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MAJOR OCEAN LIFE ZONES
Ø  4 major zones
Ø  intertidal zone
Ø  benthic (ocean floor) environment
Ø  2 provinces of pelagic (ocean water)
environment
Ø  neritic
Ø  oceanic (deep-sea)
*open-sea zone
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MAJOR OCEAN LIFE ZONES:
INTERTIDAL ZONE
Ø  intertidal zone – area of shoreline between low
& high tides (transition between land & ocean)
Ø  high levels of light, nutrients, & oxygen à
biologically productive
Ø  stressful environment – changing & wave
action, high & low tides, dry & wet, etc.
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MAJOR OCEAN LIFE ZONES:
BENTHIC ENVIRONMENT
Ø  benthic environment – ocean floor, which extends
from intertidal zone to deep ocean trenches
Ø  consists of sediments where many bottom -
dwelling animals such as worms & clams, burrow
Ø  productive communities in relatively shallow
benthic zones
Ø  coral reefs
Ø  seagrass beds
Ø  kelp forests
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MAJOR OCEAN LIFE ZONES:
BENTHIC ENVIRONMENT
Ø  corals – small, soft bodied
animals similar to jelly-fish
& sea anemones
Ø  eat plankton
Ø  live in hard cups (or shells)
of limestone (calcium carbonate) that they
produce using minerals dissolved in ocean
water
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MAJOR OCEAN LIFE ZONES:
BENTHIC ENVIRONMENT
Ø  die, cups remain, & new generation grows on top
Ø  over thousands of generations, a coral reef forms
from accumulated layers of limestone
Ø  found in warm, shallow seawater
zooxanthellae
(symbiotic algae), favorable
temperatures, & year-round sunlight
Ø  poor nutrients but has
Ø  living parts grow in shallow waters
where light penetrates
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DISTRIBUTION OF CORAL REEFS
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MAJOR OCEAN LIFE ZONES:
BENTHIC ENVIRONMENT
Ø  most diverse of all marine environments
Ø  Great Barrier Reef occupies only 0.1 % of
ocean s surface but 8% of world s fish species
live there
Ø  benefits:
Ø  habitat
Ø  protect coastlines from shoreline erosion
Ø  seafood, pharmaceuticals, recreation, tourist
dollars
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MAJOR OCEAN LIFE ZONES:
BENTHIC ENVIRONMENT
Ø  sea grasses – flowering plants adapted to
complete submersion in salty ocean water
Ø  only in shallow water where they receive
enough light for photosynthesis
Ø  help stabilize sediments à reduce erosion
Ø  provide food & habitats
Ø  only 5% eaten, rest enters detritus food web &
decomposed
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MAJOR OCEAN LIFE ZONES:
BENTHIC ENVIRONMENT
Ø  kelp – brown algae
Ø  common in
Ø  cooler temperate marine waters of both
northern & southern hemisphere
Ø  shallow waters along rocky coastlines
Ø  photosynthetic & primary food producers for
kelp forest ecosystems
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MAJOR OCEAN LIFE ZONES:
NERITIC PROVINCE
Ø  neritic province – part of pelagic environment
that overlies ocean floor from shoreline to edge
of open-sea to a depth of 200 m (650 ft)
Ø  floaters & swimmers
Ø  euphotic zone
Ø  upper layer (surface to 150 m) sufficient light
to support photosynthesis
Ø  large #s of phytoplankton on which
zooplankton feed on which nektons (marine
organisms that swim freely) feed on, on
which carnivorous nekton feed on
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MAJOR OCEAN LIFE ZONES:
OPEN-SEA
Ø  contains phytoplankton responsible for 80-90%
of Earth’s photosynthesis
Ø  contains most free-floating or swimming life
forms
Ø  organisms unable to anchor themselves
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MAJOR OCEAN LIFE ZONES:
OCEANIC PROVINCE (DEEP-SEA)
Ø  oceanic province - part of pelagic environment
that overlies ocean floor at depths >200m
(650 ft)
Ø  75% of ocean s water
Ø  deep sea
Ø  all but surface waters of oceanic province
have cold temperatures, high pressure, & an
absence of sunlight – uniform throughout year
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MAJOR OCEAN LIFE ZONES:
OCEANIC PROVINCE (DEEP-SEA)
Ø  fish adapted to darkness & scarcity of food
Ø  drift or are slow moving à reduced bone &
muscle mass
marine snow organic debris that drifts
down into their habitat
from upper lighted regions
of oceanic province
Ø  depend on
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