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Chapter 14: The Marine Habitat
Organisms living in the oceans develop special adaptations to the chemical and
physical characteristics of seawater. Algae are the basic producers of food and their
distribution in the oceans is based on the availability of sunlight and nutrients. The
marine environment is divided into pelagic and benthic environments.
Learning objectives:
Upon completion of this chapter, the student should be able to:
1.
Describe the classification of living organisms including the following taxonomic
distinctions:
A. domain
(1) Archaea
(2) Bacteria
(3) Eukarya
B. kingdom
(1) Monera
(2) Protista (Protoctista)
(3) Fungi
(4) Plantae
(5) Animalia
C. phylum (= division for organisms with cell walls)
D. class
E. order
F. family
G. genus
H. species
2.
Describe the classification of marine organisms as a function of
their habitat including:
A. plankton
(1) classified according to nutrition and cell type
(a) phytoplankton
(b) zooplankton
(c) bacterioplankton
(2) classified according to size
(a) macroplankton
(b) picoplankton
(c) holoplankton
(d) meroplankton
B. nekton
C. benthos
3.
Discuss the distribution of marine life in the zonation of the oceanic water column
including:
A. pelagic environment
B. benthic environment
4.
outline the physical and physiologic adaptations of organisms to life in the marine
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B.
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environment including:
A. strategies for body support
B. strategies to prevent sinking
1. surface area-to-volume ratio
2. increasing surface area by adding appendages, spines, projections,
and the like
C. streamlined body shape
Compare and contrast thermal tolerance in marine organisms including
stenothermal and eurythermal organisms.
Compare and contrast euryhaline and stenohaline organisms giving an example
of a euryhaline and stenohaline marine/estuarine organism and describing the
environment in which it would live.
Distinguish between diffusion and osmosis and discuss how the type of
environment (living versus nonliving) and the state of matter affect these
processes.
Distinguish among hypertonic, hypotonic, and isotonic solutions in terms of net
water movement and discuss the implications for living cells placed in each of
these environments.
Discuss the strategies employed by marine and freshwater fish to maintain salt
and water balance.
Detail the strategies employed by marine organisms to accomplish gas
exchange.
Explain the relationship between the transparency of water and the kinds of color
patterns exhibited by open-ocean organisms and discuss how the strategies of
countershading, disruptive coloration, and transparency affect predation.
Describe the relationship between depth and atmospheric pressure in the ocean.
Identify the two distinct zones into which the ocean environment is divided: open
water (pelagic) and bottom (benthic) .
Identify the two provinces into which the pelagic environment is divided: the
neritic (coastal) province and the oceanic province and the subdivisions of the
oceanic province as a function of depth:
A. epipelagic zone
B. mesopelagic zone
C. bathypelagic zone
D. abyssopelagic zone
Distinguish among the following oceanic zones as a function of light availability:
A. euphotic (photic) zone
B. disphotic zone
C. aphotic zone