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The EUREC M.Sc. In Renewable Energy
The Specialisation Modulus in Ocean Energy
Ocean Energy Resources 1
Ocean Habitat (I)
10-03-2014
Teresa Simas ([email protected])
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Outline of Ocean Habitat module
Ocean Habitat I (10-03-2014: 2pm)
1.1 Important definitions
1.2 Factors influencing ocean habitat distribution
1.3 Ocean zonation
1.4 The coastal zone
Ocean Habitat II (11-03-2014: 9 pm)
2.1 Habitat characterisation
2.2 Environmental issues to consider during site selection
2.3 Ocean habitat assignment
Ocean Habitat III (11-03-2014: 10 pm)
3.1 Descriptors of ocean habitat species
3.2 Ocean habitat communities
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Outline: Ocean Habitat I
1. Important definitions
– Habitat
– Community
– Ecosystem
2. Factors influencing ocean habitat distribution
– Abiotic factors
– Biotic factors
3. Ocean zonation
– Ocean biomes
– Ocean life zones
4. The coastal zone
– Type of habitats
– Habitats’ protection: regulation
– Examples of marine protected habitats
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1) Important definitions
What is an habitat?
The place where an
organism lives
Spatial
Factors relating to units of
distance or volume
A habitat can be a place, some
location on earth which can vary with
• Latitude
• Longitude
• Depth
Temporal
Factors relating with units
of time
A particular point in time: certain
conditions of a given period of time that
define a habitat for that particular
organism
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1) Important definitions
Habitat can be defined in spatial sense
- Coral reefs
- Rocky shores
- Sandy beaches
- Wetlands (mangrove forests, salt
marshes)
- Abyss
- Sea mounts
- Rocky seabeds
- Coastal sand banks
- Water column (phytoplankton
zooplankton)
- Artificial reefs (e.g. wave energy
devices, moorings of wind offhore fixed
turbines)
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1) Important definitions
Habitat can be defined in temporal sense
- Migration destinations (seabirds
marine mammals, fish)
- Fish breeding and nursery grounds
- Primitive earth habitats
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1) Important definitions
What is an habitat?
Habitat is not only defined as spatial
and temporal sense
Community
A group of organisms
living and interacting
with each other
Ecosystem
A community of organisms and
the non-living environment
with which they interact
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2) Factors influencing habitat distribution
It’s easier to identify habitats
in earth (deserts, mountains,
vales, beaches, grasslands);
but in the ocean there are
more subtle thinks: e.g
temperature, pressure, how
the water moves
Geological
Biological
There are several important
factors determining where
(spatial) and when
(temporal) a particular
organism lives
Chemical
Physical
The ocean is
threedimensional
and constantly
in motion
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2) Factors influencing habitat distribution
Abiotic
factors
The chemical and physical
environmental factors (nonliving components) in
ecosystems
Biotic factors
Created by a living thing or
any living component within
an environment in which the
action of the organism
affects the life of another
organism
•
•
•
•
•
•
Temperature
Light availability
Pressure
Chemical conditions (pH, nutrients, O2, CO2)
Turbulence (or water circulation conditions)
Type of or cover
•
•
•
•
Predation: trophic relations between species
Competition between organisms and species
Symbiosis
Disease agents
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3) Ocean zonation
•
The ocean can be sliced
vertically (by depth) or
horizontally (by latitude or
longitude)
•
Vertical layers are called
vertical ocean life zones
•
Horizontal regions are
called Biomes (from the
Equator towards the poles)
•
Life zones and biomes are
convenient to define ocean
habitat but probably overBiomes are more applicable to terrestrial habitats but some
generalized
oceanographers are giving stride to define them also
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3) Ocean biomes (horizontal regions)
Regions of the sea surface vary
from the Equator to the Poles
according to:
Ocean biome
A region of the world ocean
characterised by a particular set
of physical and chemical
conditions that promote a
particular set of phytoplankton
• Sunlight availability (day length)
• Water temperature
• Currents
• Include permanently (tropical) and seasonally
stratified (subtropical) regions
• Upwelling regions
• Downwelling regions
• Subpolar regions
• Marginal ice zone
Ocean biome is a relatively new concept, so its definition is likely to be refined or
changed as oceanographers learn more about the couplig between physical, chemical
and biological processes
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3) Ocean biomes (horizontal regions)
Eq-D: equatorial downwelling
Eq-U: equatorial upwelling
ST-PS: subtropical permanently stratified
ST-SS: subtropical seasonally stratified
LL-U: Low latitude upwelling
SP: subpolar
Ice: marginal ice zone
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3) Ocean biomes (horizontal regions)
Upwelling and downwelling phenomena
Upwelling is the upward
flow of deeper water
towards the surface
Downwelling is the
downward flow of surface
water towards the bottom
Generates the most
productive regions of the
world ocean (most
productive fisheries)
Upwelling is caused by the Ekman transport:
Wind blowing on the sea surface causes the
water to move 90 degrees to the right, in
the Northern hemisfere, or to the left in the
southern hemisfere
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3) Ocean biomes (horizontal regions)
Equatorial upwelling phenomena
Trade winds of the world
The wind blows from east to west; the water moves 90 degrees to the right of the wind direction,
in the north hemisphere and 90 degrees to the left of the wind direction, in the southern
hemisphere; the water in the surface which is diverging is replaced by colder and nutrient
enriched water.
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3) Ocean biomes (horizontal regions)
Equatorial upwelling phenomena
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3) Ocean biomes (horizontal regions)
Coastal upwelling
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3) Ocean biomes (horizontal regions)
Downwelling phenomena
• The wind blows from the south and Eckman transport directs water onshore
(slope of water towards the shore) which sinks surface water (movement of
surface water deeper)
• Unlike upwelling, the downwelling phenomena shuts down primary productivity
Termohaline circulation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3niR_-Kv4SM
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3) Ocean zonation (vertical zones)
Pelagic Province
Benthic Province
From the surface waters to the
deepest waters
Seabed (bottom) from inshore
to offshore
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3) Ocean life zones (vertical zones)
Pelagic Province (water column)
• Epipelagic
• Mesopelagic
(twilight zone)
• Bathypelagic
• Abyssopelagic
• Hadalpelagic
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3) Ocean life zones (vertical zones)
Benthic Province (bottom)
Neritic (or coastal) zone
Influenced by terrestrial
processes
Oceanic (open ocean)
zone
Beyond the influence of
terrestrial processes
Important definitions;
these are the zones
where organisms live
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4) The coastal (neritic) zone
Subject to sunlight, winds, waves,
tides, air-sea exchanges of energy
(wind and sunlight) and matter
(note that some of these
processes extend deeper)
The lower limit of this zone is defined at the depth
where the available light is 1% of the light. It is defined
as euphotic zone. The euphotic zone is the depth until
which the photosynthesis occurs or the deepest depth
of light penetration
Physically and chemically this
zone is highly variable and
dynamic over spatial and
temporal scales
Most part of the knowledge on
ocean is on the coastal zone
Most part of the human activities
are developed in the epipelagic
zone including renewable energy
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4) The coastal (neritic) zone
Type of Habitats
A number of
different
habitats in the
coastal zone
• Sand banks
• Reefs
• Coral reefs
• Beaches
• Saltmarshes
• Magrove forests
There are several regulatory frameworks
that protect such habitats:
• International conventions
• EU Directives
• National legislation on Marine
Protected Areas
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5) Marine habitats protection
Marine Habitats protection: regulation
Habitats Directive 79/409/EEC - Reefs (habitat 1170)
“Submarine, or exposed at low tide,
rocky substrates and biogenic
concretions1, which arise from the
seafloor in the sublittoral zone but may
extend into littoral zone where there is
an uninterrupted zonation of plant and
animal communities. These reefs
generally support a zonation of benthic
communities of algae and animals
species including concretions,
encrustations and corallogenic
concretions.”
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Solid, massive structures which are created by accumulations of organisms, usually rising from the seabed, or at least clearly
forming a substantial, discrete community or habitat which is very different from the surrounding seabed
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5) Marine habitats protection
Marine Habitats protection: regulation
Habitats Directive 79/409/EEC – Sandbanks which are slightly covered by
seawater at all times (habitat 1110)
“Sublitoral sandbanks,
permanently submerged.
Water depth is seldom more
than 20m below Chart datum.
Non-vegetated sandbanks or
sandbanks with vegetation
belonging to the Zostera
marina and Cymodocea
nodosae.”
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5) Marine habitats protection
Marine Habitats protection: regulation
Habitats Directive 79/409/EEC – Submarine structures made by leaking gases
(habitat 1180)
“Spectacular sub-marine complex
structures, consisting of rocks,
pavements and pillars up to 4
metres high. These formations are
due to the aggregation of sandstone
by carbonate cement resulting from
microbial oxidation of gas emissions,
mainly methane. The methane most
likely originated from microbial
decomposition of fossil plant
materials. The formations are
interspersed with gas vents that
intermittently release gas. These
formations shelter a highly diverse
ecosystem with brightly coloured
species.”
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5) Marine habitats protection
Marine Habitats protection: regulation
Habitats Directive 79/409/EEC – Submerged or partially submerged caves (habitat 8330)
“Caves situated under the sea or opened to it, at least at high tide, including partially submerged
sea caves. Their bottom and sides harbour communities of marine invertebrates and algae.”
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Ocean Habitat threats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VOabiuIp_Y
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