Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
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.