Download The Abyssal Plains

The Abyssal Plains
Chase Hatcher & Arthur Brennan
The Abyssal Plains are a relatively flat area of
sea floor. They are found in the deepest parts of
most ocean floors where sunlight does not
reach. It is complete darkness.
Abyssal Plain Ecosystems
The structure and function of Abyssal
Ecosystems are strongly influenced by
the rate and composition of food
(marine snow) on the seafloor. Primary
production of the Photic Zone is altered
by climate change, fishing, and ocean
fertilization, which in return affects the
amount of food that reaches the plains.
Sunlight does not reach the Abyssal Plains
so the large majority of organisms rely on
the Marine Snow that floats down and
some even go up to the shallower depths
to prey upon the photosynthetic
organisms. Bigger organisms prey on the
smaller ones.
Food Web!
2nd
Consumers
1st
Consumers
Producers
Producers
Phytoplankton
Diatoms
Primary Consumers
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Jellyfish
Benthopelagic Fish
Nematodes (roundworms)
Brittle Star Fish
Sea Cucumbers
Andeep Taxa
Giant Isopod
Dumbo Octopus
Sea Urchins
Bivalve (Shell)
Secondary Consumers
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Gulper Eel
Firefly Squid
Hatchet Fish
Anglerfish
Viperfish
Snipe Eel
Japanese Spider
Crab
Monkfish
Skirted Octopus
Food Web
Anglerfish
Viperfish
Andeep Taxa
Firefly Squid
Diatoms
Dinoflagellates
Dinoflagellates
Taxonomy- Part of the
challenge in
dinoflagellate taxonomy
and nomenclature is
that they have been
independently classified
by the rules of botany
and zoology.
In the ecosystem, they are
primary producers of
food in the aquatic food
webs.
Firefly Squid
• Taxonomy – Animalia
Mollusca Cepholopoda
Teuthida Enoploteuthidae
Watasenia Scintillans
• In the ecosystem – Their
tentacles light up with a
blue color. And they are a
source of food for larger
species.
• Reproduction – Female
squid swim to the surface
to spawn (lay eggs), and
after they often wash up
on shore: dead.
Viperfish
Taxonomy- Animalia chordata actinopterygii
stomiiformes stomiidae chauliodus danae
In the ecosystem they serve as a source of food and that they prey
upon other organisms.
The Viperfish has a hinged skull that allows it to swallow larger prey.
Also it has a huge stomach so it can store food.
They have bioluminescence that can attract mates. Scientists think
that they are external spawners. This is when the female releases
her eggs into the water and then the males will fertilize them.
Human Impact-Negative
• Humans used to dump all of their trash into the
deep oceans because they believed that nothing
could live down there.
• Fisherman using “deep bottom trawlers”
destroyed a lot of the plains. Trawlers are huge
chains that run across the ocean floor.
• We have polluted it, and it is too deep to clean
Human Impact - Positive
• Researching the organisms living down
there so we can see if they can survive in
shallow water because we have polluted
their deep water home.
• Some organisms can go over a year
without food
• The abyssal plains are the largest biomes
on Earth
• The average depth is about 11,000 ft
• It is 60% of the Earth’s surface
• The sediment of the sea floor can be up to
1,700 ft thick