Oceanography Exam 3

• Marine Biology


  The study of marine organisms, their behaviors and interactions with the environment.
• Benthic


  having to do with the ocean bottom.
• Detritus


  dead organic remains
• Heterotroph


  Organisms not capable of producing their own food by photosynthesis.
• Phytoplankton


  Algal plankton. One of the most important communities of primary producers in the ocean.
• Intertidal


  Area between high and low tide.
• Desiccation


  dehydration; the process of being rendered free from moisture. Organisms have adaptations to avoid drying out.
• Zooplankton


  Heterotrophic; cannot produce their own energy nor swim freely. Mostly herbivores. Primary consumers.
• Plankton


  Passively drifting or weakly swimming organisms that are not independent of currents. Includes algae, protozoa, and larval forms of animals.
• Autotroph


  Algae, plants, and bacteria that can synthesize organic compounds from inorganic nutrients.
• Pelagic


  Describing organisms that live in the water column away from the ocean bottom.
• Eutrophication


  The enrichment of waters by a previously scarce nutrient; if caused by humans cultural eutrophication. Ex: Harmful algal blooms.
• Epifauna


  Animals that live on the ocean bottom, either attached or moving freely over it.
• Nekton


  Pelagic animals such as adult squids, fish, and mammals that are active swimmers to the extent that they can determine their position in the ocean by swimming.
• Sessile


  Permanently attached to the substrate and not free to move about.
• Infauna


  Animals that live buried in the soft substrate (sand or mud).
• Neritic


  That portion of the pelagic environment from the shoreline to where the depth reaches 200 meters.
• Euphotic


  A layer that extends from the surface of the ocean to a depth where enough light exists to support photosynthesis, rarely deeper than 100 meters.
• Disphotic


  The dimly lit zone, corresponding approximately to the mesopelagic, in which there is not enough light to support photosynthetic organisms; sometimes called the twilight zone.
• Aphotic


  A zone without light. The ocean is generally in this state below 1000 meters.
• Benthos


  The forms of marine life that live on the ocean bottom.
• Zooxanthaellae


  A form of algae that lives as a symbiont in the tissue of corals and other coral reef animals and provides varying amount of their required food supply.
• Deep Ocean


  Areas of the ocean floor that have deep water, are far from land, and are underlain by basaltic crust.
• Herbivore


  An animal that relies chiefly or solely on plants for its food.
• Carnivore


  An animal that depends on other animals solely or chiefly for its food supply.
• Omnivore


  An animal that feeds on both plants and animals.
• Bacteriovore


  An organism that feeds on bacteria.
• Trophic Level


  A nourishment level in a food chain. Plant producers constitute the lowest level, followed by herbivores and a series of carnivores at the higher levels.
• Countershading


  Protective coloration in an animal or insect, characterized by darker coloring of areas exposed to light and lighter coloring of areas that are normally shaded.
• Vertical Zonation


  Impacts community composition. Species will live where they best adapt, depending on how long they can hold their breath. The layered community structure that exists in the intertidal zone. WHY does VZ occur in the Intertidal zone? Different organisms are better adapted to live in different amounts of air exposure.
• Living things can


  - capture, store, and transmit energy

  - reproduce

  - adapt to environment

  - change over time
• Why do we use Taxonomy


  Reduces ambiguity between languages and regionally used names
• Binomial Nomenclature


  Using Genus (homo) and Species (sapiens)
• Bacteria (domain of life)


  Simple life forms, without nuclei
• Archaea (domain of life)


  simple microscopic creatures
• Eukarya (domain of life)


  complex multicellular organisms
• Trophic Level 1


  - Macroscopic algae (seaweed)

  - Microscopic algae (phytoplankton)
• Harmful Algal Blooks (HABs)


  Too many nutrients lead to an algae bloom. The organisms die. When it dies, as it decomposes it uses up the oxygen in the water leading to lack of oxygen killing all the organisms.
• Nutrient availability


  Nitrogen, Phosophorus, Iron
• Where can phytoplankton life

  Euphotic zones. Surface waters. Latitude.