Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Goal:
To understand the factors (both biotic and abiotic) that control the distribution and abundance of life in the oceans
Ecosystem Review
Ecosystem:
Ecology is the study of the interrelationships between the physical and biological aspects of the environment. It is the study of how organisms adapt to their environment and in turn alter it.
Ecosystem Review
Biotic Components of the Ecosystem
plants animals bacteria geological
basin shape, size, & topography temperature, currents, pressure, light) carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, oxygen, salinity, trace metals, vitamins
physical chemical
The Environment
The ocean water column can be separated into 2 distinct zones: the surface zone and the deep zone
1. Surface zone extends down to about 100- 300 meters well mixed known as the mixed layer includes the photic zone Deep zone the rest of the water column dark and cold with much less productivity includes the aphotic zone the pycnocline forms a physical barrier between the surface and deep zones
2.
Biozones
Production
There are two types of organisms in any given ecosystem: autotrophs and heterotrophs
autotrophs make their own food (organic matter) from inorganic nutrients (C, N, P, S, trace metals and vitamins) and either light or chemical energy, they fix CO2
they fix CO2 via photosynthesis (light E) or chemosynthesis (chemical E,
i.e. H2S)
6 CO2 + 12 H20
light OR chemical E
C6H12O6 + 6 H2O + 6 O2
autotrophs form the base of the food web (i.e. primary producers) and are ultimately responsible for all life in the worlds oceans marine examples include phytoplankton, cyanobacteria, and sulfide oxidizing bacteria (i.e. at hydrothermal vents) phytoplankton are the most abundant primary producers in the oceans
Hydrothermal vents primary production is done by a type of extremophile, that is, a type of microorganism that can thrive under extreme env. conditions (temp > 80 C or below 90 C); these extremophiles are also chemoautotrophs they use hydrogen and sulfur compounds as sources of energy (with or without oxygen) (chemosynthesis);
Production (contd)
autotrophs vs heterotrophs (contd)
heterotrophs consume food (organic matter) that has already been produced
they derive energy (ATP) from the breakdown of organic compounds via respiration
C6H12O6 + 6 O2 6 CO2 + 6 H2O + ATP
when there is no light (i.e. at night or in deeper waters) phytoplankton and cyanobacteria respire the organic compounds that they produced during photosynthesis examples of marine heterotrophs include all marine animals and most marine bacteria
Production (contd)
Productivity is high in the surface waters (i.e. photic zone), due to ample sunlight for photosynthesis, and then decreases with depth (i.e. aphotic zone)
Production (contd)
The critical depth is where total production (PT) equals total respiration (RT): PT = RT
occurs at the 1% light level
Production (contd)
Productivity is highest in coastal waters and upwelling zones due to higher nutrient concentrations
Average Global Primary Production (Chl a) March 6-13 2001
Phytoplankton Blooms
Bands of the dionflagellate Lingulodinium polyedrum moving onshore over the troughs of a series of internal waves
Lingulodinium polyedrum: ~50 m. Neritic; warm temperate to tropical waters; forms large blooms off of California; can be toxic.
Mixed Marine Plankton Plants animals larvae adults vertebrates invertebrates carnivores and herbivores are all represented in the plankton community.
NASA SeaWiFS satellite image of the large phytoplankton bloom in the Bering Sea in 1998
Dinoflagellate Gonyaulax sp. A sudden growth or bloom of th dinoflagellate, Gonyaulax, caus "red tide" . Humans have died from eating infected clams and mussels.
Northern krill
Trophic Interactions
To understand ocean ecology we need to know how the autotrophic and heterotropic components are related to each other (i.e. energy transfer and exchange)
we examine trophic level dynamics
trophic levels describe who eats whom
Radiolaria
Foraminifera
Diatoms
On average, only about 10% of the energy from one trophic level is transferred to the next trophic level
UPWELLING
COASTAL
OPEN OCEAN
Normal conditions
El Nino conditions
http://www.forces.si.edu/
Classification of Organisms
Plankton include plants (phytoplankton) and animals (zooplankton). More than 90% of marine plants are algae and most are unicellular and microscopic.
To photosynthesize (produce organic material from inorganic matter and sunlight) plants must remain within the photic zone. Diatoms are single-celled plants enclosed in a siliceous frustrule (shell) that is shaped like a pillbox. Dinoflagellates are single-celled plants with two whip-like tails (flagella).
Copepods are small herbivores (planteating organisms) that filter diatoms from the water.
Suspension feeding invertebrates sponges, bryozoans, corals add structural complexity and offer a great variety of microhabitat for a diversity of species
www.mcbi.org
Before trawling
www.mcbi.org
Deep sea bottom trawling poses the greatest threat to the coral habitats It does not just take away targeted fish species There is a considerable amount of bycatch and corals are a major part of it
After trawling
www.mcbi.org
Seamounts underwater mountains rising >1000m from the seabed without breaking the oceans surface - generally of volcanic origin - often occur in chains or cluster resulting from a seafloor hot spot - 30 000-100 000 seamounts worldwide
Global seamount distribution map
RV Atlantis
DSV Alvin
Classification of Organisms
Three domains:
http://darwin.nmsu.edu/~molb470/fall2005/projects/pan/images/PhylogeneticTreeOfLife.jpg
http://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/projects/biology/lecture1/sixkingdoms.htm
Classification of Organisms
Eubacteria- There are typically 40 million bacterial cells in a gram of soil and a million bacterial cells in a milliliter of fresh water; Archaebacteria single celled microorganisms, most are extremophiles Protista are single-celled organisms with a nucleus (e.g. amoeba, paramecium; algae green, red, brown) Fungi, only few found in oceans, abundant in the intertidal zone and important in decomposition. Metaphyta are the plants (multicellular) that grow attached to the sea floor (seaweeds). Metazoa include all multicellular animals in the ocean.
1 mm
100 micro-mm
100 micro-mm
Kingdom Fungi
Some members of the Kingdom Fungi (in the fungal classes Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes) are associated with algal cells of the Kingdom Protista (in the algal division Chlorophtya) and/or prokaryotic cyanobacteria of the Kingdom Monera. This complex symbiotic, mutualistic relationship is called lichen natures perfect marriage; (Beatrix Potter, 1896)
Yaquina Head on the Oregon coast - with darkgreenish marine lichen Verrucaria sp.
Kingdom: Metaphytae
NEKTON
Speed of a fish is dependent upon body length, beat frequency, and the aspect ratio of the caudal fin. There is a strong correlation between predation success and mode of locomotion.
The fishs body must overcome three types of drag (resistance): surface drag, form drag, and turbulent drag. Aspect ratio is the ratio of the square of the caudal fin height to caudal fin area: AR = (Caudal Fin Height)2/Caudal Fin Area
The morphology of fish has evolved to allow them to move through the water easily.
A complex interaction among kelp, sea urchins, and sea otters controls the kelp community.
Macrocytis is a brown algae that grows up
to 40m long in extensive beds on North Americas Pacific continental shelf. Sea urchins feeding on kelp detach them from this holdfast and devastate the kelp beds.
Sea otters feed on sea urchins and control the size of their population.
Where sea otters abound, sea urchins are few, kelp beds thrive and sea otters feed mainly on fish. Where sea otters are few, sea urchins abound and kelp bed are thin. Sea otters then mainly eat sea urchins.
http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/oceanography_how_deep.html
Links to Oceans:
http://www.oceansatlas.org/ http://reefgis.reefbase.org/default.aspx http://www.gosic.org/ios/G3OS-maps.htm http://www.theoceanproject.org/resources/c onservation.php?category=Maps http://earth.google.com/ocean/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070412131257.htm
Sunlight absorbed by bacteriochlorophyll (green) within the FMO protein (gray) generates a wavelike motion of excitation energy whose quantum mechanical properties can be mapped through the use of two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy (using femtosecond temporal resolution) (Credit: Greg Engel, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Physical Biociences Division)