Ecology of a Rocky Shore
Community
Zones of Life along a Rocky Shore
• Why are some animals and plants located
in special zones and not all over?
Adaptations for life on a high energy rocky
shoreline
• High energy waves
• Low tide exposure
Animals on a typical New England rocky
shore
• Asian Shore Crab
• Periwinkle snails
• Blue Mussels
• Purple Sea Urchin
• Rock Barnacles
• Common Sea Star
Algae on a typical New England rocky shore
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•
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Fucus
Knotted Wrack
Ulva
Chondrus
Kelp
Adaptations to life on a rocky shore line
Adapting to Wave Shock
• Barnacles
• Cements shell
to rock
• Snails
• Use a suction
cup like foot
Adaptations to Wave Shock
• Sea Stars
•
and Urchins
Tube feet
with suction
cup ends
Adaptations to Wave Shock
• Blue Mussels
• Byssel Threads ( strong cables)
Adaptations to Wave Shock
• Crabs and Lobsters
• Wedge into rock spaces
• Hide under rocks
Adaptations to Wave Shock
• Sea Weeds (macroalgae)
• Hold fasts attach to rocks
Rocky shore animal feeding adaptations
• Barnacles
• Filter food with
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•
•
•
feathery legs (filter
feeder)
Snails
Scrape food with a
radula - tongue with
teeth (grazers and
carnivores)
Sea stars
Use tube feet and
stomach
Reproduction adaptations
• Barnacles are hermaphrodites
• Each barnacle has both male and female
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•
•
reproductive organs
Marine snails mate and deposit egg cases
Sea stars and Urchins broad cast eggs and
sperm into the water
Marine Arthropods like crabs and lobsters mate.
Female attracts male using pheromones.
After the female molts and mates with the male,
eggs will later be deposited on underside of her
abdomen and carried until they hatch.
• Lobster with eggs
• Green crab with
eggs
Ecology
• Ecology – the study of the relationships
between living organisms and with their
environment.
• The marine environment for all marine life
is composed of the nonliving environment,
or abiotic factors
• and the living organisms, or biotic factors
What are the abiotic factors that these tide pool
organisms deal with every day?
• How about
organisms in
this deep sea
vent
community?
What are the abiotic factors here?
The biotic factors are the organisms and how they
interact with each other.
• Not a good day for the Sea Lion
Biotic factors in the marine environment
Plankton
• Phytoplankton
Zooplankton
Levels of Organization
• There are four distinct levels of organization in
the biotic sector of the environment:
• The individual organism
• The population of that species
• The community of organisms that species exists
within
• The ecosystem the community exists in along
with the abiotic factors affecting those
organisms
The individual organism (species)
• Littorina littorea – the Periwinkle Snail
• How is this animal adapted to its environment?
The population of Periwinkle Snails
• How do these
snails interact
with each other?
• Competition?
• For what?
The community of orgnanisms that the Periwinkle
snails live in
• How do
these
organism
interact
with
each
other?
A Rocky Shoreline Ecosystem
The Flow of
Energy and the
Recycling of
Nutrients
• All the living organisms in this rocky shoreline
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•
•
community require energy for survival.
How is this energy acquired and how much is
passed on?
How do these organism obtain atoms and
molecules for growth and repair?
and how are these nutrients passed on?