Marine Ecology
Section 1: Energy Flow in the Ocean
Energy in Marine Ecosystems
1. How does energy flow in an ecosystem?
2. What does “one way” mean?
a. Trophic Levels –
i. What happens to energy as it is passed from one trophic level to the next?
ii. What happens to organism size as you move up trophic levels in the marine ecosystem?
Constructing a Marine Food Web
Food web 1:
Primary producers/Autotrophs -
Consumers/Heterotrophs –
Apex predator-
3. What is the general flow of energy?
Food web 2:
Interpreting a Marine Food Web
Divide this Food web into all its trophic levels and label them
1) What is the primary Producer?
5) What would happen to the Krill population if the adult herring
population increased?
2) What is the apex predator?
3) Name some Primary consumers?
6) What would happen to the comb jelly population if the Barnacle larvae
population increased?
4) Name some secondary consumers?
7) What would happen to the water flea population if the adult herring
population decreased?
How energy enters the marine ecosystem
4. What is the difference between energy in a terrestrial ecosystem and energy in a marine ecosystem?
Autotrophs /Primary Producers–
5. What is the main primary producer on earth (and in the oceans)?
6. What are the main primary producers in the ocean?
Phytoplankton –
a.
b.
c.
d.
Seaweed -
7. Why is seaweed not a considered to be a plant?
8. How is seaweed classified?
9. What is the purpose of a Pneumatocysts?
Marine Plants –
3 Types of Marine plants:
1.
(Only True marine plant)
2.
3.
10. What is the regional difference between cord grass and mangroves?
11. Why are mangrove roots above ground?
Heterotrophs/consumers:
Zooplankton –
i.
ii.
iii.
Organism Interactions
Symbiosis- any relationship where two species live closely together
1. MutualismExample:
2. Commensalism –
Example:
3. Parasitism –
Example:
4. Predation a. Why predation is not considered a symbiotic relationship?
b. What is the difference between predation and parasitism?
Section 2: Populations
1. What are two ways populations grow?
a. Exponential growth –
b. Logistic growth –
2. How do populations grow under ideal
conditions?
3. Why does a population grow
logistically?
a. Caring capacity -
b. Limiting resource –
Limiting Resources:
4. What is the limiting resource on plankton
growth in polar waters?
5. What is the limiting resource on plankton
growth in tropical waters?
6. What is the limiting resource in on
plankton growth temperate waters?
7. How is the human population growing?
Population Decline
a) If we remove too many organisms from the
ocean the population will not be able to recover.
i)
Maximum Sustainable Yield-
ii) Overfishing-
Marine Fish Stocks Over Time
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Crashed
overfished
fished to maximum
sustanable yield
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
fished under maxmum
sustanable yield
Section 4: Nutrient Cycles
1. Where do nutrients come from?
2. Why are nutrients important to organisms?
3. How do dead organisms supply nutrients?
i)
Detrius -
ii) DOM 4. What are the three nutrients that cycle in the marine ecosystem?
Section 5: Humans and the Ocean
1. How are humans threatening the biodiversity of the ocean?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Overfishing:
1) What is overfishing?
2) What are some causes of overfishing?
3) Incidental Catch –
4) Fishing down the food web –
5) What are some solutions to overfishing?
a) Mariculture –
i)
What determines if an organism can be mericultured?
(1)
(2)
(3)
ii) What are the problems with mericulture?
b) The quota system –
i)
Problems with the quota system:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
Pollution
6) What are two types of pollution in the ocean?
7) What are two ways oil gets into the ocean?
8) Where does most of the oil come from in the ocean?
9) What are the effects of oil in the ocean?
10) What happens to oil once it gets into the ocean?
Sources of Oil In the Ocean
Oil Spills &
Industral
Accedents
15%
Runoff as
well as
Individual
Boats & Cars
38%
Natural Oil
Seeps
47%
11) What is the Great pacific garage patch?
12) Where does the garbage come from in the Great Pacific Garbage patch?
13) Why does the garbage collect there?
Habitat Loss
About one third of all of temperate salt marshes and tropical mangrove forest have been destroyed.
1. What is important about the habitats that are being destroyed?
i)
Reasons for Habitat Loss
(1)
(2)
(3)