Oceans 11
Marine Biome Unit Review
Answer the following questions on looseleaf.
1. Name the three horizontal and four vertical zones of the ocean.
2. Which of the three horizontal zones are NOT divided into vertical zones?
3. List three ways plankton stay afloat.
4. Why do plankton need to be in the sunlit zone?
5. Describe the different types of plankton. (3 types)
6. Compare and contrast nekton and benthos.
7. Show a sample marine food web with at least 7 organisms. Include and
label at least one producer and one each of 1º, 2º and 3º consumers.
8. State the 7 marine communities we discussed in class and describe each.
9. List 5 functions of the marine biome and indicate which communities
provide each function.
10. Explain the difference between a physiological and behavioral adaptation.
Give an example of each.
11. Explain why red knots are dependent on horseshoe crabs and why the
numbers of each species has decreased in recent years.
12. Sate the Latin prefix which means:
a) cartilage
e) animal
b) bone
f) stomach
c) flight
g) foot
d) spiny
h) head
13. State the three classes of Mollusks we modeled with playdough and state
two features of each.
14. Recall three organisms featured in videos we have watched. State two
adaptations for each and classify them as physiological or behavioral.
15. Which type of organism is more important: a grazer or a predator? Explain
your answer.
Oceans 11
Marine Biome Unit Review
1. Horizontal: littoral (intertidal), neritic, oceanic (pelagic)
Veritical: epipelagic (sunlit)
Mesopelagic (twilight)
Bathypelagic (midnight)
Abyssalpelagic
2. The littoral and neritic zones are not divided vertically since their maximum
depth is 200-400 m, which is always sunlit.
3. air sacs, oil sacs, “wings”, spread-out body shape
4. Plankton need to be in the sunlit zone to get sunlight since they are
photosynthetic and require sunlight to perform photosynthesis, the
process by which organisms capture light energy and turn it into food
energy. (Chemosynthetic organisms, located near hydrothermal vents,
use chemicals for this)
5. Phytoplankton are plant-like plankton. They are producers and are green
in color. They are plankton for their entire life. The two types of animal-like
or zooplankton are meroplankton and holoplankton. Both types are
consumers and eat other plankton. Meroplankton are only temporary
plankton. They grow up to be nekton or benthos. Holoplankton will always
be zooplankton; they will always float with the currents.
6. Nekton and benthos are both types of marine consumers. Benthos live in
the “benthic zone”… the bottom of the ocean, either in the neritic zone or
at the bottom of the open ocean. They have adaptations like legs and
shells. Nekton are organisms that swim against a current. They also can
live in the neritic or open ocean zones. Their adaptations are for
swimming: fins, strong muscles.
7. The following is one of many examples:
Oceans 11
Marine Biome Unit Review
8. State the 7 marine communities we discussed in class and describe each.
Community
Description
Estuary
Where freshwater meets ocean; rich in nutrients; lots of
diversity. Good place to have babies.
Mangrove
Contains mangrove trees; only in certain tropical areas.
Also a good place to have babies. Prevent erosion.
Coral reef
HIGH in diversity. Provides habitat for MANY organisms.
A living structure.
Kelp forest
Provides vertical alignment. Lots of production and habitat
here.
Sandy beach
Diversity low. Vast and not many producers. Organisms
adapted to pounding waves and both wet & dry
conditions.
Rocky shore
Harsh place. Organisms adapted to cling, attach, bend
and resist waves.
Open ocean
Everything past the continental shelf. Divided into vertical
zones. Creates much of the world’s oxygen via planktonic
photosynthesis.
* the first 6 are considered COASTAL. The last is not.
9.
Function
Providing habitat
Oxygen production
Nursery for baby organisms
Preventing erosion
Recreation
Main community responsible
All, but particularly coral reefs
All, but sandy beach and rocky shore
would be least and open ocean would
be most (due to the sheer SURFACE
AREA of the world it covers)
Estuary
Mangrove, estuary
All
10. A physiological adaptation is a change in the body of an organism over
MANY generations which makes the organism more likely to survive in its
environment. Examples are fins, blubber layer, air sacs.
A behavioral adaptation is something an organism DOES which helps it
survive. An example is horseshoe crabs timing their spawning season with
spring tides or red knots timing their migration with crab spawning.
11. Red knots depend on horseshoe crabs because they need the crab eggs
as their main diet partway through their incredibly long migration. The
eggs are filled with protein and are easy to digest. Without them, red knots
cannot survive the migration. Horseshoe crabs are being used as eel bait
and harvested for their special clotting-factor-containing blood. So their
population is decreasing and therefore, so is that of the red knots.
Oceans 11
Marine Biome Unit Review
12. State the Latin prefix which means:
a) chrondro
b) osteo
c) aves
d) echino
e)
f)
g)
h)
zoo
gastro
poda
cephalo
13. Gastropods… typically one shell, moves and feeds with its foot, anus and
gills near head.
Bivalves… two shells, no head, foot adapted for digging.
Cephalopods… no shell, foot is now a funnel for jetting around, have more
tentacles, good predators with powerful jaws.
14. Horseshoe crab:
-females lay 80 000 eggs per year (behavioral)
-time spawning with spring tides (behavioral)
-hard shell (physiological)
Red knot:
-wings adapted for long flights (physiological)
-time migration with horseshoe crab spawning (behavioral)
-shrink digestive system to accommodate more muscle for migration
(physiological)
-eat high-protein, easy to digest food during migration (physiological)
Octopus:
-can solve complex puzzles (behavioral)
Suckers on tentacles (physiological)
15. Both grazers and predators are important. The old attitude was that
predators were “top” of the food chain and therefore the most important.
However, the more recent and currently accepted idea is that producers
and primary consumers are equally as important as top predators since all
other organisms rely on them in one way or another. The key is
balance…all types of organisms are necessary to maintain high levels of
biodiversity.