Marine Ecology
‫البيئة البحرية‬
Prepared by:
Dr. Hanan M Mitwally
Associate professor
Marine Biology
Oceanography Department
Faculty of Science
University of Alexandria
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
Objectives
• Definition
• What are the differences between marine Biology
and marine Ecology?
• Ecology and Complexity: organisms, populations
and communities.
• Importance of marine life.
• Marine life forms.
• Marine biology habitats.
• Littoral zone.
• Pelagic zone
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
• What Are The Differences Between Marine
Ecology And Marine Biology?
Use the
Adjacent figures
To answer the
above question.
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
• Marine biology differs from marine ecology as:
Marine Ecology is focused on how organisms
interact with each other and environment.
• Marine Biology is the study of the animal
itself.
Tide pools with sea stars
and Sea anemones,California
A giant grouperAss.
. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
•What is Marine Biology?
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
• Definition:
• Marine biology:
• is the scientific study of living organisms in the
ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of
water.
• In biology many phyla, families and genera have
some species that live in the sea and others that
live on land.
• Each habitat has its own organisms.
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
• Definition:
• Marine Ecology
• is the branch of ecology dealing with the
interdependence of all organisms living in the
ocean, in shallow coastal waters, and on the
seashore.
• The marine environment for all organisms
consists of non-living, abiotic factors and living,
biotic factors.
• Biotic Factors
• The biotic factors are the interactions among
living organisms.
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
Exposure
to air
Water
Currents
Light
Temperature
Abiotic
Factors
Tides
pH
Salinity
pressure
Pressure
Dissolved
Substratum
gases
Nutrient
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
‫)‪• Activity 2 (Abiotic factors‬‬
‫• يطلب من الطلبة تقسيم العوامل الغير بيولوجية‬
‫الى ثالث مجاميع‬
‫‪Physical‬‬
‫• االولى تشمل العوامل الفيزيائية‬
‫‪Chemical‬‬
‫• الثانية تشمل العوامل الكيميائية‬
‫• الثالثة تشمل العوامل الجيولوجية ‪Geological‬‬
‫• يتم تقسيم الطلبة الى ثالث مجاميع تبعا الماكن‬
‫جلوسهم‪(.‬هل هناك عوامل مشتركة؟)‬
‫• مدة النشاط ‪ 5‬دقائق‬
‫‪Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,‬‬
‫‪Marine Biology‬‬
Exposure
to air
Water
Currents
Light
Temperature
Abiotic
Factors
Tides
pH
Salinity
pressure
Pressure
Dissolved
Nutrient
gases
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
substratum
Marine Biology
Home Activity #2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seawater
Human consumption of seawater
Advantages and disadvantages of sea water human consumption
http://www.livestrong.com/article/165405-what-are-the-nutrients-in-seawater/
What Are the Nutrients in Sea Water?
List and enumerate. Mention one benefit for each.
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
COMPLEXITY
Individual Organisms
Population
Community
Ecosystems
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
Biosphere
•vast resource,
•providing food,
•providing medicine,
•providing raw materials.
•Shorelines
•Support recreation
•are in part shaped
Importance of
•Support tourism
•and protected
Marine life
all over the world.
•by marine life,
Some marine organisms
•help create new land.
Marine organisms
contribute significantly
to the oxygen cycle.
. M Mitwally,
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan
Marine Biology
• What Are Marine Life Forms?
• Are they Plants?
• Are they Animals?
Are they Bacteria?
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
Marine Life Forms
Marine
Bacteria
Plankton
Phytoplankton
Nekton
fish &
mammals
Benthos
PhytoZooBenthos
plankton
&
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Macro-algae
Marine Biology
Zoo-benthos
Invertebrate
animals
Marine
Bacteria
Zooplankton
Phytoplankton
Zoobenthos
Invertebrate
animals
Phyto-Benthos
&Macro-algae
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
Nekton
Marine Biology Habitats
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
Biozone
Pelagic Zone
Water of the world
Neritic
Oceanic
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
Benthic zone
Ocean Bottom
Littoral zone
• The Benthic Zone
• Bottom substrate; often rich in detritus.
• ُExtends from the seashore to the deepest parts
of the sea.
• Organisms that are living on bottom are
Benthos.
• Littoral zone starting from the shoreline at the
spray region and moves to the intertidal region
between the high and low water marks, and then
out as far as the edge of the continental shelf.
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
Littoral Zone
Differentiate between near shore and
Off shore. An Assigment#3
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
Littoral
zone
The rocky shoreline
showing a clear line,
where high tide occurs .
Supralittoral
zone
Littoral zone at a beach. .
Intertidal zone
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
subtidal Zone
• Supralittoral zone
• Seawater penetrates these elevated
areas only during storms with high tides.
Exposure to air
Organisms must
adapted with
Fresh water from rain.
Cold and heat.
Predation by land
animals and seabirds.
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
• Intertidal zone
• It is the area that is exposed to air at
low tide and submerged at high tide.
Low tide zone in California
• This area can be
• Steep rocky cliffs.
• Sandy beaches.
• or wetlands (e.g., vast mudflats).
• The area can be:
• Narrow strip, (Mediterranean sea) that have only a narrow
tidal range.
• Many meters of shoreline (Red Sea).
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Barnacles
&limpets in the intertidal
Marine Biology
zone
• Zonation of Intertidal zone
• Marine biologists and others divide the
intertidal region into three zones (low, middle,
and high), based on the overall average
exposure of the zone.
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
Zonation of
Intertidal zone
Mussels in the intertidal zone in,
England.
Low
intertidal zone
A rock, seen at low tide,
exhibiting typical intertidal
zonation.
Middle
intertidal zone
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
High
intertidal zone
•Mediterranean sea is tide-less sea.
•The level of tide at most Egyptian Mediterranean coasts
< 0.5m.
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
Red Sea
In general tide ranges between 0.6 m in the north, near
the mouth of the Gulf of Suez and 0.9 m in the south
near the Gulf of Aden.
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
Nudibranchs
Mussel
Green algae
White Abalone
sea urchin
Some
Some intertidal
intertidal
organisms
organisms
Crabs
Red sea star
M Mitwally,
Lined chiton Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan
Sculpin
Marine Biology
Sea lettuce
• Subtidal Zone
• The areas where sunlight reaches the ocean
floor.
• The water is never so deep as to take it out of
the photic zone.
• This results in high primary production and
makes the subtidal zone the location of the
majority of sea life.
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
Pelagic
•The word pelagic comes from
•the Greek pélagos, = open sea
Neritic
Oceanic
Productive Coastal
Water
Deep waters of
open ocean
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
• Neritic zone:
• It is extending from low tide mark to the edge of the
continental shelf.
• Characters of Neritic zone:
• Shallow depth ≈ 200 meters.
• well-oxygenated water
• Low water pressure.
• Stable temperature and salinity levels.
• High photosynthetic activities from phytoplankton
and floating sargassum .
• At the edge of the neritic zone, the continental shelves
end rapidly descending to the deeper oceanic crust and
the pelagic zone.
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
• Oceanic zone
• Any water in the sea that starts
beyond the continental shelves.
• offshore, high light levels,
upper regions of water
column
• Conditions change with depth:
the pressure increases and there is
less light.
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
Creatures of Neritic Zone:
A-Free floating creatures:
Microscopic phytoplankton
Zooplankton.
B- Nekton:
Fish and their larvae.
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Small crustaceans.
Marine Biology
•Summary
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology
•Take Home Message
• Success Is An Energy Inside us
God Supports It.
Ass. Prof.Dr.Hanan M Mitwally,
Marine Biology