The major groups of life
Classification
Is
Tricky…
• Parts of the Ocean
Figure 2.19
Figure 10.12
Marine zones
• PELAGIC ZONES: “water column”
(1) Oceanic – beyond shelf break
(2) Neritic – area that lies over shelf
Then this is divided vertically by depth:
(1) Epipelagic: shallowest (w/ lots of light)
(2) Mesopelagic: below (minimal light, no primary
production, “twilight zone”)
(3) Bathypelagic, Abyssopelagic, Hadopelagic: at
bottom (no light, “deep sea environment”)
ORGANISMS THAT LIVE IN PELAGIC ZONE ARE
IN WATER COLUMN ONLY = PLANKTON and
NEKTON
• Who lives in these zones?
Figure 10.11
PLANKTON and NEKTON
• Plankton – “free floating”
– Zooplankton
– Phytoplankton
– These live at the top of the pelagic environment
Vs.
THOSE THAT SWIM – Nekton
These also live in pelagic environment
Figure 15.2
Plankton
(sorted by
Size)
•
•
•
•
SUMMARY:
Epipelagic Organisms: “upper open sea” realm
No structure thus organisms live suspended in water
Photic zone thus lots of photosynthesis & primary
production taking place
• “Plant Plankton” = phytoplankton (diatoms,
dinoflagellates etc.)
• “Animal Plankton” = zooplankton (all inverts. And
other “floating” animals)
• Nekton: large, swimmers, live here too
Figure 16.01
Fnft: A spatial classification of marine organisms
• We know what the ocean zones are and who lives
there…but HOW do they live there together?
• TROPHIC STRUCTURE:
– Flow of energy or matter through an ecosystem, a
“feeding” or trophic system
– Primary, Secondary etc. PRODUCERS (autotrophs)
AND CONSUMERS (heterotrophs)
– Food web/chain/pyramid
Fnft: Food pyramid that leads to an adult herring
Figure 10.13
antarctic
food
chain
Figure 10.14
antarctic
food
web
Figure 15.24
Herring during
different
stages of
development
(growth)
Figure 15.25
Epipelagic
Food
web
• Epipelagic food web
Fnft: Major biotic components of a marine ecosystem
Adapted from W. D. Russell-Hunter. Aquatic Productivity. Macmillan,
1970
Fnft: Simplified paths of the flow of oxygen and carbon in an idealized
marine ecosystem
Fnft: Biogeochemical cycle of nitrogen or phosphorus
Fnft: Energy flow in a marine ecosystem
• First we look at the UNICELLULAR…
• Small!
• But critical portion of food web (everything else eats
them!)
• KINGDOM: Protista
• (ex.) Unicellular algae = diatom, dinoflagellate
• Typically planktonic
Dinoflagellate
A unicellular
planktonic algae
–(Macro)Algae
– Multicellular
–Still Protista
Algae: Sea weed
Algae: knotted rockweed
–The invertebrates
–Animalia
Summary of
Invertebrates
• Phylum: Porifera (Sponges)
No Symmetry
No order, aggregate/collection of cells
• Phylum: Cnidaria (Jellyfish, Sea Anemone, Sea fan etc.)
Radial Symmetry (polyp, medussa)
“stinging cells”
Originally called “coelenterates”
WORMS:
• Phylum: Nematode (roundworm)
• Phylum: Platyhelminthes (flatworm)
• Phylum: Annelida (segmented worm)
Bilateral Symmetry
Oligochaete
Leech
• Phylum: Mollusca (snail, clam, octopus)
bilateral symmetry
soft body in a shell
• Phylum: Arthropoda (crab, amphipod)
bilateral symmetry
segmented, jointed-body
• Phylum: Echinodermata (sea star, urchin)
5 way, radial, symmetry
no head, endoskeleton, water vas. Sys.
sponge
ctenophore:
Comb jelly
Porifera: Fire
Sponge
Platyhelminthes, ruffled flatworm
Annelid:
Christmas
Tree
worm
Mollusc:
Mussel
beds
Mollusc:
Flamingo
shell
Spawning
giant
clam
Mollusc: giant clam
Mollusc: Chambered Nautilus
Mollusc: Octopus
Blue Ringed Octopus
Zoea
crab
Larvae
Arthropod: Arrow Crab
Echinoderm: Blue Sea Star
Echinoderm: Sea Urchins
–The chordates
Chordate:
Shark embryo
Chordate:
Longlure
Frogfish
Chordate(s):
Juv. Half
Moon fish
Feed on
Ocean
Sunfish
Whale Shark
They can be very big!
Yellow
Jawfish
w/ eggs
in mouth
Chordate: Sea Horse
Chordate: Lionfish
Chordate: Hawksbill Turtle
Albatross
Chordate: Sea Lion
Humpback Whale