The Marine Biome
CH. 11
http://people.eku.edu/ritchisong/birdbiogeography1.htm
The World Ocean
 All oceans are connected, like one big ocean
 Called the world ocean
 World ocean can be divided into zones
 Vertical zones: photic, aphotic, benthic
 Horizontal zones: oceanic, neritic, intertidal
http://www.dinosaurfact.net/
Oceanic Zone
 Ocean Zone: open ocean
 Largest zone in ocean
 90% of the surface area of the world ocean
 Very deep
 About 200 m along continental shelf to 11,000 m below
 Sunlight does not get down far into oceanic zone
Oceanic Zone
 Photic zone is the top layer
 Only producers of the open ocean are phytoplankton
 Each year the phytoplankton convert CO2 into billions of tons
of carbon

All animals feed off of plankton, even humpback whales
 Aphotic Zone
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Like the desert….little life
Absence of sunlight limits the diversity and number of
organisms
Organisms in this zone feed on pieces of dead organic material
Detritus: the tiny pieces of that are food for organisms at the
base of the food web
Ocean Water
 Currents: pattern ocean waters flow
 All the ocean waters are connected BUT they don’t all have the
same characteristics
 Temperature varies due to different distances from sun
http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/geog
101/textbook/circulation/ocean_circulation.ht
ml
Near equator: higher temps. And Salinity
-near poles glaciers meltrelease fresh, cold water into ocean; less salty and
colder
Ocean Water-Currents
 Most fish and other organisms follow same current
flow
 Many people believe that because the ocean is so
large chemicals and such will be diluted down and no
longer harmful




WRONG
pollutants become concentrated in fish which humans eat
Ocean Dumping Act of 1988 banned the disposal of industrial
wastes at sea
Trash still is able to accumulate due to the ocean currents and
winds
The World’s Dump
http://habitathabits.com/tag/great-garbage-patch/
Questions sect. 10.1
 1. Why does the deep oceanic zone have no plants?
What are the producers of the open ocean?
 2. Compare the map in figure 11.3 (ocean currents) to
the one in figure 1.8 on page 10. What type of winds
drive the gulf stream current?
blogs.edf.org
Neritic Zone
 Neritic zone: region between the edge of the
continental shelf and the low tidemark

Accounts for 10% of the ocean; shallow warmer water
 Continental shelf: shallow border that surrounds the
continent

Between shore and 200 m
below water surface
receives enough sunlight
for photosynthesis to occur
Neritic Zone
 Coral Reefs: natural structure built on a continental
shelf

Found warm, tropical waters

Kelp beds found in colder waters
 Coral reefs are like rain forests
 Productive ecosystems
 Home to a variety of organisms, including fish
 Beneficial to humans: home to fish for fishing and selling;
protect the shoreline from erosion; have medicinal value
Neritic Zone
 Coral Reef
 Reef is made of millions of tiny corals
 Only the top layer is alive
 Algae that lives inside reef carries out photosynthesis

Solcomhouse.com

Thus providing the reef with food

Algae needs sunlight for photosynthesis- can’t grow below certain depths
Human Effect
Blasted with dynamite to make harbors and shipping canals
 Harvested and sold for jewelry
 People collect fish in that area  methods use damage reef
 Water pollution
 Chemicals kill reef
 Debris makes water cloudy  decrease in photosynthesis

Neritic Zone
 Estuaries
 Region where freshwater source meets saltwater
 Salinity varies
 Many organisms use as an area to lay eggs
 Humans use for boating and fishing
 Important
filter sediments and pollutants from the water
 Slow water down (helpful after storms or floods)

Neritic Zone Productivity
 How “productive” the neritic zone is depends on:
 Availability of sunlight
 Amount of nutrients
 Occurrence of tides


Tide brings nutrients to the reef and takes away the wastes
Barrier Reef: as a coral reef grows less oxygen and nutrients
from the ocean are carried to the
corals closest to land, so a channel
between the reef and land forms
solcomhouse.com
worldstravelr.blogspot.com
Questions
 1. Where in the ocean does the neritic zone begin and
end?
 2. Continental shelves have been called the
breadbaskets of the ocean. Explain this statement.
 3. Some types of ecosystems recover from damage
more quickly than others. Would you expect coral
reefs to recover quickly from the types of damage
described in this section. Why or why not?
Intertidal Zone
 Located along the shoreline of ocean
 Alternates twice each day between periods of
exposure at low tide and periods of submersion at
high tide
 Organisms need be adapted to both exposure and
submersion along with
constant pounding
• Attach to rocks
• Burrow into sand
Intertidal Zone
 Intertidal zones
 because along shoreline they are often surrounded by salt
marshes and mangrove swamps
 Salt Marsh
 Flat, muddy wetlands
 Determined by tides
Low-mud flats are exposed
 High- submerged
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Common on east coast and in the gulf of the U.S.
Feeding and resting ground for migratory birds
Abundant plant life supports a diversity of fish and
invertebrates
Usually around estuaries
Intertidal Zone
 Salt Marshes
 Form when streams flow into calm waters like an estuary
 Slowing of water causes sediments flowing to be deposited
 These sediments build up over time forming a DELTA
 SUBSIDENCE: weight of the sediments causes the delta to
sink under the water


Balance and stability results when the rate of sediment deposits
equals that of subsidence
The Mississippi River delta undergoes a 5000 year cycle of
sediment accumulation, subsidence, and therefore a change in
the river’s course/shape
Intertidal Zone
 Mangrove Swamps
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Coastal wetland that occurs
only in warm climates
FROST kills the plants…so
mangroves exist in areas that
don’t freeze for more than
one or two days each year
Main plant: mangrove
(woody plant - can be a tree
or a shrub)
Water has very LITTLE
dissolved oxygen
SOUTHEAST Asia swamps
have developed into
FORESTS
en.wikipedia.org
Questions
 1. Why are salt marshes considered part of the
intertidal zone?
 2. Much of the Mississippi River has been contained
by levees, dikes, and other flood-control structures.
How do you think this change has affected the river’s
delta?