SCI 8: Water Systems
Name: _________________________ Section: ______
Ocean Species Distribution
Curriculum Outcomes Addressed
• Analyze factors that affect productivity and species distribution in marine and fresh water environments (311-9)
• Predict and interpret trends in populations of a marine species from graphical data by interpolating and extrapolating data (210-4, 210-6)
Background Information
Ecosystem: A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.
Ecozone: A biogeographic division of the Earth's land surface, based on distributional patterns of organisms.
Biodiversity: The variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem.
Marine: Found in or dealing with the sea/ocean (i.e., marine species – species found in the ocean)
Salinity: The amount of salt dissolved in a given amount of water
Part I: Changes in the Physical Environment of Marine Ecosystems
1. What four factors have significant impacts on marine biodiversity?
1.
2.
3.
4.
2. What has happened to the average sea/ocean surface temperature since 1950?
3. What has happened to the average salinity of the ocean in several ocean ecozones around the world?
4. What is ocean acidification? What kind of species of animals does this affect negatively the most?
5. a) What is oxygen depletion?
b) What has happened to low-oxygen zones (where ocean species cannot live) globally since the 1960s?
c) What are four causes of oxygen depletion?
1.
2.
3.
4.
d) What are two effects of oxygen depletion on biodiversity in Canadian waters that have been observed?
Kluge2011
SCI 8: Water Systems
Name: _________________________ Section: ______
Part II: Marine Food Webs
1. Give a definition of each of the following terms:
a) Plankton:
b) Phytoplankton:
c) Zooplankton:
2. What has happened to the phytoplankton blooms on the Scotian Shelf over the past 50-60 years?
3. What is happening to several zooplankton species that are considered to have a key role in the marine food web?
Give one example.
4. a) Describe the relationship between the population change of groundfish (i.e., redfish) and invertebrates such
as shrimp and crab in some areas of Newfoundland and Labrador. Draw a rough graph of this relationship.
b) What are three factors that likely have led to these changes in the marine food web?
1.
2.
3.
5. What are three main things that have happened in/to marine food webs over the past 50 years?
1.
2.
3.
Kluge2011
SCI 8: Water Systems
Name: _________________________ Section: ______
Part III: Marine Mammals
1. Marine mammals influence marine ecosystems by being top predators, fish-eaters, or bottom feeders. Give two
examples of each of these types of marine mammals.
Top Predators:
Fish-Eaters:
Bottom Feeders:
2. Describe the relationship among sea otters, sea urchins, and kelp.
3. What is one factor that has caused several marine mammal populations to decline (decrease) over past years?
4. Look at the seven graphs located at the bottom of the “Marine Mammals” information sheet. What has
happened to each of the marine mammal populations over the past few decades? Use the following sentences
to describe each of the populations: The population has - Steadily increased over the years
- Increased over the years but has recently leveled out
- Had large fluctuations in population increase/decrease
but has increased in population size over all.
Harbour Seal:
Stellar Sea Lion:
Sea Otter:
Bowhead Whale:
Harp Seal:
Grey Seal:
Killer Whale:
Kluge2011
SCI 8: Water Systems
Name: _________________________ Section: ______
Part IV: Marine Fisheries
1. a) What has happened to several fish stocks in many areas of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans over the years?
b) What are the four main factors that have led to this effect on fish stocks over the years?
1.
2.
3.
4.
c) Draw an approximate graph showing the size of population by year for the Atlantic Salmon in the Bay of Fundy.
2. a) What is reproductive success? What has an impact on reproductive success in species of fish?
b) What has happened to several species of fish in the Scotian Shelf over the years?
Kluge2011