STUDY GUIDE Chapter 11 Castro & Huber
Recommendations to follow:
1.
Answers are thought to be short in most of the cases
2.
Try as much as you can to connect the terms and understand the association between some of the concepts, to get
the whole picture about the topic. Memorizing alone can give you probably around a 70/100 in the exam, but some
questions always require to connect two or more ideas to come up with a short and precise answer.
3.
If you know most of these review questions you should do fine in the test, questions in the test will be variations of
the same themes covered in these questions.
Chapter 11: Between the tides
1. Define the limits of the intertidal community
2. Why is this community the best known to humans?
3. What are the particular physical challenges organisms must face in this ecosystem?
4. What characteristic is used to classify the two types of intertidal communities?
5. Define vertical zonation. What factors determine the vertical zonation in the intertidal?
6. How is the intertidal divided depending on the relative time that the substrate is covered by water? Explain
Rocky shores
7. What are the two main possible strategies organisms can use to avoid dehydration? Mention examples of
organisms that use each type of strategy
8. How may rains (freshwater) affect the intertidal community? Explain
9. Considering the animals that live in the rocky shores, what type of feeding strategy is more common?
Why?
10. Mention all the adaptations organisms may have in order to cope with the wave shock
11. Competition for space is a dominant biological factor in the rocky intertidal. Mention the adaptations
organisms have in order to successfully compete for space in this community
12. What are the main producers in the rocky shores?
13. Mention the organisms that can be common or dominant in each zone or band of the intertidal
14. Mussels are said to be the best competitors in the middle intertidal, and they outcompete barnacles and
seaweeds in the absence of predators. What animals normally predate on mussels?
15. Why are animals that prey on mussels important considering the dynamic of the intertidal community?
What name do these predators receive?
Soft shores (sandy beaches)
16. What physical factor (not present in rocky shores) is important in determining the vertical zonation in this
type of community?
17. What main physical factor in the rocky shores is not so important in the sandy beaches? Explain
18. What strategy do organisms use in order to avoid being washed away by the wave shock?
Marine Biology
Instructor: Jose Bava, Ph.D
STUDY GUIDE Chapter 11 Castro & Huber
19. Explain how the amount of dissolved oxygen and the water clarity depend on the size of the particles
20. What are the main producers in the sandy beaches?
21. Why seaweeds are normally not present in the soft bottom intertidal communities? Why can seagrasses be
present though?
22. Explain how the grain size of the sediments influence the availability of organic matter (detritus) and
oxygen in the soft bottom intertidal communities
23. What types of feeding strategies are present in the soft bottom intertidal communities?
24. Does vertical zonation also exist in the soft bottom intertidal communities? Explain
25. Compare the rocky and soft bottom intertidal communities considering substrate, feeding strategies, oxygen
and detritus (organic matter) availability, zonation, dominant producers, typical organisms
Marine Biology
Instructor: Jose Bava, Ph.D