Chapter 6 Essential Questions
1. What are coral reefs and coral polyps?
2. How are coral reefs formed?
3. What ecological and economic services doe coral reefs provide?
4. What is coral bleaching? What causes it?
5. List reasons how humans affect coral reefs?
6. What are the 2 major types of aquatic life zones?
7. Distinguish among phytoplankton, zooplankton, nekton, benthos, and decomposers.
8. List 4 major factors in the surface, middle, and bottom layers.
9. How does dissolved carbon dioxide and oxygen vary in these layers/
10. What is the euphotic zone?
11. What is the coastal zone?
12. Distinguish between estuaries, coastal wetlands, and mangroves. Why does temperature
and salinity vary in these ecosystems?
13. Why is NPP so high in these systems?
14. What is the intertidal zone? Why do rocky shores differ from sandy shores?
15. What roles do dunes play on barrier islands?
16. What is the open sea? What are its major zones?
17. Why is NPP so low in the open sea?
18. What is a freshwater life zone? What are the 2 major types of zones?
19. List the major ecological and economic services provided by freshwater systems.
20. What is a lake? What is the difference between littoral, limnetic, profundal, and benthic
zones?
21. What are the 3 types of lakes?
22. How do seasons affect the nutrients of lakes?
23. What are inland wetlands?
24. What are the human impacts to freshwater systems?