MARINE SCIENCE
LEOCE Study Guide
Introduction and Marine Geology
KEY VOCABULARY:
mid-ocean ridge, continental shelf, continental slope, continental ridge, Theory of Plate Tectonics,
subduction zone, trench, divergent boundary, convergent boundary, transform plate boundary, island
arcs, stick charts
STUDENT TASKS:
1. Explain and give evidence for the Theory of Plate Tectonics.
2. Describe ocean floor and trench formation. What is a subduction zone?
3. List the major contributors and their contributions to the field of oceanography.
4. Diagram and label the ocean floor topography.
OCEANOGRAPHY
KEY VOCABULARY:
Coriolis effect, high heat capacity, wavelength, wave crest, wave trough, solvent, spring tide, neap
tide, pelagic, Gulf Stream Current, El Nino, cohesion, surface tension, specific heat, viscosity, water
density, storm surge, photic zone, aphotic zone, disphotic zone
STUDENT TASKS:
5. Explain how tides affect reproduction or nesting of different organisms.
6. Diagram and label the parts of a wind wave.
7. Describe wind wave formation and water particle movement within a wave.
8. Differentiate between surface currents and deep water currents.
9. How do surface currents affect the climate of the Earth?
10. What is the Coriolis Effect and how does it influence currents?
11. List, describe, and give examples of each of the properties of water.
MARINE MICROORGANISMS
KEY VOCABULARY:
red tide, diatoms, dinoflagellates, phytoplankton, zooplankton
STUDENT TASKS:
12. Differentiate between diatoms, dinoflagellates, silicoflagelates, and cocolithophores.
13. Explain what adaptations this group has which allows them to be better biological producers and
producers of oxygen.
MARINE PRODUCERS
KEY VOCABULARY:
halophyte, autotroph, nematophores, salt tolerance
STUDENT TASKS:
14. Differentiate between the different types of macroalgae.
15. Differentiate between the different marine angiosperms.
LOGIC PROCESSES – EARTH’S SURFACE GEOLOGIC PROCESSES – EARTH’S SURFACE
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MARINE SCIENCE
LEOCE Study Guide
MARINE INVERTEBRATES
KEY VOCABULARY:
invertebrates, spawning, bilateral symmetry, radial symmetry, asymmetrical, exoskeleton, water
vascular system, tentacles, camouflage
STUDENT TASKS:
16. Discuss adaptations invertebrates have for living in a low energy ecosystem and a high energy
system.
17. Make a table of invertebrates listing major characteristics, types of symmetry, examples, feeding
and mobility. Use these groups: Porifera, Cnidarians, Ctenophores, Nematoda, Annelida, Classes of
Mollusca, Arthopoda – Crustaceans, and Echinodermata.
18. How are krill vital to many marine food chains? Give examples.
19. List several Florida invertebrates, Try to name one from each group.
MARINE FISHES
KEY VOCABULARY:
countershading, schooling, Ampulla of Lorenzini, claspers, dermal denticles, osmoregulation
STUDENT TASKS:
20. Complete a chart with the major characteristics of the classes of marine fishes.
21. What type of adaptations do fishes have for protection from predators?
MARINE REPTILES, BIRDS, AND MAMMALS
KEY VOCABULARY:
vestigial, flukes, echolocation
STUDENT TASKS:
22. Make a chart distinguishing between the different types of marine turtles.
23. Complete a chart comparing the major groups of marine birds.
24. What is echolocation, how does it work, and what parts of the anatomy are involved?
25. Discuss the evolution of marine mammals, including evidence of movement from land to sea.
26. Discuss the evolution of marine snakes and marine iguanas to life at sea.
27. Complete a chart on marine mammal classification.
MARINE ECOLOGY
KEY VOCABULARY:
biodiversity, predation, competition, symbiosis, commensalism, mutualism, parasitism,
biomagnification, invasive species, biotic, abiotic, ecotone, biosphere, food web, food chain, apex
predator
STUDENT TASKS:
28. What factors influence which organism will inhabit a specific marine habitat?
29. Determine the different trophic levels on an energy pyramid. Explain why the number or organisms
decreases up the pyramid.
30. Design a marine food web and label the producers, consumers, and decomposers.
31. Give examples of each of the different symbiotic relationships.
32. What are invasive species? Give several examples.
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MARINE SCIENCE
LEOCE Study Guide
LAND MEETS SEA
KEY VOCABULARY:
aquaculture, sonar, factory ships, high energy beach, low energy beach, estuary, salt marsh, coral
reef, acidification, coral bleaching, renourishment, catch limits, by-catch, overharvesting,
zooxanthellae
STUDENT TASKS:
33. Which type of beach is going to have the largest type of biodiversity? Why?
34. What preventative measures can be taken to reduce overharvesting?
35. Describe how commercial fisheries have used technology to increase their catch.
36. What are the positive outcomes that come from government regulations preventing building on
sand dunes?
37. List several reasons why estuaries are important commercially and biologically.
38. How does acidification and bleaching affect coral reefs?
39. What adaptations do organisms have to accommodate living between the tides?
40. Differentiate between low energy beaches and high energy beaches.
41. Discuss the pros and cons of beach renourishment.
42. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages to aquaculture vs. wild caught seafood.
43. Explain what by catch is, how it affects the marine ecosystem and how to reduce the problem.
44. Discuss possible sources of petroleum pollution in the sea, and how do these affect the
environment.
45. Explain how reef inhabitants compete for space/shelter.
46. Give coral reef and estuary examples of each type of symbiotic relationship.
OPEN OCEAN
KEY VOCABULARY:
hydrothermal vents, whalefall community, zooplankton, phytoplankton, photosynthesis,
chemosynthesis, global warming, pelagic, aerobic, anaerobic
STUDENT TASKS:
47. Discuss in detail the productivity of the polar seas and how the temperature controls productivity
as well as what organisms this affects.
48. Explain how chemosynthesis bacteria and photosynthetic bacteria get their energy and how that
affects where they can live.
49. Complete the chart comparing the abiotic and biotic factors in the open sea, deep sea, and
polar seas.
Area
Open sea
Abiotic factors
Biotic factors
Deep sea
Polar seas
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