The Ocean’s primary Productivity

1. The Ocean’s primary Productivity Marine Biomass

3. Phytoplankton bloom

4. Environment • Ecosystem – composed of living organisms and their nonliving environment • Biotic – living organisms • Abiotic – physical characteristics

5. Habitat • An organisms habitat is where it lives

6. Niche: An organism’s environmental role • An organisms niche is the role the organism plays in its community • An organisms niche is determined by a variety of biotic and abiotic factors acting together on the organism.

7. Environmental Factors • Maintaining Homeostasis • An organisms ability to maintain a stable internal environment regardless of the external environment • Homeostasis and the distribution of marine organisms • Optimal range allows for an organism to thrive and reproduce (sunlight, nutrients) • Zones of stress are areas above or below the optimal range • The organism expends more energy maintaining homeostasis • Less energy is available for reproduction • Zones of intolerance are areas beyond the optimal range where the organism cannot survive

8. Environmental factors continued • Physical environment • Sunlight • Temperature • Salinity • Pressure • Metabolic requirements • Metabolic wastes

9. Sunlight • Sunlight penetration • less than 1 meter in coastal waters • as much as 200 meters in tropical waters • Photosynthesis directly or indirectly provides energy to nearly all forms of life on earth • Phytoplankton – the largest group of photosynthetic organisms in marine environments • Phytoplankton are the primary sources of nutrients and energy for marine animals

10. Temperature • Temperature influences the distribution of organisms • Ectotherms – obtain body heat from surroundings • Endotherms – maintains a constant body temperature • Most organisms can tolerate only a specific range of environmental factors • Temperatures above or below the critical range disrupt metabolism resulting in: • Decreased ability to reproduce, injury, or death

11. Salinity • Salinity is a measure of the concentration of dissolved inorganic salts in the water • In order to maintain homeostasis all organisms must maintain a proper balance of water and solutes in their bodies • The process of osmosis is vital to cells • If a cell loses too much water it will become dehydrated and die • If a cell takes in too much water it will swell and burst

12. Pressure • The pressure of the water affects organisms that inhabit the deep regions of the seas • Some animals must have special adaptations that allow them to survive at great depths to avoid compression (diving) and decompression (surfacing)

13. Metabolic Requirements • The availability of nutrients influences the distribution of organisms in the marine environment • Nutrient – all of the organic and inorganic materials that an organism needs to reproduce

14. Metabolic requirements continued • Limiting nutrients (ex. nitrogen, phosphorus) • Anaerobic organisms – survive in the absence of oxygen • Aerobic organisms – require oxygen • Eutrophication –nutrient enrichment • Algal bloom – population explosion of photosynthetic plankton

15. Metabolic wastes • Waste products are usually removed from the environment by organisms or broken down by bacteria • Waste products can accumulate to toxic levels and prohibit growth

16. Environmental factors continuedBiological Environment • Biological environment - all of the different species and the interactions an organism comes in contact with • Relationships • Competition • Predator-Prey relationships • Symbiosis: Living together

17. Competition • Two or more species in the same habitat that have the same requirements for resources that are limited in supply are in competition

18. Predator-prey relationships • Keystone predator (keystone species) – An animal in a community that makes it possible for other species to live there • Ochre seastar • REMOVAL OF A CERTAIN SPECIES OF STARFISH CAUSED A RAPID GROWTH IN THE NUMBERS AND BIOMASS OF THE MUSSEL UPON WHICH THE SEASTAR FED

20. Symbiosis: Living together • Symbiosis – any prolonged association or living together of two or more organisms of different species • Mutualism • Both organisms benefit • Commensalism • One organism benefits, the other is neither harmed nor benefited • Parasitism • One organism benefits, the other is harmed

21. Distribution of Marine Communities • Pelagic Division – the water column • Benthic Division – the ocean bottom

22. Ecosystems: Basic units of the Biosphere • Producers – organisms that contain pigments like chlorophyll that capture the sun’s energy • Photosynthesis – the process by which energy of sunlight is used to form glucose • Chemosynthesis – the process by which energy from chemical reactions is used to construct organic glucose

24. Producers • Autotrophs – organisms able to produce their own food • Chemoautotrophs – organisms that use energy from inorganic chemicals to produce their own food

25. Measuring Primary Productivity • Grams of carbon per square meter of surface area per year gC/m2/yr

26. Ecosystems: Basic units of the Biosphere continued • Trophic Levels