Marine Habitats

1. Marine Habitats

2. What is a habitat? • Habitat means “a place where an organism lives” • Habitats are classified based on unique abiotic and biotic features • Abiotic- water temperature, salinity, dissolved gasses, substrate type, water clarity • Biotic- types of organisms that live there

4. 3 Main Types • Pelagic Zone • the open water (very large) • Benthic Zone • the soft sandy to muddy bottom (large) • the hard (rocky, coral) shore (very small)

5. Some Further divisions • Pelagic and Benthic • Benthic • Intertidal Zones • Mangrove Forests • Seagrass beds • Kelp beds • Coral reefs • Hydrothermal Vents • Pelagic (photiczone, mesopelagic, bathylpelagic) • Arctic Ocean • Temperate Seas • Tropical Seas • Estuaries

6. Intertidal Zones • Where land and ocean meets • Covered with water @ high tide and exposed to air at low tide • Can be rocky, sandy, or muddy • Zones • Splash or Spray zone • Mostly dry • Littoral Zone • Usually underwater

8. Intertidal Zone Challenges • Moisture • Varies depending on tide • Waves • Rough wave action can harm organisms • Salinity • Rainfall affects salinity of these shoreline areas • Temperature • As the tide moves temperatures change

9. Sea Grass Beds • Sea grasses evolved from terrestrial plants and adapted to salt water conditions • They are different than Macroalgae (sea weed) which evolved in aquatic environments • Plants here need special adaptations to live in high salinity environment • Sea Grass species • Turtle Grass (Thalassiatestudinum), Star Grass (Halophilaengelmannii), and Paddle Grass (Halophiladecipiens). Just to name a few

10. Kelp Forests • Found in cold coastal waters • Typically off Pacific coast • Dominate Vegetation type is Macroalgae (KELP) • Grow along rocky coastlines • Need sunlight for photosynthesis

11. Estuaries • Places where freshwater rivers and streams mix with salty ocean waters • Characteristics are influenced by marine water conditions as well as freshwater conditions • Diverse array of plants and animals live in esturies

12. Mangroves • Dominate Vegetation is Mangroves- 110 species worldwide • Found in tidal areas with varying degrees of salinity • Mangroves have special adaptations to live in such a highly saline environment • Adaptations for ocean motion are also necessary since mangrove forests are located on coastlines with lots of wave and tidal motion

13. Coral Reefs • Warm, clear, shallow ocean habitats • Lots of animal diversity • 3 types of reef • Fringing reefsalong the continental shelf (coastlines) • Barrier reefs grow parallel to shorelines, but farther out. Typically separated by a deep lagoon • Coral Atolls are rings of coral that grow on top of old, sunken volcanoes in the ocean. They begin as fringe reefs surrounding a volcanic island; then, as the volcano sinks, the reef continues to grow, and eventually only the reef remains.

14. Pelagic Zone • Open Ocean • The pelagic zone is generally cold , but varies due to currents and locations • Plankton and surface sea weeds provide the base of the food chain • Animals include fish, whales, sharks, other mammals

15. Arctic Seas • Extremely harsh conditions occur here • Very cold • Very little plant life • Base of food chain is phytoplankton

16. Abyss • Deep ocean • Very cold, high pressure, high oxygen water • Many invertebrates and fishes live here

17. Hydrothermal Vents • Form along mid-ocean ridges where heat from the interior of the earth is released • Primary producers here are Chemosynthetic bacteria which thrive off of chemicals released from the vents • These bacteria are thus the start of the food web as they are eaten by invertebrates and fishes