1 / 9

Goal of biological oceanography

To describe how physics (hydrography and light), chemistry (nutrients) and biology (primary production, food web processes) interact to determine:. distributions composition (species or biochemical) biogeochemical activities trophic interactions. Goal of biological oceanography.

teddy
Download Presentation

Goal of biological oceanography

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. To describe how physics (hydrography and light), chemistry (nutrients) and biology (primary production, food web processes) interact to determine: • distributions • composition (species or biochemical) • biogeochemical activities • trophic interactions Goal of biological oceanography of marine communities

  2. 100yr Mammals 10yr Fish 1yr Temporal scale Zooplankton 1mo 1wk Phytoplankton 1d 1h Bacteria 1min Spatial scale 1sec 1m 1mm 1cm 10cm 10m 0.1mm 1mm 10mm 100mm What’s in the water? • Viruses, bacteria (heterotrophic, chemosynthetic), phytoplankton • (prochlorophytes, cyanobacteria, eukaryotes), zooplankton (micro, • meso, macro; holo-, meroplankton), nekton, benthos

  3. Light • Provides energy for almost all marine food webs (photosynthesis) • Provides heat that stabilizes the surface layer of the ocean • The submarine light field is strongly influenced by constituents in • the water (absorption, scattering, fluorescence, bioluminescence) How does light affect marine life? • Irradiance and photosynthesis • Importance of quantity and spectral quality • Inhibition of biogeochemical transformations • Effects on trophic interactions

  4. Primary productivity • Phytoplankton growth • Photosynthesis, process and measurement • Chemical composition • Essential nutrients, light, temperature • Loss processes • Biogeochemical cycles • Nitrogen cycle • Flux of carbon • Fate of primary production in the upper ocean • Food web processes • Microbial loop

  5. Zooplankton and secondary production • Zooplankton groupings based on: • Size • Life-history characteristics (holo-, meroplankton) • Trophic status (herbivore, omnivore, carnivore) • Vertical distribution • Hydrodynamics vs. behaviour • Feeding • Effects of food availability, behaviour • Effects of the physical environment (turbulence) • Effects on food web processes

  6. Fisheries • Growth, survival and recruitment of larval fish • Hydrodynamics • Temperature • Food supply • Predation • Structure of oceanic food webs • Exploitation of fish stocks

  7. Benthos • Benthic organisms (microbes, micro- and macroalgae, meio-, • and macrofauna) • Life history characteristics • Biogeochemical processes • Effects on overlying water • Effects on the substrate • Animal-sediment relations • Effects of substrate on biota (flux of food resources, • colonization, predation) • Effects of biota on substrate (stabilization, bioturbation, • structure formation, flow modification) • Ecological processes • Predation, competition, disturbance

  8. Ecosystems • North Atlantic • Upwelling ecosystems • Oligotrophic Gyres • Hydrothermal Vents • Coastal and Estuarine ecosystems

  9. Unifying themes • Quantitative approach • Explicit consideration of interacting factors • (physics, chemistry, biology) • Focus on populations/communities/ecosystems NOT on individuals

More Related