approximately 72% of the planet's surface is covered by salt water
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Approximately 72% of the planet's surface is covered by salt water. 7 Most Abundant Salts in Sea-Water! - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Approximately 72% of the planet's surface is covered by salt water.
SALTS IN SEAWATER
7 Most Abundant Salts in Sea-Water!
1. NaCl (sodium chloride) = 77.8%
2. MgCl2 (magnesium chloride) = 10.9%
3. MgSo4 (magnesium sulphate) = 4.7%
4. CaSo4 (calcium sulphate) = 3.6%
5. K2So4 (potassium sulphate) = 2.5%
6. CaCo3 (calcium carbonate) = 0.3%
7. MgBr2 (magnesium bromide) = 0.2%
1. What biotic factors are present? 5.What producers are present?
2. What abiotic factors are present? 6.What consumers are present?
3. What decomposers are present? 7. What human factors may affect this ecosystem?4. Identify an overlapping terrestrial/aquatic food web.
Marine Ecosystem
OCEAN ZONESThe ocean is divided into zones according to how far down
sunlight penetrates.
Marine ecosystems vary depending on environmental conditions and the organisms that live in them. 1. Why are producers mainly found in the “photic zone”?2. Why is the ocean floor so rich in nutrients?
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http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/environment-news/us-ocean-floor-mapping-vin/ 5:11 Sonar & ROV technology
Organisms within each of the zones are specially adapted to the environment.
(Light only penetrates through the photic zone.)
Plants are found only in the sunlit zone where there is enough light for photosynthesis. Animals are found at all depts.
Upwelling: The most productive fisheries in the world are usually associated with coastal upwelling zones where deep, cold, nutrient rich waters move upward. These nutrient rich waters are utilized by phytoplankton which form the base of the food chain for many fish.
Satellite images are used to monitor Earth. The satellite image below shows areas of upwelling.
Hydrothermal Vents
Seawater, found in cracks in the ocean bottom, is heated by volcanic activity and it becomes less dense and rises.
-In many vent areas the super heated water rises quickly from the ocean bottom with so many minerals that it appears black.
-As it rises from the seafloor some of the minerals precipitate out and form a 'chimney' around the water vent.
-These chimneys may grow to over 40 feet high while venting the black mineral-rich heated water. This is what is called a 'black smoker' area.
This diagram shows how seawater is modified by chemical exchange with the surrounding rocks (blue arrows) and gas-rich magmatic fluid (red arrows) mix before emerging at the seafloor. Manganese, iron, iron oxyhydroxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, methane and helium-3 are released into the black smoker plume as the hot hydrothermal fluids mix with cold seawater.
- The chemosynthetic vent bacteria are the base of the food chain at hydrothermal vents.
- Vent bacteria are capable of
producing 'cell food' by chemosynthesizing the minerals (especially sulfur compounds) in the water.
- Vents are areas where the seawater has extreme concentrations of dissolved minerals and these bacteria use them to manufacture 'cell food.'
- As the bacteria bloom there are a large number of filter feeders that exist here (feather duster worms, mussels and clams) and feed on the bacteria in the water.
Chemosynthesis
Instead of photosynthesis, vent ecosystems derive their energy from chemicals in a process called "chemosynthesis." Both methods involve an energy source (1) carbon dioxide and (2) water to produce sugars (3). Photosynthesis gives off oxygen gas as a byproduct, while chemosynthesis produces sulfur (4).
Hydrothermal Vent Biodiversity (Extremophiles are organisms living in extreme conditions.)
Large tube worms over six feet long are one of the most visible animals at the vents. These tube worms, secrete a thick paper-like white tube along their body. The worm does not have a mouth or gut instead they rely on mutualistic symbiotic bacteria living in their tissues to produce the 'cell food' needed to keep them alive. It is believed these worms are some of the fastest growing invertebrates known.
Vent crab with mussels and tube worms
Scavengers, like crabs and shrimp, also are found here along with fish and octopus.
Hydrothermal Life: Clams and Mussels
Numerous large clams and a small clump of mussels (bottom left) line the cracks between the pillow lavas at the new hydrothermal vent site.
Deep sea symbiosis: A hermit crab uses an anemone as a shell.
Technology to Study the Deep Oceanhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEY3fN4N3D8 2:49 pressure increase
ROPOS's manipulator arm collecting a sulphide chimney at CASM vent with a deep sea crab in the foreground (crab was left at the vent site).
Cold Seeps
• Cold SeepsCold Seeps• Cold seeps are shallow areas on
the ocean floor where gases percolate through underlying rock and sediment layers and emerge on the ocean bottom.
• The gases found in the seep are methane and sulfur-rich gases and sediments releasing petroleum.
• Active seeps are located in subduction zones, which are areas where continental plates are being pushed.
Remotely operated vehicles and submersibles enable humans to explore the deep ocean.
Cold Seep Environment
Comparing Locations of Hydrothermal Vents and Cold Seeps
Located near subduction zones)
Gasses in the Marine EnvironmentSeawater has many different gases dissolved in it, especially nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide. It exchanges these gases with the atmosphere to keep a balance between the ocean and the atmosphere. This exchange is helped by the mixing of the surface by wind and waves.
Gases and life: Dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide are vital for marine life. - Marine plants use dissolved carbon dioxide, sunlight and water to make carbohydrates through the process of photosynthesis. This process releases oxygen into the water. All marine organisms use oxygen for respiration, which releases energy from carbohydrates and has carbon dioxide and water as byproducts. Marine animals with gills, such as fish, use these organs to extract oxygen from the seawater.
Variation in dissolved gases: Some of the properties of seawater affect how much gas can be dissolved in it:- Cold water holds more gas than warm water. You will have seen this with bottles of lemonade, which are basically carbon dioxide in water. Example: Warm lemonade cannot hold its gas, so as soon as you open a bottle of it, the carbon dioxide leaves the water in a big spray of bubbles. It is less messy to open a cold bottle of lemonade.- Seawater with low salinity holds more gas than high salinity water.- Deep water, which has a high pressure, holds more gas than shallow water.- The use and creation of dissolved gases by living things can over-ride the effect of these properties. For example, warm water with lots of plankton in it can hold more carbon dioxide than cold water with few living things in it.
Carbon dioxide (CO2): Carbon dioxide is one of the most important gases that dissolve in the ocean. - Some of it stays as dissolved gas, but most reacts with the water to form carbonic acid or reacts with carbonates already in the water to form bicarbonates. This removes dissolved carbon dioxide from the water. - Many plants and animals use the bicarbonate to form calcium carbonate shells. When these organisms die, some of the bicarbonate is returned to the water, but a lot of it settles down to the sea bed. - If the ocean and atmosphere stayed the same, there would be a balance between the concentrations of carbon dioxide in each, but carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are rising, so more of the gas is dissolving in the ocean.
Ocean Plant Life: Eelgrass
Eelgrass, Zostera marina, is a flowering, marine vascular plant that remains submerged all the time. Eelgrass creates and extremely important habitat, its upright structures and complex root system create a 3-D living space for many different types of animals.
Ocean Plant Life: Kelp
Kelp growing in the ocean. Human-caused atmospheric nitrogen compounds are carried by wind and deposited into the ocean, where they act as a fertilizer and lead to increased production of marine plant life.
Algae or Plankton… What is the difference?There are several thousand known species of algae in the world and they occur in many different colors and forms. Algae can for instance be green, blue-green, brown, red or black.
Some types of algae will drift around in the water, while others grow attached to a surface, e.g. a rock, coral or plant leaf. There are also types of algae that float on the surface since this is the place where they can receive the most light.
In everyday speech, algae are commonly divided into three main groups based on appearance: microscopic algae, filamentous algae and attached-erect algae.
Microscopic algaeMicroscopic algae waft along freely in the water. They form the autotrophic part of the plankton, the diverse group of drifting organisms that inhabits the pelagic zone of everything from oceans to small bodies of water. Microscopic algae are commonly referred to as phytoplankton.
Types of Algae
- Marine algae, more commonly known as seaweeds, come in all shapes and sizes.
- Algae are not plants, even though they sometimes look like them.
- They are all referred to as algae, the red, green and brown algae are classified into three different kingdoms: the protists, chromists and plantae.
- The algae all have cell wall structures and are capable of photosynthesis like our plants on land.
Brown algae is the largest type of algae. It is brown or yellow- brown in color and found in temperate or arctic waters. Brown algae typically have a root-like structure called a "holdfast" to anchor the algae to a surface.
Examples of brown algae: kelp, rockweed (Fucus), Sargassum.
Brown Algae
Red AlgaeRed algae are reddish or purplish in color. There are about 6,000 species of red algae and they are protists in the phylum Rhodophyta. Red algae species range from simple one-celled organisms to complex, multi-celled, plant-like organisms. Red algae get their energy from photosynthesis. One thing that distinguishes red algae from other algae is that their cells lack flagella.
Green AlgaeThere are more than 4,000 species of green algae. Green algae may be found in marine or freshwater habitats, and some even thrive in moist soil. These algae come in 3 forms: unicellular, colonial or multicellular.Examples of green algae: sea lettuce (Ulva sp.), which is commonly found in tide pools, Codium sp., one species of which is commonly called "dead man's fingers."