OCEAN PRODUCTIVITYA PowerPoint presentation by Hana Chong, Tatyana Jackson and Jonae Connell

WHAT IS OCEAN PRODUCTIVITY?

• Ocean productivity refers to the makings of organic matter by Phytoplankton, single celled plants suspended in the ocean.

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PHYTOPLANKTON

• Phytoplankton are photoautotrophs, meaning they photosynthesize (harvest light to convert inorganic to organic carbon)

• They give this organic carbon to heterotrophs, organisms that gain their energy only from the respiration of organic matter

• Open ocean heterotrophs include bacteria and more complex single and multi –celled zooplankton, nekton, and the benthos

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WHAT DOES OCEAN PRODUCTIVITY NEED?

• Phytoplankton require a suit of chemicals, and those with the potential to be scarce in surface waters are usually identified as nutrients

• Calcium is an element that is rapidly assimilated by some plankton, but is not considered a nutrient because of its high concentration in sea water

• Dissolved inorganic carbon, (the feedstock for organic carbon production by photosynthesis) is also abundant, so it is not usually listed among the nutrients. But, its acidic form is often at low concentrations to affect the growth of at least some phytoplankton.

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WHAT DOES OCEAN PRODUCTIVITY NEED?

• Sunlight is the ultimate energy source for almost all life on Earth, including in the deep ocean. However, light is absorbed and scattered so that very little of it penetrates below a depth of 80 m.

• So, photosynthesis is restricted to the upper light-penetrated skin of the ocean.

• This effect of light on photosynthesis and seawater is crucial for the success of phytoplankton. If the ocean did not have a thin surface layer, mixing would carry algae out of the light and thus away from their energy source for most of the time.

• (In other words, ocean productivity needs lots of sunlight!)

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WHO ARE THE MAJOR PLAYERS IN OCEAN PRODUCTIVITY?

•Photoautotrophs•Heterotrophs

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PHOTOAUTOTROPHS

• Photoautotrophs photosynthesize (using light as an energy source to make their own food from inorganic substances)

• Sometimes referred to as holophytic

• Photosynthetic bacteria and green plants are photoautotrophs

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HETEROTROPHS

• an organism deriving its nutritional requirements from complex organic substances.

• Heterotrophs cannot make their own food, and eat other organisms to survive.

• Origin : from hetero ‘other’ and Greek trophos ‘feeder’

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ANSWER ON A SHEET OF PAPER

1. What are zooplankton?

2. What does ocean productivity need?

3. What are heterotrophs?

4. What is ocean productivity?

5. What is another name for photoautotroph?

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