OCEAN ENVIRONMENTS Problems and solutions to living in a marine environment

1. OCEAN ENVIRONMENTS Problems and solutions to living in a marine environment

2. Buoyancy & Floatation Seawater ≈ the same density as the organism; resulting in buoyancy.(ablity to float) Mechanical strength not required

3. Buoyancy: STRATEGY #1 GAS • Gas • may be secreted into “floats” in seaweed & kelp; and jellies • Nautilus- shell chambers • Bony fish- swim bladders Portugese man’o war Bull Kelp

4. Buoyancy: Strategy #2Produce appendages with increased surface area; tropical plankton& nudibranchs

5. Buoyancy strategy #3Fat; less dense than water • Fat-filled swim bladders provide almost as much buoyancy as gases do at great depths but are much simpler to maintain because fat will not compress with pressure Marine mammals incorporate large amounts to keep them near the surface

6. Buoyancy solution #4Chambered Nautilis • Removes water from its chambers via osmosis and replace with Nitrogen gas.

7. Osmosis: the movement of molecules from an area of high concentration to an area of lower concentration.

8. Osmosis solution #1: maintain an equal gradient with the surrounding water

9. Osmosis solution #2 excrete salt from the gills.

10. Osmosis solution #3 For shorebirds, glands in the head remove excess salt. Birds “dip” their beaks or sneeze it out.

11. Temperature:Polar to tropical • Temperature creates very real barriers to organisms moving from ocean to ocean, and North to South in any ocean.

12. Temp affects density • Polar waters are cold, thus, more dense. Organisms float more easily

13. Warm waters are less dense • Organisms have more appendages, larger surface area, and gas production

14. Ectotherms (cold blooded animals) are restricted by their zones of tolerance for temperature

15. Light100% full spectrum to nonexistent • No light; no productivity • The photic zone—the top 200 meters of the oceans are productive (PS>resp) & produces up to 90% of the earths free Oxygen. • Disphotic zone 200m-1000 meters No PS– few organisms

16. Surroundings:Open ocean to sheltered bays • Open ocean organisms must float or swim • Coastal organisms can be benthic(bottom) and sessile • Open ocean is more limiting in regards to nutrients

17. Ocean Zones

18. Splash Zone!Part of the littoral • Also known as the Spray Zone or the Supratidal or Supralittoral zone. • Area above the spring high tide zone that is regularly splashed but not submerged by ocean waters. • During storms this area will get covered, but not during the normal conditions. • Organisms are exposed to air, fresh and sea water, and varied temperatures

19. Swash Zonelittoral cont… • Considered part of the foreshore • The area that is exposed to wave uprush and backwash • Beach material is constantly moved in the swash zone, usually upward at an angle in the process called beach drift

20. Longshore Zone • The longshore current is a function of the angle of a wave approach. Energy is expanded on the beach as waves crash against the shoreline, which allows water to transport sediment. Longshore currents also move beach material along the coast.

21. sublittoral zone • Bottom of the (intertidal tidal zone) out to the edge of the continental shelf. (littoral zone) • Organisms are affected by the action of waves, tidal flows, and currents.(more in the tidal zone) • Extends to depths of 200 meters. • Sunlight reaches bottom- highly productive and diverse Laminaria digitata

22. Epipelagicor “neretic” zone • It is the top layer of the “ocean” zone; surface to 200 meter • This includes the sublittoral zone * 90% of all life found here. * Most productive zone in the oceans *Water temps are warmest *Sunlight depth to 660 feet down

23. Epipelagic zone cont.. • The only zone to support plants because it has light needed for photosynthesis. • The plants may attach at depth and via stalks, reach the surface.

24. Epipelagic zone cont.. Animals living within the epipelagic column have developed counter shading due to lack of hiding places.

25. Chart of Depth

26. Mesopelagic zone200meters-1000meters“The twilight zone” Slender lanternfish

27. Mesopelagic cont… • Some light, but not enough for photosynthesis to occur • Temp change(thermocline) is greatest in this zone • 20% of the food made in the epipelagic makes it down to the mesopelagic. • Mesopelagic creatures swim up at night and feed in the epipelagic

28. Mesopelagic cont… • Because of the lack of light, it is within this zone that bioluminescence begins to appear on life. The eyes on the fishes are larger and generally upward directed, most likely to see silhouettes of other animals (for food) against the dim ligh

29. Bathypelagic zone“The midnight” zone1000-4000 meters

30. Bathypelagic cont… • The only light at this depth (and lower) comes from the bioluminescence of the animals themselves. • The temperature in the bathypelagic zone, unlike that of the mesopelagic zone, is constant. The temperature never fluctuates far from a chilling 39｡F (4｡C). The pressure in the bathypelagic zone is extreme and at depths of 13,100 feet (4,000 meters), reaches over 5850 pounds per square inch! Bathypelagic female anglerfish

31. Abyssopelagic zone From 13,100 feet (4,000 meters) to 19,700 feet (6,000 meters)

32. The Abyssopelagic Zone The pitch-black bottom layer of the ocean 3/4 of the area of deep ocean floor lies in this zone Water temperature is constant and near freezing Few creatures at this depth Deepest fish ever found--27,460 feet down

33. Hadalpelagic ZoneThe deepest zone of the ocean

34. Hadalpelagic Zone • From 19,700 feet (6,000 meters) to the very bottom at 35,797 feet (10,911 meters) • Temp constant and just above freezing • Pressure = 8 tons per square inch in the Challenger Deep • Foraminiferans found living there

35. Halo, pycno, thermo Halocline- a water layer based on salinity Pycnocline- water layer based on density Thermocline- a water layer based on temperature

36. Bioluminescence produced from a cool chemical reaction unlike sunlight (which is thermal) or electrical light is know as bioluminescence.

37. Coloration if marine organisms Transparency Many marine animals that float near the surface are highly Transparent giving them almost perfect camoflauge

38. Silvery bright • are inhabitants of well-lighted waters • When light flashes of the scales of schools of silvery, it helps to confuse predators because individual fish become hard to pick out. • The silvery color also helps the fish blend in with the light reflected from the surface of the water

39. Poster colorstypical of reef fish) they may signal predators that the possessor is too spiny or poisonous to be eaten bright colors may represent important signs of sex, status, or maturity, Coral reefs are surrounded with patches of sunlight and designed with brightly colored corals and sponges so that the bright colors of the fishes may blend with it, when they seek shelter from the reef. Especially, when light levels are low and colors are hard to see; then the striking patterns may suddenly become disruptive patterns, making the fish hard to distinguish from shadow

40. Red and vertical bars • Red is the first color to fade out at dusk and the last to appear at dawn. Many red colored organisms in the ocean live below the depths of red light penetration or are active only at night. • Vertical bars, running down each side of an organism is a pattern associated with critters that live near beds of aquatic plants. • The vertical bars can camouflage in with the vertical pattern of the plant stems.

41. bioluminescence A chemical reaction that combines Luciferon with luciferase to produce light. A totally non heat producing light reaction 99% efficient

42. Bio means living and luminescence means giving light. Luminescent organisms give off different types of light and not all organisms use their luminescence the same way. Some luminescent organisms use their light all of the time, or receive the light from bacteria growing on their bodies. Others flash their light(s) on and off whenever they choose. lights are used to communicate, to camouflage, to guide, to attract mates, to lure prey, and sometimes to frighten enemies. The many animals and organisms that produce this glow are generally found in the deep sea or in shallow ocean waters at night. The most common organism which uses bioluminescence, dinoflagellates, can be found virtually everywhere in the sea.

43. Map and Depths • 230 km offshore • Goes down to 200 meters (660 feet) • Low water pressure and fairly stable temperature

44. Map and Depths cont..