Life in the Ocean

1
Life in the Ocean

• Plankton floaters
• Nekton swimmers
• Benthos bottom dwellers

2
Plants vs. animals

• Phytoplankton
• Carry on photosynthesis
• Diatoms, coccolithophores, dinoflagellates
• Zooplankton
• Consumers
• Radiolarians, forams, others

3
PHYTOPLANKTON
4
ZOOPLANKTON
5
Time as a planktonic organism

• Meroplankton
• Part of life as a plankton rest as nekton or
  benthos
• Holoplankton
• All of life as plankton

6
Nekton

• Many varieties
• Consider commercial fisheries

7
Commercial fisheries

• Changes in last 50 years
• Overfishing
• Causes human population, changes in fishing
  practices, environmental degradation, poor
  management, by-catch
• Solutions close fishing areas, marine
  sanctuaries, tighter regulations, consumer
  choices (http//www.mbayaq.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web
  /sfw_regional.aspx)

8
Aquaculture

• A solution to overfishing?
• Pros and cons

9
Benthos

• Rocky shores
• Tide pools
• Sand and mud
• Deep sea
• Coral reefs
• Just a few examples

10
Where benthic organisms live

• Epifuana
• Live on top of sediments
• Infauna
• Live within sediments

11
Epifauna
12
Infauna (a, b, c, e)
13
Why these patterns?
Land 86 Sea 14
Benthic 98 Pelagic 2
DISTRIBUTION OF LIFE