Lecture 9 - Finding Food At Sea Flashcards
What is a major problem for warm blooded animals in oceans?
Heat loss
How much denser is water than air?
800 x
What are Reynold’s numbers?
Inertia /viscosity
What problem does as oceanic habitat pose for large animals?
Inertia is high therefore a lot of effort is required to get moving
What is a problem of an oceanic environment for small animals?
Viscosity is high
What poses a significant disadvantage of predation in marine environments opposed to terrestrial environments?
The ocean is a 3D environment were as on land most predator/prey can only move in one plane, sometimes 2
What are the layers of the ocean?
Epipelagic zone Mesopelagic zone Bathypelagic zone Abyssopelagic zone Hadalpelagic zone
What is a problem for vision in the ocean?
Loose both quantity and quality of light as descend, as well as shifting the blue. Only 1% remains at 100m
What is difficult about harvesting primary producers in the ocean?
They are clustered and shift temporally
Outline the basic oceanic food web
Phytoplankton –> zooplankton –> benthic invertebrates/ benthic fish / pelagic fish
Give an example of a diatom
Thalassionema nitzschoides it is phytoplankton
Give an example of a flagellate
Ceratium tripos they are all phytoplankton
What do herbivorous oceanic species feed on?
Phytoplankton they are normally zooplankton
Give an example of a herbivorous oceanic species
Calanus ferimorchians
Give an example of a carnivorous aquatic copepod
Pereuchaeta norvegica
What is krill?
Small shrimp like animals
Why does the antarctic have a diverse oceanic ecosystem?
24 hour daylight can sustain large volumes of phytoplankton
What are the movements of phytoplankton dependent upon?
The currents due to drifting nutrient sources
What clade are whales in?
Cetartiodactyla
What order are the whales?
Cetacea
What are the two whale sub orders?
Odontoceti (toothed whales)
Mysticeti (baleen whales)
What are toothed whales?
Odontoceti
What are baleen whales?
Mysticeti
What are the classes of odontoceti?
Platanistidae (river dolphins) Ziphiidae (beaked whales) Physeteridae (sperm whales) Monodontidae (beluga and narwhals) Delphinidae (dolphins, orcas and porpoises)
What is the diet of river dolphins?
Squid and fish
What is the diet of sperm whales?
Almost exclusively squid
What is the diet of delphinidae?
Fish
How have Orcas adapted to hunt schools of herring?
They move in synchronised groups to herd the herring to the surface therefore creating a 2D environment
How have humpback whales adapted to feed on schools of fish?
Bubble netting condenses the fish
What are the classes of mysticeti?
Eschrichtidae (gray whales)
Balenopteridae ( blue, humpback and finback whales)
Balaenidae (right whales)
