Prelim 2 Flashcards
Which countries are whaling?
Japan, Norway, Iceland
What is specific heat capacity?
Amount of heat energy required to raise 1 gram of liquid water by one degree celsius (1 calorie per gram per deg C). This is among the highest of any substance on earth
_______ are the highest salinity waters
sub tropical gyres b/c theres not much rain
Describe conveyer belt
sink into low nutrient waters, slowly gains more nutrients as dead material rains down
What will happen to thermocline b/c of global warming?
increase strength of the thermocline, reducing ability to mix, will create oxygen-poor zones
Photosynthesis ___ CO2 and microbial respiration _____ CO2
consumes; produces
Adding CO2 does what to the ocean? Which part?
makes more acidic; deep ocean is more acidic
By the year 2100, without significant changes, ___ ____ ____of the world’s marine species may stand on the brink of extinction.
more than half
Approximately ___% of the land area is protected, compared to roughly _% of the world ocean and adjacent seas.
12; 1
Two main types of animals who are being harmed?
- Sharks & Rays
2. corals
Why study primary production?
1) Base of the Food Web
2) Essential Element of the Global Carbon Cycle
What is net primary production?
the difference between the amount of CO2 consumed by photosynthesis and the amount of CO2 produced by respiration.
Equivalently, it is the Net Gain or Net Loss of carbon within the cell
What is the compensation light level?
At light levels below the compensation light level, phytoplankton cells do not have sufficient light to photosynthesize fast enough to meet their basal metabolic needs and so cell respiration exceeds photosynthesis and this then leads to negative values of net primary production.
What is compensation depth?
The depth at which the ambient light intensity is equal to the compensation light intensity
Nutrient-Dependency of Primary Production?
in low nutrient conditions, growth advantage shifts to smaller phytoplankton
What are The 4 Phytoplankton Nutrients of Interest to Oceanographers?
Nitrogen
Phosphorous
Silica
Iron
What is The Main Source of Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Silica to the Surface Ocean?
vertically mixing or upwelling of nutrient-rich deep-water to the surface
The main source of Iron input to the surface ocean is from …?
dust blowing off of continents
Iron Limited Region?
Southern Ocean
What makes it difficult for nutrients to move upward to the the surface ocean in the subtropical gyres?
Surface convergence of the Ekman Layer in the subtropics (forced by the Trade and Westerly Winds) forms a mound/lens of warm (low-nutrient) water (and associated gyre rotation) and an associated downward surface layer velocity into the deeper ocean.
What happens as a result of equatorial upwelling in the East?
East-west asymmetry is a result of shallow thermocline; Proximity of Thermocline Near the Surface in the East Enhances Upwelling of Cold and Nutrient-Rich Deep-Water to the Lighted Region of the Surface Ocean and Thus Enhances Biological Productivity in this Area
What is Tidal Mixing?
- occurs in shallow continental shelf regions
- Seasonally Steady
- Mixes the water column from bottom to top and brings bottom water rich in nutrients to the ocean surface
What is coastal upwelling?
- results from Wind/Ekman Offshore Transport
- Seasonally Variable
- Greatly enhances upward movement of deep water that is rich in nutrients
What most often limits the growth of phytoplankton in the ocean?
nitrogen
The rate of primary production per square meter in the open ocean is ___, but because this region is so vast, the open ocean as a whole _____ total global ocean primary production.
low; dominates
The rate of primary production per square meter in the open ocean is ___, but because this region is so vast, the open ocean as a whole _____ total global ocean primary production.
low; dominates
What are Holoplankton? ex
Planktonic organisms that live their entire life in fluid suspension i.e. copepods
Meroplankton? ex
Planktonic organisms that spend only part of their life in fluid suspension i.e. crabs
An individual organism’s membership in a given category is often determined by…
What are the main food sources of the organism?
Who are the main predators of the organism?
Define autotrophs
Group of organisms whose energy/carbon for growth comes from non-organic sources. i.e. phytoplankton are autotrophs because they use sunlight and CO2 for their energy/carbon needs.
Define heterotrophs
Group of organisms whose energy/carbon for growth comes from previously formed organic carbon material. i.e. herbivorous zooplankton are heterotrophs because they consume phytoplankton for their carbon needs. Carnivores would also be heterotrophs
What is Exploitation Efficiency?
The efficiency with which a consumer population is able to find, capture and ingest all of the potential prey present in the environment
What is Gross Production Efficiency?
The physiological/biochemical efficiency of converting ingested prey into consumer biomass
The overall Trophic Transfer Efficiency depends on which two factors?
Exploitation Efficiency x Gross Production Efficiency
The overall Trophic Transfer Efficiency depends on which two factors?
Exploitation Efficiency x Gross Production Efficiency
How does much of the zooplankton avoid detection?
Diel Vertical Migration; migrates up to the surface layer of the ocean at night to feed in the dark while also avoiding visual predators like small fish
What is the exploitation efficiency of grazers during Spring Blooms in the Temperate North Atlantic Region?
Exploitation efficiency is very low in this case - much of phytoplankton is not found by grazers and instead sinks into the deep ocean as dead phytoplankton cells
What is the exploitation efficiency of grazers in Tropical Environments?
Exploitation efficiency is very high in this case - almost all phytoplankton is found and consumed by grazers
Oligotrophic?
Pelagic environment (water column) that has naturally very low plant nutrient concentrations --the vast subtropical gyres are oligotrophic
Eutrophic?
Pelagic environment (water column) that has naturally high plant nutrient concentrations --coastal upwelling zones are eutrophic
Heterotrophic bacteria are growing on ___ ___ ____ (sugars, amino acids etc…) released from phytoplankton by steady leakage,sudden cell senescence or sloppy feeding by zooplankton
dissolved organic matter
In ______ (low nutrient) open-ocean environments, the growth advantage goes to the smallest phytoplankton cells which are now recognized to be represented mainly by Prochlorococcus.
oligotrophic
_______ is the main contributor to primary production in open-ocean environments.
Prochlorococcus
Prochlorococcus is ..?
an autotrophic bacterium (i.e., bacteria that contains chlorophyll and the smallest type of phytoplankton)
What forms an efficient biological carbon pump?
When the dominant phytoplankton cells are large, the dominant grazers are large and their large fecal material easily sinks into the deep ocean taking organic carbon down with it
What is the expected efficiency of the Biological Carbon Pump for Costal Upwelling Zones?
a) The carbon pump is very efficient in coastal upwelling zones
b) The carbon pump is not very efficient in coastal upwelling zones
A
Species are not randomly distributed throughout the intertidal zone, but rather are arranged within relatively narrow ____ ____ .
vertical ranges (VERTICAL ZONATION)
What Often sets Upper Limit to Species Distributions?
Physical Stresses i.e. Desiccation Temperature Food Availability Wave Energy Salinity Dissolved Oxygen
What Often sets Lower Limit to Species Distributions?
biological interactions: Competition for Space, Predation
What is Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis?
disturbance maximizes species diversity by periodically removing competitively dominant species and allowing less competitive species to reestablish themselves
Sea-otter kelp forest trophic cascade example
Low abundance of sea otters leads to high abundance of sea urchins and low abundance of kelp forests
Corals receive —-% of their overall nutrition from photosynthetic-derived products!!!
60- 90%
Pacific Humpback Migration during summer and winter?
Summer Feeding at high latitudes with long day length and lots of biological productivity
Winter Calving at low latitudes - usually warm, but low or no food
Vocalization In Whales
Odontocetes (toothed whales)
Produce rapid bursts of clicks and whistles
Mysticetes (baleen whales)
Often make the long, low-frequency, sounds known as the whale song. [sexual selection]
–% of the excess heat energy trapped by greenhouse gas build-up since the industrial era has been taken up by the ocean
93%
Salinity (total mass of salt in a kilogram of seawater) can vary greatly across different ocean regions, but the relative proportion of ions making up the salt mass remains …?
unchanged everywhere in the ocean!
