The Open Seas

Question 1

How Deep is the continental shelf?

Answer 1

200 m

Question 2

How deep is the abyssal plain?

Answer 2

4000 to 6000 m

Question 3

How deep is the epipelagic zone?

Answer 3

200 m

Question 4

How deep is the mesopelagic zone?

Answer 4

1000 m

Question 5

How deep is the bathypelagic zone?

Answer 5

4000 m

Question 6

How deep is the abyssopelagic zone?

Answer 6

6000 m

Question 7

What is below the abyssopelagic zone?

Answer 7

They hadopelagic zone

Question 8

What are the trophic levels?

Answer 8

The idea that calories decrease as you go up the food chain. There is a 90% energy loss between trophic levels.

Question 9

Give an example of trophic levels

Answer 9

Whale - 100,000 calories
Krill - 1,000,000 calories
Phytoplankton - 10,000,000 calories

Question 10

What is the microbial loop?

Answer 10

Seawater contains a huge amount of dissolved organic matter.
Leaks out of cells from excreta or cell lysis
Food for bacteria

Question 11

What is the light levels like at 200 m?

Answer 11

Only 1% of incident light left

Permanently dark below 1000m

Question 12

What colours are left after 200m?

Answer 12

Blue only

Question 13

What is the temperature like in the sea?

Answer 13

Uniform 4° C
Permanent thermocline at 1000 m
Colder at the poles
80% of worlds water is 4° C or less

Question 14

What type of environment is the continental shelf?

Answer 14

Too deep for photosynthesis
No algae or phytoplankton
Feed on marine snow
Dead parts of organisms

Question 15

What are the invertebrates like at the edge of the abyss?

Answer 15

Many fixed or sedentary forms

Filter feeders with low metabolic rates meaning they are very slow-growing