Vertical zonation in intertidial zone

Question 1

What are the four zones of the intertidal zone?

Answer 1

spray zone, high intertidal zone, middle intertidal zone, low intertidal zone

Question 2

What are the abiotic conditions of the low intertidal zone?

Answer 2

• usually wet
• always underwater except the lowest of spring tides
• protection provided by water

Question 3

What are the abiotic conditions of the midele intertidal zone?

Answer 3

• wet and dry
• tides ebb and flow twice a day
• exposed to water for long (more access to water)

Question 4

What are the abiotic conditions of the high intertidal zone?

Answer 4

• wet during high tide
• floods during the peaks of daily high tides but remains dry for logn stretches between high tides
• long exposure to sunlight
• strong waves

Question 5

What are the abiotic conditions of the spray zone?

Answer 5

• usually dry
• dampened by ocean spray and high waves and is submerged only during very high tides or severe storms
• exposed to strong sunlight

Question 6

What organisms live in the low intertidal zone?

Answer 6

• sea urchins, sea slug, sea cucumber, and algae

Question 7

What organisms live in the middle intertidal zone?

Answer 7

• sea stars and anemones

Question 8

What organisms live in the high intertidal zone?

Answer 8

• marine snails, mussels, shore crabs, and hermit crabs

Question 9

What organisms live in the spray zone?

Answer 9

• buckshot barnacles

Question 10

What adaptations do organisms have in the spray zone?

Answer 10

• barnacles anchor themselves to the rocks
• they can also hold seawater in their closed shells to keep from drying out during low tide

Question 11

What adaptations do organisms have in the low intertidal zone?

Answer 11

• sea cucumbers don’t have many predators, but if they feel threatened they expel their insides, leaving their organs for the predator. They grow them back.
• soft-bodied (don’t need to worry about drying out bc they are always in water)

Question 12

What adaptations do organisms have in the middle intertidal zone?

Answer 12

• sea stars developed grip tightly to rock over the years, preventing them from being swept up on shore or farther into the ocean
• anemones can bleach themselves at night to hide/camouflage

Question 13

What adaptations do organisms have in the high intertidal zone?

Answer 13

• crabs and snails have shells to protect them from the sunlight during low tide
• mussels group tightly together to reduce individual exposure to sunlight, preventing their water store from drying up faster
• hermit crabs have a portable home in the form of a shell which protects the crabs from high temperatures. It can also carry water in its shell. Shell to withstand pounding waves.