Task – Distribution of Life
Introduction
Some of the strangest creatures on Earth live on the ocean. The seafloor is an eerie world that time forgot.Tall chimneys erupt hot mineral-rich water that supports a variety of unusual organisms in the cold dark abyss.These unusual organisms have no counterparts anywhere else in the sea.
Today the world ocean is home both to the largest animal that has ever lived (wanna guess what it is?) and to many of Earths smallest organisms. Cyanobacteria a blue-green algae grow in the surface waters. Several hundred could fit comfortably on the point of a needle. Marine biologists estimate that there are at least nine million species of unicelluar organims plants and animals living in the oceans. As of now they have identified only about 1000000 of them.
Objectives
The Captain’s Orders
The oceans may be divided into large biomes or living regions (Figure 1). These zones are based on the distribution of marine organisms. The two major environments are the pelagic which consists of the water column and the benthic which comprises the ocean bottom. The organisms that live in these zones can be classified in terms of the habitat they occupy.
Figure 1.Classification of life zones in the oceans.
The factors that affect primary productivity are (1) the availability of light (2) the availability of nutrients and (3) the rate of grazing by primary consumers (herbivores).
Figure 2.Seasonal variations in nutrient elements plankton biomass and light for a mid-latitude oceanic region
Questions
Answer the following questions in terms of physical and/or chemical factors that might explain or partially explain various divisions in the Figure 1 classification.
Answer the following questions using Figure 2.
How to Submit Your Task
Answer the questions on a word processing document. Once you have finished the assigned task submit the document to the Captain’s dropbox.