Coral Reef Ecology
Name two ways coral reefs are beneficial to humans
Income, food, medicine, shore protection
Describe two differences between seals and sea lions
Seals: no ear flaps, flop on land, swim with hind flippers
Sea lions: ear flaps, rotate hip bone, swim with front flippers
Name three characteristics of reptiles
Cold-blooded, covered in scales, dry/waterproff skin and eggs, internal fertilization
What is a major threat to shark populations? Why is the removal of sharks from the ocean such a major issue in ocean conservation?
Shark finning. Apex predators have disproportionately large impact on ecosystems. Trophic cascades.
In an experiment, define the independent and dependent variables.
Independent- factor being manipulated (ex: amount of sunlight)
Dependent- variable that changes in respone to the independent variable (ex: coral head growth)
What is disruptive coloring? Give one example you have observed on the reef.
Disruptive coloring breaks up a fishes shape so that it is harder to see – banding and eye spots. Good examples are butterfly fish- banded and spotted
Describe two differences between Mysticetes and Odonotocetes. Name an example of a species in each group.
Mystecetes – baleen, filter feeder, two blowholes (ex. blue whale, right whale)
Odonticetis – teeth, carnivores, one blow hole (ex. sperm whale, dolphins)
What is an arribada?
Congregation of nesting turtles that all come to land around the same time, increasing the chance of hatchling survival. Olive Ridley and Kemps Ridley sea turtles.
Describe one pro and one con of aquaculture
Pros: don’t fish wild stocks, keep up with food demand
Cons: pollution, habitat destruction, disease, lowered genetic fitness
Define climate change
a change in global or regional climate patterns, in particular a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels (i.e. due to human activity)
What is the difference between venom and poison? Provide an example of a poisonous marine animal and a venomous marine animal.
Venom is injected. Lionfish, blue-ringed octopus
Poison is ingested- porcupinefish
Name and describe three threats to marine mammal populations.
Noise pollution
Entanglement
Ship strikes
Commercial hunting
Name two feeding strategies of marine birds
Surface feeding, Pursuit diving, Plunge diving, Kleptoparasites
What is ballast water? What threat does it perpetuate?
Ballast water is taken in to balance large freighters when they are carrying freight. It is pumped out when they pick up freight. Perpetuates invasive species.
Describe two tools you can utilize to study the ocean.
Secchi disk, quadrats, transects, tagging, satellite, sampling, etc.
What is Batasian mimicry? Mullerian?
Batesian- harmless species resembles a species that is less palatable
Mullerian- two unpalatable species resemble each other
Ingested, entangled, punch holes in gut, starvation, suffocation, drowning, microplastic bioaccumulation/biomagnification
Describe four major threats to sea turtle populations
Predation, hunting, egg collecting, coastal development, light pollution, marine debris
What are three characteristics that allow invasive species to be successful? Name an invasive species.
Reproduce quickly, disperse easily, generalists, hardy/adaptable
What is protandry? Protogyny? For each strategy, provide an example of a marine fish that utilizes it.
Protandry- male then female. Clownfish
Protogyny- femaly then male. Bluehead wrasse, humphead wrasse
Name and describe the three types of coral reefs.
Fringing reef- grows around an oceanic island
Barrier- as island moves away from hotspot coral grows to stay near surface and becomes barrier reef (separate from land by lagoon)
atoll- as island continues, to sink, it sinks below the surface and an atoll is formed – a ring of coral around a lagoon.
Provide the scientific name of two dolphin families. Provide an example of an animal in each.
Delphinidae- dolphins, orca
Phocoenidae- harbor porpoises, vaquita
Platanistidae- river dolphins
Name and describe four adaptations of marine birds
Rest/sleep on eaves or rocks, wing shape for lifestyle, webbed feet, salt glands, waterproof plumage, colorations of black, white, grey
Explain what is meant by “fishing down the food web.” What is meant by “shifting baselines?”
As larger fish become less available, humans are fishing for smaller species and smaller individuals. There are less big fish in the sea. Big fish produce exponentially more eggs (fecundity), so decreasing the ability for stocks to replenish themselves.
Shifting baselines refers a change in how a species' population is measured as people's reference points change. Lack of baseline data to compare stocks to, only recently started surveying and monitoring.
Describe the process of eutrophication.
Nutrient influx, algal bloom, algae die, bacteria decompose, use oxygen, low oxygen results