The Ocean Planet
The scientific study of biological processes and organisms in an ocean setting.
What is marine biology?
Production of food from energy released by inorganic molecules in the environment.
What is chemosynthesis?
Process by which organisms convert sunlight energy into food energy.
What is photosynthesis?
A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.
What is an ecosystem?
Effects of human activities, including climate change, loss of biodiversity and habitat, pollution, oil spills, and overfishing.
What are arthropogenic impacts?
Led one of the more notable marine expeditions from the HMS Challenger from 1872 to 1876.
Who is Charles Wyville Thompson?
The naming and grouping of related organisms.
What is taxonomy?
The three major domains of organisms.
What are Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya?
Animals whose internal metabolism is of negligible importance to controlling their body temperature.
What are ectothermic organisms?
Resources that can replace themselves when harvested sustainably.
What are renewable resources?
Cover approximately one-third of the planet's surface and extend from the edge of the continental rise, averaging between 4,500 meters and 6,000 meters deep.
What are abyssal plains?
Diverse group of unicellular algae that often aggregate together into chains or stars.
What are diatoms?
Group of photosynthetic bacteria that were among the first photosynthetic organisms on Earth
What are Cyanobacteria?
The input of excess nutrients from humans via agricultural runoff and waste.
What is eutrophication?
Farming or aquaculture of marine organisms.
What is mariculture?
Volcanoes below the surface with a flattened top as a result of wave action and subsidence.
What are guyots?
The production and emission of light from a living organism.
What is bioluminescence?
Planktonic organisms that eat primary producers.
What are zooplankton?
Formed when land sank or subsided after crust movement.
What are tectonic estuaries?
The decrease in the pH of the ocean, making it more acidic and reducing available carbonate.
What is ocean acidification?
Form of water circulation where surface water sinks, displaces the water below it and mixes with deeper water and then sinks to a depth determined by the density of the water.
What is thermohaline circulation?
Planktonic marine protozoans that secrete a detailed and elaborate shell made mostly out of a glass-like material called silica.
What are radiolarians?
Spiny skinned animals, including sea stars, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, feather stars, and sea lilies.
What are echinoderms?
Organisms that do not actively maintain a salt and water balance.
What are osmoconformers?
Overgrowth of algae as a result of increased nutrients in the ecosystem.
What is eutrophication?