Vocabulary
What is turbulence?
Water Motion
What is the continental shelf?
-The submerged edge of the continents
-The most biologically rich part of the ocean
-Where important resources are found within the water
What are the human impacts in seagrass communities?
Damage from boat propellers
Pollution
Excess nutrients from agriculture and urban runoff.
What physical factors influence kelp communities?
Temperature
Substrate
Wave Action
The more there is, the less you see. What is it?
Darkness
What is stratification?
Separation of water columns into layers.
Dense water is at the bottom and least dense at the top.
What is the subtidal zone?
The part of the continental shelf that is never exposed at low tide.
What factors influence the distribution of soft-bottom subtidal communities?
Particle size, stability of the sediment, light and temperature.
Which are the dominant organisms in hard-bottom subtidal communities?
Seaweeds
Sessile Organism (fixed in one place)
What has keys, but can't open locks?
A piano
What does unvegetated mean?
lacking in seaweeds or plants
Why is the continental shelf the most biologically rich part of the ocean?
Because of the many important resources found within the water.
These include fisheries, oil, and natural gas.
Which organisms are the main primary producers in soft-bottom subtidal communities?
Diatoms and a few other other microscopic algae and bacteria that grow on sand or mud particles in shallow water.
What defenses have seaweeds evolved against grazing?
Chemicals (to regrow tissue)
Tough and Leathery
I'm tall when i'm young, and short when i'm old. What am I?
A candle
What is a scavenger?
Animal that feeds on dead organic matter
How is sediment sorted out on the continental shelf?
Water motion sorts out the particles by size and density, especially the lower parts of the continental shelf.
What is an important source of food for soft-bottom animals.
Detritus: Particles of dead organic matter.
What is a frond?
The leaf-like blades of kelp.
You answer me, although I never ask you questions. What am I?
A telephone
What is a Monsoon?
winds in the Northern Indian Ocean that blow from the southwest in summer and from the northeast in winter.
Which abiotic factors influence life of the continental shelf?
Pollution and activities of humans on land.
What are the benefits and services provided by seagrass meadows?
They have a high primary production.
They offer shelter to animals that do not feed on detritus.
What abiotic and biotic factors affect the species composition in hard-bottom subtidal communities?
Light: as depth increases the amount of light decreases.
Space: Seaweeds must compete with other seaweeds as well as many sessile animals
Grazers and Predators
They come at night without being called and are lost in the day without being stolen.
The stars.