5.1 The Open Ocean
This biological process in the open ocean transports carbon to deep waters when organisms die and sink.
Marine snow
These tiny animals build the calcium carbonate structures that form tropical coral reefs.
Coral Polyps
Organisms on rocky shores must survive this regular rise and fall of water level.
The tidal cycle
Because sand shifts easily, most organisms on sandy shores use this strategy to avoid being washed away.
Burrowing/embedding
These specialized roots help the mangrove forests stand upright in the water, keeping them above water where they can photosynthesize.
Prop roots
This group of drifting organisms forms the base of most open‑ocean food webs.
Phytoplankton
This symbiotic algae provides corals with glucose, amino acids, and oxygen through photosynthesis.
Zooxanthellae
This zone of the rocky shore is only submerged during high tide and experiences the greatest environmental variation.
Intertidal zone
Wave action sorts sand grains by this physical property, influencing which organisms can live there.
Particle size
Mangroves absorb sediment, which affects this property of the water for creatures living there.
Turbidity
Coral reefs can form three major structures—fringing, barrier, and this type that forms around submerged volcanoes.
Atoll
Coral reefs require low nutrient levels because high nutrients encourage the overgrowth of this competitor.
Macroalgae
Barnacles and mussels survive wave exposure using this type of attachment to rocks.
This type of crab has adapted to burrow in the substrate of sand to avoid predators.
Ghost crab
Mangroves tolerate high salinity using this process, where excess salt is removed through leaves.
Salt excretion
This deep‑sea phenomenon supports entire ecosystems without sunlight by using chemical energy from hydrogen sulfide.
Hydrothermal vent ecosystems
Reef‑building corals require temperatures within a narrow range; exceeding this range can cause this stress response.
Coral bleaching
These types of "arms" are used by barnacles to catch drifting prey during the night, where they can grab it and put it in their mouths.
Cirri
The ability of sand to retain water depends on this characteristic of the grains.
Porosity
Mangrove forests act as nurseries for juvenile fish because their root systems provide this ecological benefit.
Shelter from predators
This zone of the open ocean receives enough light for photosynthesis and supports most phytoplankton.
The photic zone
On coral reefs, high biodiversity is supported because species avoid direct competition by occupying slightly different roles, such as feeding at different times or using different parts of the reef. This ecological concept describes how organisms divide resources.
Resource partitioning
Tide pools form in depressions on rocky shores and often experience extreme changes in this chemical factor.
Salinity
The slope of a sandy beach is determined by grain size and this hydrodynamic factor.
Wave energy
Mangrove ecosystems store large amounts of carbon in deep, anaerobic sediments, contributing to this global climate function.
Carbon sinks