Biotic Factors
Organisms that make their own food using sunlight or chemical energy.
What are producers?
This abiotic factor affects how much light can penetrate the water.
What is water depth?
The start of the marine food chain.
What are phytoplankton?
A shortage of this can limit plant growth in the ocean.
What is sunlight?
This covers more than 70% of Earth’s surface.
What is the ocean?
These animals must consume other organisms for energy.
What are consumers?
This factor refers to the salt content of the ocean.
What is salinity?
This term describes each step in a food chain or food web.
What is a trophic level?
This abiotic factor can limit where organisms can survive in the ocean.
What is temperature?
The deepest part of the ocean is called this.
What is the Mariana Trench?
Tiny organisms that drift in the water and are a crucial food source.
What is plankton?
Name a factor that influences the temperature of ocean water.
What is sunlight or ocean currents?
Energy transfer between trophic levels is typically this efficient.
What is 10%?
These nutrients are essential for plant growth and can be a limiting factor.
What are nitrogen and phosphorus?
These marine mammals are known for their intelligence and communication skills.
What are dolphins?
This type of organism breaks down dead material, returning nutrients to the ecosystem.
What are decomposers?
This gas is essential for marine life to perform respiration.
What is oxygen?
Organisms at the top of the food chain with no natural predators.
What are apex predators?
How does overfishing act as a limiting factor?
What is it reduces population size and disrupts food webs?
Coral reefs are often called this because of their biodiversity.
What is the "rainforest of the sea"?
Name a predator-prey relationship in the marine biome.
What is a shark eating fish?
These are non-living factors that influence where organisms can live in the ocean.
What are abiotic factors?
What happens to energy as it moves up the food chain?
What is it decreases?
Name one human activity that impacts limiting factors in the marine biome.
What is pollution or climate change?
This current affects climate by transporting warm water across the Atlantic Ocean.
What is the Gulf Stream?