Study Guide for OCE1001 Test 31. What are the 3 domains of life? Bacteria, Archea, Eukaroyta 2. What marine organism represents the vast majority of the ocean’s biomass? Plankton represents the vast majority of the oceans biomass3. Plankton are organisms that float. Why is a copepod, which can swim and propel itself through the water, classified as plankton? Because of its small size, it can't swim fast or far so it's location is determined by current4. Organisms that can photosynthesize and produce their own food are called what? Autotrophic5. Organisms that only spend part of their life cycle as plankton are referred to as what?Meroplankton6. What are nektobenthos? Organisms that live on the bottom but swim or crawl through water7. What is the primary factor that limits life on the deep-ocean floor? Sparse Food Supply8. Of Earth’s total number of species, why are the fewest in the marine pelagic realm?Uniform conditions in the pelagic realm make fewer specialized environments for organism adaptation as different species9. Why is the surface area to volume ratio important for phytoplankton? A larger ratio provides higher resistance to sinking and less energy used to stay afloat10. Why do most fish and marine mammals have the same torpedo-like, streamlined shape? The shape minimizes energy expended to move through water11. Most fresh water fish are hypertonic, meaning their body cells contain more salt than the surrounding water. Since osmosis should push water into their cells, why don’t they explode? They release more water by excreting highly diluted urine.12. What is the primary difference between pelagic environment zones below the photic zone? Increasing pressure with increasing depth13. What are the reasons the ocean has a smaller daily, seasonal, and annual temperature range than that experienced on land? Water has a greater heat capacity than land so it doesn't heat as fast, warming of the ocean is reduced by evaporation which removes excess heat,radiation from the sun can also penetrate deep into the water distributing its energy through a very large mass.14. What is the definition of eurythermal?Organisms that can tolerate large changes in temperature15. Freshwater fish are isotonic, hypertonic, or hypotonic relative to their environment?Hypertonic16. How does water pressure change with depth? Increases with depth17. What is the euphotic zone?Zone with enough life to support photosynthesis18. What are the 4 biozones of the oceanic province? Epipelagic, mesopelagic, bathypelagic, abyssopelagic19. What is the neritic province?Zone where water depth is less than 200 meters 20. What is the deepest zone of the suboceanic province? Hadal Zone21. Biological oceanographers discuss about biomass frequently. Just what is biomass? the total mass of all organisms of a given class22. What is the difference between gross primary productivity and net primary productivity? Gross productivity is the amount of organic carbon created by photosynthesis per unit of time. Net productivity is the gross minus the amount of organic carbon consumed by the photosynthesizes.23. What are the two primary factors that control biologic productivity in the surface oceans? Sunlight and Nutrients24. What is the biological pump?The removal of organic matter and nutrients from surface water to deep water through the sinking of dead surface dwelling organisms.25. Why is upwelling such an important factor in creating areas of high biologic productivity? Upwelling brings nutrient rich deep water to the surface where productivity is limited by the availability of nutrients26. Why are sessile, plant-like macro algae (i.e., those attached to the ocean bottom) only found in littoral and sub-littoral environments? They require Light27. Given what you know about surface productivity, where do you think that sunlight penetrates deepest into the ocean?The Middle Gyre28. In photosynthesis, what two things must come together with light energy input to produce sugar and oxygen? Water and CO229. What influences ocean color? The level of turbidity as a result of runoff, the level of photosynthetic pigment which has positive correlation with biological production 30. What is responsible for the red tide phenomenon? Red tide occurs in patches of water where certain species of dinoflagellates flourish. They are so abundant that the water becomes discolored and takes a red hue.31. What are the 3 basic categories of organism that exist within an ecosystem? Producers, Consumers, and Decomposers32. What is suspension feeding? Aquatic creature that feeds by filtering tiny organisms or fine particles of organic material from currents of water that pass through it.33. What is the gross ecological efficiency? The ratio of energy passed onto the next higher trophic level divided by the energy received from the trophic level below.34. What is a food chain? Sequence of organisms through which energy is transferred35. What is a food web? A feeding relationship between all organisms in an ecosystem36. What is a biomass pyramid? The number of individuals and total biomass decrease at successive trophic levels37. What is meant by the term fisheries? Fish caught from the ocean by commercial fishers38. What is a standing stock? The mass present in an ecosystem at a given time.39. Explain maximum sustainable yield. The maximum fishery biomass that can be removed yearly and still be sustained by the fishery ecosystem.40. What is incidental catch or bycatch? Includes any marine organisms that are caught incidentally by fishers seeking commercial species.41. What strategies or methods help an organism float?Having many appendages to create drag, having a soft low density body, having a swim bladder, having a gas chamber inside a shell42. What are the common characteristics or adaptations for a fish that lives a cruising lifestyleA streamlined torpedo shaped body, a preponderance of red muscle tissue, a higher body temp, the ability to generate short bursts of high speed.43. What advantages does schooling behavior offer? Being together reduces the probability of running into a predator fish, the school may appear as a larger more dangerous organism to a predator, the appearance of many fish may confuse an attacking predator44. What are some of the common adaptations for deep-water nekton? Large eyes, bioluminescence, ability to eat large infrequent meals, dark coloration45. What is the purpose of a fish’s swim bladder? Enables the
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