Honors Marine Biology Module 13 The Epipelagic Zone

Honors Marine Biology Module 13 The Epipelagic Zone - Part 2 March 21, 2013

Class Challenge Sing a song Or Act out lines from your favorite movie

Homework What ingredients did you find, (which come from seaweed, ) in the foods you have in your house: Carageenan (red algae) Alginates (brown algae) Beta-carotene (green algae)

Posters from Our last Class Work on and finish up your posters from class. Mr. Wilson would like to display them to promote our class. Thank You!!

Quiz 1. Define epipelagic zone:

2. The Epipelagic zone overlaps the __________. This layer of the ocean’s surface is where light can penetrate to allow for photosynthesis.

3. The Epipelagic zone is divided into two areas throughout the world. ________: That area of the epipelagic zone lying over the continental shelf ________: The area the epipelagic zone of water lying over the rest of the ocean.

True or False 4. In the oceanic waters of the epipelagic, is there is no outside input of nutrients.

True or False 5. All the food that supports the region of the oceanic epipelagic zone ecosystem is selfproduced.

1. Define epipelagic zone: The uppermost layer of the pelagic division is called the epipelagic zone. This is the area of water column that extends from the surface down to about 200 meters (650 feet).

2. The Epipelagic zone overlaps the photic zone. This layer of the ocean’s surface is where light can penetrate to allow for photosynthesis.

3. The Epipelagic zone is divided into two areas throughout the world. Neritic: That area of the epipelagic zone lying over the continental shelf Oceanic: The area the epipelagic zone of water lying over the rest of the ocean.

True or False 4. An interesting feature of the oceanic waters of the epipelagic, is that there is no outside input of nutrients. Oceanic water is isolated (out in the middle of the ocean!), so there are no nearby ecosystems to produce food that could move into the area. True

True or False 5. All the food that supports the region of the oceanic epipelagic zone ecosystem is selfproduced. True

Last Field Trip Our next field trip is scheduled for Friday, April 19, 2013 Hart’s Landing Fishing Tournament 10: 00 am to Noon If you are 16 or older Florida Law requires you to have a current Fishing License.

Current Events That will be a make up for field trips missed.

• Aaron Faircloth • Catch of a lifetime: • http: //youtu. be/QMSTT 60 Ujo 8.

Staying Afloat in the Epipelagic Probably the most challenging environmental need in the epipelagic zone is actually staying in the epipelagic zone. Single-celled or multi-celled organisms have a higher density than the surrounding water. If they have “hard-parts” like shells, scales, or bones, it is even more difficult to keep from sinking.

Photosynthesizing organisms Sinking would be even more detrimental because below the epipelagic zone there is no light and therefore no source of energy for them. Animals that feed on organisms in this zone also need to remain there – not for solar energy, but to be where their food is.

So how do they stay suspended in the water…. ? ? There are two major strategies: 1. They have increased resistance in the water in order to sink more slowly. So the more surface area an organism has, the higher its resistance in the water.

Think parachute falling through the air. • A large surface area can slow the rate at which an organisms sinks. • That is why plankton have a very high resistance to sinking, because small organisms have much more surface area per volume than large organisms.

This is only beneficial for organisms that Planktonic. If an organism needs to swim, its body shape needs to provide minimal drag. Most Nektonic organisms are torpedoshape in order to move more effortlessly through the water.

Swimming Creatures employ… 2. Buoyancy to stay afloat a. Oils and fats b. Air Bladders c. Water spiders: They have feathered feet, the surface tension of the water is not broken when they step on the water. They are not marine animals, but they are found in salt and fresh water.

• • • • • • • Total Fat in 3 -1/2 ounces of Fish - Shellfish Bass: 2. 4 grams lean Bluefish: 6. 5 grams lean Butterfish: 8. 5 grams fat Cod: 4. 6 grams lean Flounder: 3. 9 grams lean Grouper: 2. 8 grams lean Haddock: 4. 9 grams lean Hake: 5. 2 grams lean Halibut: 4. 3 grams lean Herring: 9. 0 grams fat Mackerel: 13. 8 grams fat Mullet: 3. 0 grams lean Ocean Perch: 2. 8 grams lean Pollack: 4. 2 grams lean Pompano: 9. 5 grams fat Porgie: 10. 4 grams fat Red Snapper: 4. 5 grams lean Salmon: 8. 6 grams fat Shark: 1. 9 grams lean Sole: 3. 3 grams lean Striped Bass: 8. 3 grams lean Swordfish: 2. 2 grams lean Tuna (bluefish): 6. 5 grams lean Crab: 1. 3 grams lean Shrimp: 1. 1 grams lean Oyster: 2. 4 grams lean

Swim (air) bladder

Water Spider

Neuston Are Planktonic organisms living at the sea surface. Most have a gas-filled structure that acts like a life preserver.

Portuguese Man-of-War

By the Wind Sailor

Violet Shell floating at surface

Sea Slugs

Life in the Epipelagic Zone Animals benefit from having specialized sensory organs: A. Eyes can detect movement, shapes and shadows B. Very good eyesight in larger organisms C. Lateral lines D. Echolocation (dolphins)

Animals hide in the Epipelagic Zone 1. Transparent (jellyfish) 2. Countershading: Dorsal surface is darkly colored. Ventral surface is silvery white. 3. Epipelagic organisms are silver and blue in color to help them blend in with the water around them. 4. Vertical banded or striped to break up the silhouette of their bodies.

Muscle Structure of Fish 1. Inner muscle layer: has a large network of veins and arteries, large amount of protein called myoglobin. It provides more oxygen availability. Darker in color. 2. Body heat is created that is circulated with the Inner Muscle Layer. Heat cannot easily escape from the body. Muscles work efficiently when warm so this allows for the fish to be able to swim for longer periods of time. More oxygen and warmer body temperature.

3. Endothermic: Fishes body is warmer than the surrounding ocean. 4. Outer muscle layer enables the fish to have short powerful bursts of speed; muscle tissue is lighter in color meaning less myoglobin.

Vertical Migration Daily movement of small marine animals between the photic zone and lower depths. Zooplankton drops down to depths below the reach of sunlight. No predators will spot them. At night they move back up towards the surface to feed on smaller zooplankton and phytoplankton.

Epipelagic Food Web Figure 13. 11 The Epipelagic zone contains the most food out of all the pelagic areas. The food web in this zone represents one of the best of all the ecosystems. There are many species that have a varied diet, eating organisms from many trophic levels.

Dissolved Organic Matter DOM Organic material dissolved in the ocean water that is the result of waste products from zooplankton. There is so much of it that it is one of the largest reserves of organic carbon on the planet. It comes directly out of the cells of phytoplankton.

Great quantities of DOM are part of the Microbial Loop which is the flow of energy moving throughout the plankton. It is almost like a sub-food web carried out below the major food web. I

Microbial Loop Figure 13. 12 The flow of energy in the epipelagic beginning with the phytoplankton dissolved organic matter, and the smallest zooplankton, making energy available to the major food web. Food source for Nanoplankton, Ultraplankton, Picoplankton.

Microbial Loop begins… With phytoplankton, which produces extra DOM that leaks out into the water. Extremely small bacteria (Picoplankton) feed on DOM. These bacteria are so small that most organisms cannot feed on them, but tiny protozoans within the nanoplankton can. These protozoans also produce some DOM.

Zooplankton then feed on the protozoans, finally making the energy bound up in the DOM available to the rest of the food chain. Before scientists were aware of the large quantities of pico-, ultra-, and nanoplankton, it was thought that all the energy bound up in the epipelagic is an efficiently designed ecosystem.

Detritus This is organic matter floating in seawater that does not get dissolved. This is also a very important food source than comes from fecal pellets of zooplankton and other animals. It also includes the plentiful abandoned mucus containers of larvaceans. Most of this detritus sinks down into the layers below for use of the organisms living below the epipelagic zone.

Primary Production Ocean production rates for healthy phytoplankton 1. Production is directly related to sun exposure and varies due to latitudes. 2. Sediments can keep light from penetrating all depths. 3. Seasons and weather: The photic zone is deeper in the summer than the winter. 4. Large numbers of plankton can inhibit the penetration of light. So in areas of high productivity, the large numbers of plankton prevents the sunlight from entering lower areas of the photic zone keeping light away from the phytoplankton living there.

High production rates are not just dependant on light but also occurr….

High Production Areas include: 1. 2. 3. 4. Coastal Areas Warmer waters Equatorial areas Extreme Polar areas in spring and summer 5. Production is also dependant upon Nitrogen and Phosphorus and act as fertilizer.

Let’s review from the beginning of the year….

Thermocline A thinner, well mixed layer that extends down to a point at which a rapid decrease in temperature occurs. This layer inhibits the mixing and exchange of nutrients, gases and even organisms from moving between the two layers.

• Thermocline in Thailand Is March 2011 • http: //youtu. be/tlzj 3 REGh. Tk

Overturn Surface water turns cold as a result of winter, becoming denser than the water below it. It then begins to sink below the Thermocline forcing nutrient-rich deep water to move upward in its place.

Spring Bloom As nutrients come to the surface and temperatures warm, phytoplankton uses these nutrients causing their production to explode in numbers.

New Trigger for Immense North Atlantic Spring Plankton Bloom http: //youtu. be/bm. Tui. P 8 ls. Oo

Upwelling The process that carries colder, nutrient-rich water upward to a more shallow depth occurring in coastal areas where there are steady, blowing winds and at the equator. (Equatorial Upwelling)

The Importance of Upwelling http: //youtu. be/Al 8 Wr. Xk. Lu. L 4

Gyres Large, mostly circular systems of surface currents driven by the wind. See figure 1. 16

Homework Finish Module 13 reading OYO’s and Study Guide Quiz on Epipelagic zone Class challenge Go to the Sarasota County Fair