Slides 1 - Patterns in marine enviornment

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245k described marine species most deep-sea benthic are not described yet Animalia > Chromista > Plantae > Bacteria > Fungi > Protozoa > Archaea > Viruses

in the upper 0-200m of water there is low biodiversity 1) Calanoid copepods (“oar-feet shrimp”) 2) Euphausids (krill) 3) Chaetognaths 4) Pteropods

• small 1-2mm crustaceans • planktonic, benthic, terrestrial and parasitic

• small, exclusivley marine crustaceans • antarctic krill has the largest biomass • most krill display large daily vertical migrations

• marine planktonic worms • “barracuda of the plankton” • 2 -120 mm

• free swimming pelagic sea snails & slugs

• 200k species • most found on coral reefs

on top of sea floor

in the sea floor

close to the sea floor

• Foraminiferans • Nematodes • Crustaceans (amphipod shrimps, isopods, copepods, bivalves) • Polycheate worms

single-celled testate (which means they have a shell) protozoans move and catch their food with a network of thin extensions of the cytoplasm

unsegmented worms with a blunt and a sharp end also called ‘roundworms’

• segmented worms with bristle-like appendages

• meiofauna (mm-sized) • microbial life • organisms in inaccessible habitats

• species richness • diversity indices • such as species richness + species evenness • such as the shannon-weaver index • taxonomic diversity

y axis: # species x axis: quadrants breaking point is when it approaches an asymptote - some species cant approach an asymptote - many species ahve annual or longer cycles in abundance thats why

-> units of species sharing an important ecological characteristic and playing an equivalent role in the community. - Encrusting suspension feeders - Benthic zooplankton feeders - Deposit deeders

animals that feed by filetering suspended matter and food particles from water - aka filter feeders

sessile animals that catch living planktonic animals

animals that deed on the detritus that collects on the substratum at the bottom of the owater - detritivores

Coast Continental shelf - shelf break Continental slope Continental rise Abyssal plane Trench Mid-oceanic ridges

• broad, relatively shallow submarine terrace of continental crust forming the edge of a continental landmass • 8% of the total bottom ocean surface