Science 4.3-4.5 Ocean

Front 1

what are three types of habitat found in the intertidal zone?

Back 1

Rocky shores, sandy shores and estuaries

Front 2

What are some of the conditions organisms that live in rocky intertidal zones must be able to tolerate?

Back 2

• Pounding of the waves
• changes in salinity
•changes in temperature
• periods of being both underwater and exposed to air

Front 3

What is the "spray zone"?

Back 3

On a rocky shore, the highest rocks above the highest tide line. The spray zone is never completely covered with water. (A strip of black algae indicates the highest high tide line)

Front 4

What types of organisms live just below the high tide line?

Back 4

Barnacles and limpets

Front 5

How do organisms that live on the rocks adapt to their conditions?

Back 5

Barnacles can close up their shells, trapping a drop of water inside so they don't dry out when the tide is out. Limpets have a large muscular foot that lets them hold tight to the rocks and they release mucus around their shell to form a tight seal.

Front 6

What are tide pools?

Back 6

Depressions in the rocks that hold water when the tide goes out

Front 7

What are the conditions to which organisms in the tide pool have to adapt?

Back 7

Changes in salinity and temperature -- as the water is warmed by the sun and evaporates, the water becomes saltier and warmer. If it rains, the water becomes less salty and cooler. Also tide pool organisms must withstand force of the waves.

Front 8

What kind of adaptions do sea stars have for living in tide pools?

Back 8

Cling to the rocks with rows of suction cups

Front 9

What kind of adaptions do sea urchins have for living in tide pools?

Back 9

if the bottom is sandy, it Can use its spines to dig a hole and bury itself during heavy tides

Front 10

What kind of adaptions do sea anemones have for living in tide pools?

Back 10

When out of the water it pulls in its tenacles and folds up into a blob.

Front 11

What is an estuary?

Back 11

Coastal inlets or bays where fresh water from rivers mixes with salty ocean water.

Front 12

What is water called that is partly salty and partly fresh?

Back 12

Brackish

Front 13

Where would you find mangrove forests?

Back 13

Southern Florida and along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

Front 14

What are two kinds of estuaries?

Back 14

Mangrove forests and salt marshes

Front 15

How do mangrove forests protect the coastline?

Back 15

Mangroves break the action of winds and waves that can damage shorelines.

Front 16

Describe the habitat of a salt marshes.

Back 16

• Mud made up of nutrients carried into the marsh by fresh water and tides
• Cordgrass is the most common plant-- it can survive in salt water. Some is eaten by animals and the rest is decomposed by bacteria and supplies nutrients to marsh organisms.
• Tidal channels run through the cord grass and waves break up as they enter the channel so organisms are protected.

Front 17

Why are salt marshes an important habitat?

Back 17

Rich envionment for many organisms. Crabs, shrimp, oysters, and fish hatch and feed here before entering the harsher ocean. When the water retreats, the mud flats provide feeding ground for heron, egrets and other birds.

Front 18

What is threatening to estuaries?

Back 18

Pollution in rivers that flow into estuaries may affect organisms that live there.

Front 19

What are the conditions in the neritic zone?

Back 19

There is plenty of light and nutrients that allow plantlike algae to grow. The algae is food and shelter for other organisms. The water over the continental shelf is shallow and receives sunlight and a steady supply of nutrients that are washed into the ocean from the land

Front 20

where is the neritic zone?

Back 20

from the lowest low tide line to the edge of the continental shelf

Front 21

What are two ways that nutrients may be supplied to the neritic zone?

Back 21

1) washed from the land into the ocean
2) upwelling currents bring nutrients from the bottom of the ocean to the surface

Front 22

What are coral reefs?

Back 22

A diverse habitat found in the neritic zone made of colonies of tiny coral animals.

Front 23

How are coral reefs produced?

Back 23

Each coral animal produces a hard structure around its soft body. After the coral dies, the empty structure remains. New coral animals attach and grow on top of it.

Front 24

Coral reefs can only form in shallow, tropical ocean waters

True or false.- and why?

Back 24

True. The algae that live in the bodies of coral animals and provide them food need warm temperatures and sunlight.

Front 25

What is an atoll?

Back 25

A ring shaped reef surrounding a shallow lagoon.

Front 26

How is an atoll formed?

Back 26

1) A fringing reef closely surrounds the edge of an island
2) as the sea floor sinks, the island sinks with it and the reef continues to grow upward.
3) finally the island sinks until it is underground and the ring shaped atoll remains

Front 27

How do reefs protect coastlines?

Back 27

They break up surf, preventing waves from severly eroding the land.

Front 28

How do humans harm reefs?

Back 28

Boat anchors dragging across a reef can damage it. DIver can break off pieces of reef.

Front 29

How else are coral reefs endangered?

Back 29

Changes in water temperature and clearness can affect algae that corals need to live. Too cloudy water prevents the sunlight they need from getting through. Too warm water make the coral release the algae inside them.

Front 30

What are kelp?

Back 30

Large heavy algae that grow in parts of the neritic zone.

Front 31

where do kelp forests grow?

Back 31

In cold neritic waters where the ocean floor is rocky.

Front 32

What is a holdfast?

Back 32

A bundle of rootlike strands that hold the algae to the rocks

Front 33

What holds the kelp upright in the water?

Back 33

Bulbs or air bladders at the base of each leaf

Front 34

What types of organisms live in kelp forests?

Back 34

Young gray whales hide from predators in the kelp. Sea slugs and snails live among the holdfasts. Sea otters live in kelp forests.

Front 35

What do kelp use to survive?

Back 35

They use sunlight and dissolved gases to produce their own food.

Front 36

Why are sea otters important to kelp forests?

Back 36

They eat sea urchins which eat the kelp.

Front 37

How are conditions in the open ocean different from the neritic zone?

Back 37

1) Only a small part receives sunlight.
2) the water has fewer nutrients

Front 38

What are the 3 zones of the open ocean?

Back 38

The surface zone, the transition zone and the deep zone

Front 39

What is the surface zone?

Back 39

The part of the open ocean that extends as far as the sunlight reaches beneath the surface.

Front 40

What are conditions in the surface zone?

Back 40

It is the only zone in the open ocean that has enough sun to support the growth of algae. These algae are the base of open-ocean food webs.