(IMO) Introduction to Marine Oceanography Module Overview

Image reads Module Review Oceanography

Introduction to Marine Oceanography Module Overview

Introduction

This unit will focus on introducing the characteristics of marine biozones, marine organisms, and how humans interact with the marine environment.

Essential Questions

  • How does energy flow throughout a marine ecosystem?
  • What are limiting factors and how do they influence the productivity of the ocean?
  • How do marine organisms adapt to live within the ocean?

Key Terms

Pay attention to these key terms as you go through the module:

  • Pelagic zone - he open ocean, also referred to as the water column
  • Neritic zone - The shallow area of the ocean that extends above the continental shelf and extends along the coastline of major land masses of the world
  • Intertidal zone - Also known as the foreshore, it is the area that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide
  • Oceanic zone - Extends from 200 meters down to the bottom of the ocean
  • Benthic zone - The ocean zone found at the deepest parts of the ocean
  • Euphotic zone - Epipelagic
  • Disphotic zone - Mesopelagic
  • Aphotic zone - Bathypelagic
  • Plankton -Small microscopic organisms that float or drift near the surface
  • Nekton - Actively swimming aquatic organisms
  • Benthos - Organisms that live on the ocean floor
  • Producers - Organisms capable of making their own food using energy from the sun
  • Consumers - Organisms that can not make their own food and must rely on producers for food
  • Herbivores - Most commonly first level consumers organisms that eat only plants
  • Omnivores - Organisms that eat plants and other animals
  • Carnivores - Most commonly third level consumers that eat other animals
  • Scavengers - Organisms that feed on dead organisms
  • Zooplankton - Heterotrophic or detritivorous microscopic invertebrate animals that drift in the water
  • Phytoplankton - Microscopic autotrophic organisms that drift in the ocean
  • Decomposers - Organisms that recycle dead plants and animals into chemical nutrients
  • Biotic - Relating to, produced by or caused by living organisms within an environment
  • Abiotic - Non-living chemical and physical factors in the environment
  • Limiting factors - The availability of food, water, shelter, and space which influences plant and animal populations
  • Biodiversity - The variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or the entire Earth
  • Competition - Interaction between two or more organisms, or group of organisms that use a common resource in short supply.
  • Predation - A biological interaction where a predator feeds on another organism
  • Herbivory - A form of predation in which an organism consumes autotrophic organisms
  • Habitat -An ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species
  • Niche - A relational position of an organism's species
  • Mutualism - A biological interaction between individuals of two different species where both individuals benefit
  • Commensalism - A symbiotic relationship between two organisms of different species in which one benefits and the other is unaffected
  • Parasitism - A symbiotic relationship between organisms of different species where one organism benefits and the other is harmed
  • Ozone layer - A symbiotic relationship between organisms of different species where one organism benefits and the other is harmed

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