Study Questions: Life in the Sea

1. Define Biodiversity, Ecology, and Environment.

2. What is the Biotic and Abiotic aspects of Ecology and the Environment?

3. What is the distribution of species on Earth? Compare average on land vs. the ocean. What percentage of marine life pelagic and what percentage is benthic?

4. Why are more marine species benthic rather than pelagic?

5. How are marine organisms classified (hint: based on a lifestyle)?

6. Define Plankton, Nekton, and Benthos.

7. Can some organisms have all three of these lifestyles?

8. What is meroplankton and what is holoplankton?

9. What are the two main divisions of the marine environment (hint: open ocean and sea bottom)?

10. What is the euphotic zone, disphotic zone, and aphotic zone? Know their average depth of occurrence.

11. Where do the neritic and oceanic provinces occur?

12. Where is the epipelagic region, mesopelagic region, bathypelagic region, and abyssopelagic region? Note that these occur in the water column. Know their relative depths.

13. Where is the intertidal (littoral) zone, subtidal (sublittoral) zone, bathyal zone, abyssal zone, and hadal zone? Note that these occur on the seafloor. Know their relative depths.

14. Sketch a figure like that on page 247 of text. Label the Benthic Zone and the Pelagic Zone (subdivide the Pelagic into Neritic and Oceanic provinces). Label the euphotic, disphotic, aphotic zones. Label the Epipelagic, mesopelagic, Bathypelagic, and Abyssopelagic. For the Benthic Zone, label the littoral, sublittoral, Bathyal, Abyssal, and Hadal regions.