How water physics affect Marine Life

Sunlight

Photosynthesis

- Process of using light energy to create carbohydrates from inorganic compounds is called photosynthesis.

- FORMULA:

Light

• Light- Photic Only!!• 2 zones in respect to light penetration– Photic: • Euphotic (1%: most biologically productive)• Dysphotic (not enough for photosynthetic life)

– Aphotic: most of ocean

(pg. 59 – Water and Light)

Desiccation

• Drying out• Pigment Destruction

Scatter

• Suspended materials:– Light- reflect– Dark-Absorb

What is White Light?• Combination of all visible colors

Why is the Ocean Blue?• Blue light remains- strongest and must travel

through the most water before absorbed– High Energy, Short Wavelength

Concealment

• Chromatophores- contains a colored pigment that the animal can reveal by constricting a muscle around it– Different chromatophores, different colors

Temperature

• Ocean- fluctuates less than land• Ectotherm- “Cold-blooded” Internal temp

changes with external temp• Endotherm- “Warm-Blooded” Relatively

stable internal temp

Advantages of Being An Endotherm

• Tolerate a wide range of external temps, live in a variety of habitats, metabolic rate remains the same

Thermocline

• Zone of Rapid Temp. Change

Salinity

- Measure of the concentration of dissolved organic salts in the water

- Solutes- Osmosis

- Hypotonic- Hypertonic- Isotonic

Halocline• Salinity drops rapidly with depth

Density

• Mass of a substancein a given volume • Pycnocline

Pressure

• 760mm Hg or 1 atm – Increases every 10 meters

• Hydrostatic Pressure- weight of the water column above a given depth– Primarily an issue for organisms who have gas in

their bodies

• Equalizing- add air to space in ear

Bends

• nitrogen gas that is dissolved in the blood comes out of solution, and forms gas bubbles as the pressure decreases during an ascent.

Sound• Only travel through

matter• Water or Air????– Travels through warm

water faster than cold and faster in deep water due to pressure

Echolocation

• Dolphins and Whales• Sending out a sound wave, then senses the

reflected sound wave that bounces back off an object

Size and Volume

• Why are single-celled organisms always small?– Exchange nutrients and gas directly with the

external environment.

• Multicellular: High surface area to volume ratio

Buoyancy

• Minimizes affect of weight– Buoyed up by a force nearly the same as their

own weight

• Don’t expend much energy– Grow larger, live without touching bottom

Movement and Drag

• Avoid Sinking:– Protrusions to increase drag and buoyancy

adaptations

• Handle Resistance– Excrete mucus or oil “slip through water”– Streamlining: shape reduces drag

Currents

• New Habitats• No energy