PLANET EARTH Ep9

7/25/2019 PLANET EARTH Ep9

1/12

www.metromagazine.com.au www.theeducationshop.com.au

A STUDYGUIDEBY ANDREW FILDES

9


2/12

Overview

Planet Earthis a BBC production with five episodes in the first series (episodes one through

five) and six episodes in the second series (episodes six through eleven). Each episode

examines a specific environment, focussing on key species or relationships in each habitat;

the challenges they face; the behaviours they exhibit and the adaptations that enable them tosurvive. Recent advances in photography are used to achieve some spectacular first sights

in particular, stabilised aerial photography gives us remarkable views of migrating animals

and the techniques used by their predators to hunt them.

As the series examines pristine environments where possible, they are often extreme.

These are the parts of the world where few humans have chosen to live as the climate and

landscape is too challenging, too difficult and dangerous. The plants and animals that do

survive here have made some spectacular adaptations in forms and behaviour to live in these

far reaches of the planet.

The series is suitable for middle secondary students studying Science and SOSE, and for

senior secondary students of Biology, Environmental Science and Geography.

2

SCREEN

EDUCATION


3/12

Episode Nine: ShallowSeas

The continents are fringed by con-

tinental shelves, waters up to 200

metres deep that may stretch out hun-

dreds of kilometres before plunging to

the abyssal depths. While they are less

than ten percent of the worlds ocean

areas, they hold the vast majority of

marine life because this is where we

find the breeding and feeding grounds.

This episode of Planet Earthranges

from the remarkable biodiversity of the

tropical coral reefs to the rich polar

feeding grounds, using the migration

of a humpback whale mother and calf

as an example to demonstrate the dif-

ference between the marine environ-

ments available to them. Why would

the mature whales choose to starve

themselves for half the year and what

drives them to migrate thousands of

miles along the coasts of Australia and

other continents? On the way they

may pass the great coral reefs like the

Great Barrier Reef, the largest organic

structures on earth and yet built by

some of the smallest organisms. A

symbiosis between coral polyps and

algae creates rich gardens in other-

wise barren tropical marine deserts,

especially in Indonesia where the

most diverse reefs in the world exist.

Hunting packs of sea snakes work in

harmony with carnivorous goatfish to

flush out prey from coral crannies inastonishing scenes filmed in detail for

the first time.

Away from the reefs and out on the

sands, camouflage and concealment

are the key to survival but the huge

sea cows, dugong, can graze the sea-

grass meadows safely. However the

fish find that even the extreme shal-

lows are no guarantee of safety when

dolphins are intelligent enough to learn

to hydroplane in inches of water.

The whale has raised her calf to the

stage where it can begin to feed

itself and shes starving, so its time

for the journey south to the great

summer feeding grounds. As the

waters become colder and rougher,

the nutrients are stirred up from the

ocean floor by cold currents, providing

food for the phytoplankton algae and

seaweeds, food to power the richest

marine environments on earth. The

massive quantities of new green life

support invertebrates like jellies and

krill, food in turn for small fish and

squid. Now the large fish and mam-

mals like dolphin and seals can survive

on the dense food resources and even

starfish pursue each other across the

ocean floor in time-lapsed mass hunts,

suddenly made thrilling by the speed

of the camera.

(TIMINGS ARE APPROXIMATE)

Episode 9: Shallow Seas Time Log

Intro 00:00 - 01:20

Humpback Whale and Calf 01:20 - 03:40

Great Barrier Reef 03:40 - 05:30

Indonesian Coral Reef 05:30 - 09:20

Sea Snakes and Goatfish 09:20 - 12:25

Life on the Sands 12:25 - 13:25

Seagrass Grazers - Dugongs 13:25 - 15:20

Dolphins - Shallow Hunting 15:20 - 19:20

Bahrain Cormorants 19:20 - 21:45


Algal Bloom and System 23:45 - 26:57

Sea Mammals Hunting 26:57 - 28:45

Kelp Forests 28:45 - 30:35

Starfish Hunts (time lapse) 30:35 - 32:45

Seals, Stingrays and Squid 32:45 - 35:45

Seals and Sharks 35:45 - 39:15

King Penguins 39:15 - 41:25

Predatory Seals 41:25 - 44:00


Shearwaters and Whales 44:50 - end

3

SCREEN

EDUCATION

1


4/12

In some places such as the Cape

of South Africa, the cold currents

create permanent feeding grounds

where squid are taken by fur seals

which in their turn fall victim to huge,

acrobatic great white sharks. But the

seals themselves can be murderous

predators as we see on Marion Island

in the roaring forties where the fur

seals have learned to catch and kill

the homecoming king penguins on the

gravel beaches of their rookeries.

The migrations have come to an end

as the humpbacks reach the polar

seas and can now gorge themselves

on up to three tonnes of krill eachday, one of the worlds largest animals

fattening itself for the coming year on

one of the smallest. They only have

a couple of months to lay down the

fat reserves they need for the com-

ing year. In the Aleutian Islands south

of Alaska, five million shearwaters

(mutton birds) have made the epic

flight from Australia to exploit the

northern krill swarms. Recent falls in

abundance of krill threaten these great

systems and migrations.

Species List

Humpback Whale Megaptera novae-

angliae

Pygmy Seahorse Hippocampus

denise

File Clam Ctenoides ales

Banded Sea Krait Laticauda colub-

rina

Yellow (or Gold) Saddle Goatfish

Parupeneus cyclostomus

Bluefin Trevally Caranx melampygus

Veined Octopus Octopus marginatus

Oriental Flying Gurnard Dactyloptena

orientalis

Jawfish Opistognathidae spp.

Wonderpus Octopus Wonderpussspp.

Green Turtle Chelonia mydas

Sea grasses Zostera spp.

Dugong Dugong dugon

Bottlenose Dolphin Tursiops trun-

catus

Socotran Cormorant Phalacrocorax

nigrogularis

Salps Salpa fusiformis

Comb Jellies Ctenophora spp.

Krill Euphausiid spp.

South American Sea Lion Otaria

flavescens

Dusky Dolphin Lagenorhynchus

obscurus

Giant Kelp Macrocystis pyrifera

Purple Sea Urchin Strongylocentro-

tus purpuratus

Sunflower Star Pycnopodia helian-

thoides

Brittle Star Ophiothrix spiculata

Sand Dollar Echinarachnius parma

Chokka Squid Loligo vulgaris rey-

naudii

Short-tail Stingray Dasyatis brevi-

caudata

Ragged Tooth Shark Carcharias

Taurus

Great White Shark Carcharodoncarcharias

Cape Fur Seals Arctocephalus pusil-

lus

King Penguin Aptenodytes patagoni-

cus

Southern Elephant Seal Mirounga

leonina

Subantarctic Fur Seal Arctocephalus

tropicalis

Short Tailed Shearwater Puffinus

tenuirostris griseus

4

SCREEN

EDUCATION

1


5/12

5

SCREEN

EDUCATION

Blackline Master |Planet Earth| Episode 9: Shallow Seas

Viewing Questions

1


6/12

6

SCREEN

EDUCATION

11 What are continental shelves and how deep are they?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

2 What percentage of the worlds oceans are they?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

3 Where do the humpback whales breed?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

4 Why do the whales go there to breed and mate?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

5 How much milk does the whale calf need each day?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

6 What organisms build the great offshore reefs?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

7 How do algae help the corals feed?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

8 Why do the snakes hunt with the large predatory fish?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

9 Where are the largest sea grass meadows in the world?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

10 What huge animal grazes on them?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

11 How do the West Australian dolphins catch fish in the

shallows?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

12 What plant drives the marine ecosystem in spring and

summer?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

13 What is the most abundant animal on the planet?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

14 What kind of plant is the giant kelp?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

15 Which small animal kills the kelp towers?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

16 What eats the squid in the Benguela current?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

17 Which is the smaller of the sharks that predate seals

and squid?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

18 Which penguin lives on Marion Island?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

19 Where do the shearwaters in Alaska come from?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

20 How much krill can a humpback whale eat each day?

_____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

1a


7/12

Discussion Questions |Planet Earth| Episode 9: Shallow Seas

Ecosystems

7

SCREEN

EDUCATION

2


8/12

Discussion Questions

1. Mutualism is a form of symbiosis

a relationship where both species

benefit. So is the hunting behav-

iour of the snakes and fish. How

common are these relationships in

nature?

2. How many of the large animals

that we see in this episode are

actually mammals rather than fish?

Why is this and what adaptations

are required?

3. Every ecosystem is powered up by

the production of green material(producers) grass on earth and

algae in the ocean and freshwa-

ters. Is this in fact true?

4. We tend to assume that tropical

waters are much more diverse and

richer marine environments. Why is

this an illusion?

5. Dugongs feed on the sea grass

meadows around sub-tropical

Australia. What are the greatest

threats to this endangered mam-

mal?

Extension Tasks

Try collecting and preserving

examples of local algae and small

seaweeds details here: http://

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae

Terms like symbiosis, commensal-

ism, mutualism, parasitism and

others represent a whole spectrum

of relationships between plants

and organisms. Investigate the

precise differences and prepare a

presentation or report with classic

examples of each type.

Draw up a table or a visual presen-tation (poster) that shows the food

webs of the polar habitat during

the spring and summer feeding

season.

Investigate the possible reasons

for sudden decline in the krill

populations and the effect that this

might have on the planets marine

ecosystems.

Algae

Algae are simple living aquatic organ-

isms, often floating, that capture light

energy through photosynthesis, using

it to convert inorganic nutrients into

organic matter like other green plants.

Algae range from single-cell floating

organisms to multicellular organisms,

some with fairly complex form and

(if marine) called seaweeds. All lack

leaves, roots, flowers and other organ

structures that characterize higher

plants. They are the powerhouse of

the marine environment as we see in

this episode and are at their richest in

cool waters which are far richer in the

upwelling nutrients (such as phos-

phates). These nutrients are brought tothe surface by cold currents from the

seabed where they have settled over

millions of years. Most fisheries in the

world are based on the productivity

of offshore cold currents. In contrast,

tropical waters have high biodiversity

(more species) but far lower biomass

(quantities of fish and other life). Alga

species seen in this episode range

from tiny single cells that live inside

coral polyps through to the massive

bull kelp towers.

Although algae seem to be simple8

SCREEN

EDUCATION

2a


9/12

plants, they actually span more than

one domain, including both eukaryota

and bacteria (blue-green algae cy-

anobacteria), as well as more than one

kingdom, including plants and protists,

the latter being thought more animal-

like (see protozoa). Therefore algae

are not a single evolutionary line, but

a level of organization that may have

developed several times in the early

history of life on earth. They are per-

haps the most important ecosystem

producer on the planet, rivalling the

role of grass in land-based systems.

All algae have photosynthetic ma-

chinery ultimately derived from the

cyanobacteria, and produce oxygenas a byproduct of photosynthesis. It

is estimated that algae produce about

73 to 87 per cent of the net global

production of oxygen which is avail-

able to humans and other terrestrial

animals for respiration.

Algae are usually found in damp plac-

es or bodies of water and are common

in terrestrial as well as aquatic envi-

ronments. However, terrestrial algae

are usually rather inconspicuous andfar more common in moist, tropi-

cal regions than dry ones, because

they lack vascular tissues and other

adaptations to live on land. Algae can

endure dryness and other conditions

only in symbiosis such as with a fun-

gus like lichen.

The various sorts of algae play

significant roles in aquatic ecology.

Microscopic forms that live suspended

in the water column called phyto-

plankton provide the food base for

most marine food chains. In very high

densities (so-called algal blooms)

these algae may discolour the water

and outcompete or even poison other

life forms, especially in their blue and

red forms so-called red tides forinstance. Seaweeds grow mostly in

shallow marine waters. Some are used

as human food or harvested for useful

substances such as agar (a thickener

used in foods and products like sham-

poo) or fertilizer. The study of marine

algae is called phycology or algology.

Types

Prokaryotic algae

Cyanobacteria have been included

among the algae, referred to as the

cyanophytes or blue-green algae (the

term algae refers to any aquatic

organisms capable of photosynthesis

though some recent work on algae

specifically exclude them). Cyanobac-

teria are some of the oldest organisms

to appear in the fossil record dating

back to the Precambrian, possibly as

far as about 3.5 billion years. They are

thought to be the oldest organisms on

earth still living in the form of stro-

matolites in Western Australia (http://

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromatolites).

Ancient cyanobacteria likely produced

much of the oxygen in the Earths

atmosphere.

Eukaryotic algae

All other algae are eukaryotes and

conduct photosynthesis within mem-

brane-bound structures (organelles)

called chroloplasts containing DNA.

The exact nature of the chloroplasts

is different among the different lines

of algae, and some members are no

longer photosynthetic. Some retain

plastids, but not chloroplasts, while

others have lost them entirely.

9

SCREEN

EDUCATION


10/12

Case Study |Planet Earth| Episode 9: Shallow Seas

Algae and symbiosis

10

SCREEN

EDUCATION

3


11/12

Algae and symbiosis

Algae are both very fragile and very

adaptable so many microscopic spe-cies have survived by entering into

relationships with other species. Some

even invade the tissues of fish (like

carp) to survive.

In symbiotic relationships, the algae

supply photosynthates (organic sub-

stances) to the host organism which

in turn provides physical protection or

a moist environment to the algal cells.

The host organism derives some or

all of its energy requirements from thealgae. The example seen in this Planet

Earthepisode is that of algae living in

corals. The common sybioses are:

Corals algae known as zooxan-

thellae are symbionts with cor-als. Typical amongst these is the

dinoflagellate symbiodinium, found

in many hard corals. The loss of

symbiodinium, or other zooxan-

thellae, from the host is known as

coral bleaching and causes death

of the reef area. Corals typically

filter feed at night, sifting parti-

cles from the water but the algae

also photosynthesise during the

daylight hours, providing the corals

with food during the other half ofthe day.

Sponges green algae live close

to the surface of some sponges,

for example, breadcrumb sponge

(halichondria panicea). The alga is

thus protected from predators; thesponge is provided with oxygen

and sugars which can account for

up to eighty per cent of sponge

growth in some species.

Lichens a fungus is the host, liv-

ing on bare rock or tree bark usu-

ally with a green alga or a cyano-

bacterium as its internal symbiont.

Both fungal and algal species

found in lichens are capable of liv-

ing independently, but the relation-

ship allows them to invade newhabitats, too dry for the algae and

too low in nutrients for the fungus.11

SCREEN

EDUCATION

3a


12/12

This study guide was produced by [email protected]

For more information onSCREEN EDUCATIONmagazineor to download other free study guides visit

www.metromagazine.com.au

For hundreds of articles on Film as Text, Screen Literacy,Multiliteracy and Media Studies, visit

www.theeducationshop.com.au

Notice:An educational institution may make copies of all or part of this Study Guide,provided that it only makes and uses copies as reasonably required for its own

educational, non-commercial, classroom purposes and does not sell or lend such copies. 12

SCREEN

EDUCATION

3Viewing Questions

1 The shallow areas around conti-

nental coasts down to 200m

2 Eight per cent

3 Whales migrate to breed in warm

tropical seas

4 There are few predators and the

waters are calm

5 500 litres

6 Coral polyps

7 By providing food during the day-

light hours

8 Theyre too slow without assist-ance

9 Shark Bay, Western Australia

10 The Dugong

11 Hydroplaning

12 Marine algae

13 Krill

14 An alga

15 Purple sea urchins

16 Seals and stingrays

17 The ragged toothed shark

18 King penguin

19 Australia

20 Three tonnes each day

Discussion Questions

1 Endless examples but students

might like to consider the nature of

their relationships with their pets

or with the organisms that infest

their own intestines.

2 Seals, whales, dolphins, dugongs.

They appear to have returned tothe water as there were abun-

dant food resources there but the

physical adaptations required were

extreme including loss of limbs,

huge fat reserves, seasonal behav-

iour patterns. However many are

still gregarious they form tribes or

herds.

3 Almost exclusively. There is some

evidence that volcanic vents,

smokers, in the deep ocean can

support an ecosystem without it

but every dark system, even dark

ones like caves, require a depend-

ence on growing plants.

4 Tropical waters are low in nutri-

ents and algae-coral reefs are the

exception as they can protect and

exploit algae but they are like oa-

ses the exception and the rest

of the environment is an underwa-

ter sand desert.

5 Destruction of seagrass areas byrecreation like boating, by pollu-

tion and injuries to animals by boat

propellers are serious problems.

BBC and Planet Earthare trade marks

of the British Broadcasting Corpo-

ration and are used under licence.

Planet Earthlogo BBC 2006. BBC

logo BBC 1996.

ANSWER SHEET

Date post:	24-Feb-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	deepak-gupta
View:	231 times
Download:	0 times

PLANET EARTH Ep9

Documents