Term
| characteristics of marine animals |
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Definition
- multicellular
- active
- incapable of synthesis of food
- avoid predators
- find food
- reproduce
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Term
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Definition
- animal species that do not develop a vertebral column
- 90% of all living and fossil animals
- a lot of variability
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Term
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Definition
| life on or in the sea floor |
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Term
| size of infaunal organisms |
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Definition
- macrofauna: > 0.5mm
- meiofauna: 0.5-0.062mm
- microfauna: < 0.062mm
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Term
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Definition
grain size - particle size
- high energy= large grain size; sand
- low energy= small grain size; mud
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Term
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Definition
| controlled by physics or biology |
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Term
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Definition
suspension feeding or filter feeding
deposit feeding
carnivorous feeding |
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Term
| suspension feeding or filter feeding[image] |
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Definition
| take in seawater and filter out usable organic matter |
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Term
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Definition
| take in detritus and sediment and extract usable organic matter |
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Term
carnivorous feeding
[image] |
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Definition
| organisms capture and eat other animals |
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Term
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Definition
- influenced by animals: burrowing, binding in tubes
- cohesiveness: microbes, mucus
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Term
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Definition
- space between grains, "pores"
- affects water drainage
- diffusion of chemicals
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Term
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Definition
- % organic matter
- substrate for microbial decomposition, detritus feeders
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Term
| oxidation-reduction state |
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Definition
redox discontinuity layer or RDL:
above RDL- oxygen present
below RDL- oxygen absent
bioturbation oxygenates layers deep in the benthos |
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Term
| soft substrate communities |
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Definition
| communities of soft sediment, the substrate of sedimentary particles are uncemented, unconsolidated, or loosely consolidated |
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Term
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Definition
| life living on the surface of sediment |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
- supralittoral
- high tide zone
- middle tide zone
- low tide zone
- sublittoral zone
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Term
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Definition
- salinity
- temperature
- predator-prey relationships
- environmental energy levels
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| grain size vs. feeding type |
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Definition
- environments that have a high clay content are rich with organic matter
- therefore it is better evironment to live in
- suspension feeders want a high energy environment
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Term
| organic matter content in estuaries |
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Definition
high organic matter levels
therefore as a benthic marine animal you want to live close to shore |
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Term
| organic matter levels in the middle of the ocean |
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Definition
low organic matter levels
therefore as a benthic marine animal, you want to live closer to shore |
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Term
| the nitrogen cycle background |
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Definition
diatomic nitrogen N2 is biologically un-reactive: less than 1 % is usable
therefore you have to fix nitrogen into a form that can be used in bio-chemical reactions
this causes a cycle: where N is fixed into a usable form of nitrogen, is used in a chemical reaction, and then is converted back into its original form |
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Term
| biologically usable forms of nitrogen |
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Definition
- Ammonium NH4+
- nitrite NO 2−
- nitrate NO3-
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Term
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Definition
| diatomic nitrogen N2gets converted by nitrogen fixers (bacteria, plants) into ammonium |
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Term
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Definition
step 1: ammonium --> nitrite by ammonia oxidizers
step 2: nitrite --> nitrate N03- by nitrite oxidizers
requires oxygen
bacteria and archaea assist in process |
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Term
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Definition
Nitrate --> diatomic nitrogen
cleans up nitrogen
requires: organic matter, nitrate |
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Term
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Definition
- nitrogen fixation
- nitrification
- denitrification
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Term
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Definition
- feeders can mix things into the stratified zones of sediment that are not supposed to be there
- how oxygen can become present in the deep sediment layers
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