MARINE ECOSYSTEMS

Dr. G. Nugroho Susanto, M.Sc.

Department of Biology
Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
University of Lampung
OCEANS
Special Features:

• Oceans occupy 70% of Earth’s surface

All of the seas are:

>interconnected by currents
>dominated by waves
>influenced by tides
>characterized by saline waters
Open Sea
Regions:

• POLAR DOMAIN:
 Arctic Ocean - marine waters that lie north of the land masses
in the Northern Hemisphere
 Antarctic Ocean- lies about the continent of Antarctica and is
open to three oceans, the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian

• TEMPERATE DOMAIN
 Atlantic
 Pacific
• Types of open sea ecosystem:

1.Pelagic
2.Benthic
Major structural groups:

1) Phytoplankton
• dominant primary producer in open sea
• don’t need well-developed supporting structures
• restricted to upper surface waters
2) Zooplankton
-graze on phytoplanktons (herbivorous zooplanktons)
ex.copepods, planktonic arthropods, and krills (shrimplike euphausiids)
-eat herbivorous zooplanktons(carnivorous zooplanktons)
ex.larval forms of comb jellies (Ctenophora), arrow worms(Chaetognatha)
3)Nekton
-swimming organisms that can move at will in the water column
ex. Sperm whale (Physeter catadon)
--ratio in size between predator and prey falls within certain limitations
except: baleen whales (Mysticeti) prey on krill
Sperm whale prey on giant squid
4)Benthos
-organisms that live on or in the bottom of a body of water
-from tideline to abyss, organisms influenced by nature of substrate
>>rocky and hard-surface only - epifauna and epiflora
>>sediment-within deposits- infauna
ROCKY SHORES
Rocky shores:

 all ocean shores have one thing in common: are

alternately exposed & submerged by tides

Seashore region marked by:

a) extreme high water mark
b) extreme low water mark