Oscula Study of a Sponge Essay

The Ocean is a miraculous place filled to the brim with foreign creatures and wondrous wildlife. From the Great Orcas of the Antarctic waters to the minuscule plankton, these marine life conquer the ocean's depths, but it's not just the creatures that reside here. Coral occupy their fair share of space upon the ocean's floor filling the waters with their glamour and residential charm for those in search of shelter.

The sandy shores of beaches can be considered as a very harsh environment to live in (Ted Klenk, 1999). Survival in such a habitat requires an organism to withstand strong wave and current action, tidal rise and fall, unstable substrate, heavy predation and wide variations in salinity and temperature (The Otter Island Project). Any organism found in this type of harsh environment is specialized and highly adapted (The Otter Island Project).

Only one method of planktonic sampling was used so comparison with another method of sampling cannot be done. It is safe to assume that the most appropriate method of sampling in these areas was previously determined by the lab instructor. Isolation of organisms in the samples was met with some difficulty as there was very little life to be observed. Once isolated however, a general identification was simple with the use of the “quick picks” section of the Marine Invertebrate Zoology Lab Manual. One particular organism isolated from the “T-docks” samples, a foraminiferida, was chosen for scientific drawing (Figure 1).

For millennia, terrestrial plant matter, seeds, and driftwood have travelled across the open oceans with the help of surface currents. Even floating islands, also known as tussocks, floatons, or sudds are common in many Florida lakes and across the world (Mallison, C.T., 2001). These islands have been known to carry exotic plants and vertebrate animals. Floating islands promote trans-ocean dispersal of marine and terrestrial organisms. This increases biodiversity and helps new barren islands thrive. However, in the last five decades, with the growing number of plastics in the marine environment, the dispersal and occurrence of these organisms has increased exceedingly (Gregory, R.M., 2009). This paves the way for invasions by alien and even aggressive invasive species to establish themselves in new ecosystems beyond their native range. A survey done in 2009 reported that over 150 marine species have established themselves due to marine debris stranded on the shores of northern New Zealand. Most of these organisms were identified as crustaceans. Four of those organisms discovered are featured in figure 3. Specimen A shows various crustaceans on unknown plastic, specimen B depicts warm water Indo-Pacific oysters growing on nylon rope, specimen C depicts crustaceans growing on a plastic pellet, and specimen D depicts a bryozoan colony attached

Coastal regions are strongly affected by water motion due to tides and wave energy Graham & Wilcox, 2000; Jonsson et al, 2006; Wolcott, 2007). Jonsson et al. (2006) found that Fucus vesiculosus located on the seaward side

Along the coasts of rocky beaches, an intricate ecological community inhabits the ‘rocky intertidal’ areas. The variety of rocks is home to an array of slimy, squishy, and colorful organisms. This intertidal community is comprised of nine species: three different algae, three stationary filter-feeders, and three mobile consumers. The three algae, Nori Seaweed, Black Pine, and Coral Weed, are the community’s producers and inhabit the bottom of the food chain. The next three species are stationary consumers. They are Mussel, Goose Neck Barnacle, and Acorn Barnacle. Because of their consumer status, they are more competitively dominant than algae. The last three components are the mobile consumers: Whelk, Chiton, and Starfish. They

The Sublittoral is the region of the ocean below the low tide limit and extends all the way to the edge of the continental shelf. This zone is submerged permanently despite the turn of the tides and the intra/interspecific competition for space is extreme. Organisms in this region rarely experience intense sun or air exposure and organisms such as blue

Floras and microbes are additional main biotic mechanisms of many oceanic ecosystems. Microbes act as decomposers for oceanic ecosystems, and they break defunct living matter and transforms it into vitality that is used by other existing organisms in the oceanic ecosystem. Detrivores, which are a type of animal, also eat deceased or putrefying plants and animal matter. Algae, which are autotrophs, appear as the head herbal vivacity and primary producers in oceanic ecosystems. The sunlight transforms the light into energy for nourishment for marine plants. Heat and light are focal abiotic factors discovered in essentially all oceanic ecosystems, consequently oceanic ecosystems has some broaden abiotic mechanisms, comprising viscosity and many more. The power that the bulk of an organism is called buoyancy. The durability of the drive of seawater is called viscosity. These abiotic factors source to the drive of all organisms in oceanic systems. Sunlight pierces the sea exterior only about 65 feet. As there is more salt in the Great Barrier Reef than in other oceanic ecosystems the marine holds less oxygen than the

Rocky Shores are found where the sea meets the land which supports a diverse mix of plants and animals that have adapted to survive in the unique conditions of constant wave action as well as the fall of tides (Ehp.qld. 2016). Most of the ecosystems flora and fauna live in the intertidal zone, between high and low tide (Ehp.qld. 2016). They are exposed to two environments, being crushed by waves and swamped by the sea water, extreme temperatures and salinity, and left unprotected

The off-shore marine environment changes intensively with the change in the ocean depth. There are three distinctive zones that can be classified along the depth which is the Epipelagic which extends from the sea surface to a depth of 200 meters, the mesopelagic which extends from a depth of 200 meters to a depth of a 1000 meters and then the Deep sea which extends from a depth of a 1000 meters to the sea floor (Castro & Huber, 2010). The Deep sea can then be divided into a further three zones (Figure 01) Bathypelagic which extends from a depth of a 1000 meters to 4000 meters, Abyssopelagic which extends from a depth of 4000 meters to 6000 meters and then the Hadopelagic which extends which extends from a depth of 6000 meters to the sea floor (Castro & Huber, 2010).

The ocean is one of, if not, the largest biome on earth. There are more than one million species of marine life. Covering over 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, the ocean is our planet’s largest habitat, containing 99 percent of the living space on the planet. This area holds the life of nearly 50 percent of all species on Earth. Like lakes, oceans are subdivided into separate zones: intertidal, pelagic, abyssal, and benthic. All four zones have a great diversity of species. The intertidal zone is the region along the shoreline between average low tide and average high tide. In other words, this region goes through cycles of submergence and exposure to air. Animals in this zone must be able to survive the extended periods

A variety of fish species make coral reefs their home. They use the branches of the corals during the day and night for protection against predators. (Coker, Pratchett and Munday). In the experiment of Coker, Pratchett and Munday, it shows relocation of fishes when their host is harmed by bleaching as shown in Figure 5.

The coral reef surveyors were instructed to find the best sites that they believed had the most living coral and were thought to be least affected by human activities. This would allow Hodgson to determine if human activities were having an appreciable effect on the supposed pristine coral reefs, which were distant from urban centers. The invertebrate survey was undertaken at two depth intervals of 3m and 10m. Four 0.5 m wide by 20 m long belts were placed on the coral reef. Over a period of 3-5 minutes the observers counted the number of invertebrates found on the belts. The coral survey was performed, by placing four 20 m long belts on the coral substrate. At 0.5 m intervals the substrate on which the belts were lying was examined and recorded.

The intertidal rocky shore of Caloundra Beach is inhabited by diverse range of biodiversity of animals and plants, many of which have developed high levels of adaptations throughout their existence. The very boundary of marine and terrestrial ecosystem, this environment is subjected to extremes of the physical environment such as temperature, desiccation, wave turbulence as well the ecological interactions that commonly occur in biotic communities (e.g. competition, predation). However Rocky intertidal shores are easily accessible by humans and provide an enjoyable opportunity for passive recreation and for science and environmental education as well.

An investigation into the effects of varying seawater concentrations on two marine invertebrates’ osmoregulatory abilities; Carcinus maenas and Arenicola marina.