Summary
Summary Marine Animal Ecology
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Summary of lectures & practicals. BwN part of the group work (last week) is not complete.
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Grade 30% exam
25% group assignment
45% individual paper: 40% report, 5% pitch
Lecture 1: Introduction to the course
Marine vs terrestrial
Aqueous vs gaseous
Food availability
Sedentary animals
Filter feeding
Larval dispersal
Pressure
Animals need less energy for stable structures
Gas exchange & oxygen availability
pH
The marine system
important aspect: adaptation to change
Lecture 2: Marine biogeography & biodiversity
Physical environment
- Population & community level
- Adaptation to change
Marine biodiversity => shaped by genes, species, ecosystems
, - Highest biodiversity in coral triangle (Indonesia)
Basic concepts
Footprint of climate change
Affects genes to biomes (almost everything)
Response: marine species shift their distribution to track optimal conditions
Biogeography => study of distribution of biodiversity over space & time
Aim: reveal where organisms live, at what abundance & why
Smalls scale processes + coarser scale patterns
Multidisciplinary
- Uses history to meteorology
Famous biogeographers: Darwin & Wallace
- Geography & natural selection as agents of evolutionary change
Approaches
Species distributions
Marine ecoregions of the world (MEOW) => biogeographic classification of world’s coast &
shelves
- Areas of relatively homogenous species composition, clearly distinct from adjacent
systems
- Tool for planning & assessing conservation
High species richness in coral triangle (Australia & Indonesia)
- Coral distributions & mangroves
- High priority for marine biodiversity protection
Abiotic factors affecting species distributions
Temperature (sea surface temperature = SST)
Ocean currents
Depth diversity (habitat heterogeneity)
- Benthic (bottom) & pelagic zone (open sea)
,Role of historical events
Geological history
Geology & biological evolution are inseparable
- Currently: Holocene
Glacial maxima & interglacials
- Coral triangle during last glacial max (LGM) more land
- Sea level changes
Coral triangle during LGM
- Extinction of species on continental shelves
- Ocean basins more isolated due to low sea level
- Increased turbid & hyposaline conditions additional habitat
loss stenohaline species
Continental drift
- Break up of Pangea 200 mya
- Drift to today’s position 65 mya – now
- Vicariance => distribution pattern common to several groups
Caused by geographical barriers sequence of speciation events
- Earthquakes around major lithospheric plates
- Many plates in coral triangle
Hopping hotspots
Shifting diversity distribution of larger benthic foraminiferal genera
- Centre of marine mega diversity moved over time (fossils & molecular evidence)
Hotspots in time coincided with major collision between continental tectonic plates
- Shallow warm seas, many islands & bays ideal for new species
- Tectonics modulate distribution of sea floors
- Hotspots explained by plate tectonics & climate change
Mechanistic model:
- Habitat driven diversification & dispersal current biodiversity pattern (coral & fish)
Lecture 3: Traits and interactions in the marine realm
Traits => features & capabilities that animals possess
Mostly at individual & population level
Morphological (structure)
, Physiological (feeding)
Reproductive (strategies)
Interactions
Mostly at community level
Types
1. Competition => animals have to share resources (chemical ecology)
2. Trophic => predator-prey (food web ecology)
3. Symbiosis => mutualism(++), commensalism(+=), parasitism(+-), competition (--)
Food web ecology
Top down control => apex predators control food pyramid
- Predator effects on lower trophic levels
Bottom up control => nutrients control food pyramid
- Effects of nutrient inputs
Trophic cascade => effect of removing 1 type of animal (e.g. apex predators) that cascades
through food web
- Fisheries can effect whole food web ecology
Benthic pelagic coupling => relationship between pelagic & benthic food production
- Sponge loop: dissolved organic matter (DOM) excreted by plankton & fish (pelagic) taken
up by sponges (benthic) convert DOM into cellular material that is good food source
(pelagic)
- Filter feeders: benthic animals eating pelagic products
Symbiosis
Mutualism => both animals benefit
- Trapezia crabs on coral
Commensalism => one animal benefits, other is unaffected
- Barnacles on whales
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