Topic 1.3 

Aquatic Biomes - Biology:

After watching this video can you answer the following questions?

1. Why is it so important to understand aquatic biomes when building an understanding of our planet?

2. What are the similarities and differences between freshwater and marine biomes?

3. Give the characteristics of the benthic, photic and aphotic zones.

4. What are eutrophic lakes?  What can cause them?

5. How can wetlands be described?  Why are wetlands important?  How do we affect them?

6. What are estuaries?  Why are they important?  How do we affect them?

7. What are intertidal coastal zones?  How are organisms adapted for life there?

8. What are some characteristics of the open ocean and how are we affecting it?

What's an Estuary?

After watching this video can you answer the following questions?

1. What are some of the reasons estuaries are so important?

2. Why are estuaries called the nurseries of the sea?

3. Why are estuaries important to humans?

4. Estuaries are important to humans for aesthetic or more intangible reasons, what might be a few of these?

Estuarine Ecology

After watching this video can you answer the following questions?

1. What is a quick easy definition of what an estuary is?

2. What are some reasons it is important to study estuaries?

3. What role do oysters play in estuaries?  

4. What is their role in helping to solve problems of eutrophication?

he True Value of a Salt Marsh:  In the Grass, On the Reef

After watching this video can you answer the following questions?

1.Can you name some reasons why salt marshes are important ecologically  in coastal regions?

2.Can you name some reasons why salt marshes are important economically  in coastal regions?

Mangroves:  How they Help the Ocean

After watching this video can you answer the following questions?

1.What are mangroves and why are they unique?

2.Describe how mangroves are essential for the health of the ocean.

3.How do mangroves keep the ocean clean?

4.What role do mangroves play in the carbon cycle and climate change?

5.How much of the Earth's original mangroves remain?  

6.Can you list and explain some of the reasons why mangrove forests are being lost around the world?

7.How did the people of this community find a way to make more money by keeping their mangrove forests intact rather than cutting them down?  Explain.

8.How is the community benefiting from not cutting down the mangroves?  Describe.

Importance of Mangrove Forests

After watching this video can you answer the following questions?

1.List and explain at least 5 important benefits mangroves provide.

2.If mangroves are so important, why are we destroying them?

Coral Bleaching

After watching this video can you answer the following questions?

1.A coral polyp's mouth is also its anus - what does this mean?

2.How do corals make limestone?  What is calcium carbonate?

3.What type of relationship do zooxanthellae have with coral polyps?  Who benefits who?  Explain how this works.

4.How do increases in our world's temperatures affect the zooxanthellae in coral polyps, what happens? 

5.What is the conflict with creating jobs, fossil fuels, and coral bleaching?  Can you clearly articulate it?

Ocean Acidification

After watching this video can you answer the following questions?

1.What happens to the pH of water when carbon dioxide is dissolved in it?

2.What is the definition of pH?

3.Write out the formula for what happens when carbon dioxide dissolves in water and explain what is happening and why.

4.How can fish be affected by a pH in the ocean that is decreasing?

5.How much of a change has taken place in the pH of the world's oceans since the industrial revolution?

6.Explain how low pH devastates ocean ecosystems.  What does the Bjerrum Plot show us (important to know)?

7.Explain what we mean when we say that coral reefs are being hit by a "double whammy".

8.Explain why we have to decrease the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Is Your Fleece Jacket Polluting the Oceans?

After watching this video can you answer the following questions?

1. What are some predictions about plastics in the ocean?

2. What are microplastics and where do they come from?

3. Where does most micrro fiber pollution come from?  How?

4. Where can microfibers wind up?  Is there a problem with this?

5. What are some things we can do about this problem?  Are they easy or hard to do?  Are they cheap or expensive to do?  Explain.

6. What are biopolyesters?  How are they formed?  Are they a potential solution?  Explain.

7. What can we do in the short run to solve the problem?