OCEANOGRAPHY

About 75 % of the earths surface is covered with water bodies which harbour a rich wealth of marine life..Nearly 361 million square kilometre of the earths surface having 1350 million cubic meters of water is covered under oceans. The mean net primary productivity of marine ecosystem is less than half of the total land area, aquatic animal production is 3.5 times that from the land. The features of the sea, which are of major ecological interest, are The sea is big covering 75%of the earths surface The sea is deep. The sea is continuous, not separated, as are land and freshwater habitats. The sea is in continuous circulation by way of ocean currents.

The sea is dominated by waves of many kinds and by tides produced by the gravitational effect of moon. The sea is salty. The average salinity or salt content is 35 parts of salts by weight per 1000 parts of water or 35%.. The concentration of dissolved nutrients is low and constitutes an important limiting factor in determining the size of marine populations. The concentration of dissolved nutrients is measured in parts per billion. Paradoxically, the oceans and some groups of organisms that live in it are older than the ocean floor which is constantly being altered and renewed by tectonic activity.

Light and Transparency Nutrients Temperature Salinity and osmotic processes Gases Hydrostatic pressure Viscosity Circulation

Light and Transparency:Light determines the distribution of plants in the ocean. The transparency of seawater allows light to penetrate.The zone up to which there sufficient sunlight to allow photosynthesis is called the photic zone. The depth of the photic zone is controlled by The angle at which the sun rays hit the earths surface. The differential rate of wavelength absorption. The presence of suspended particulate material, which affects the rate of absorption. Below the photic zone is the aphotic zone, the zone in which there is no photosynthesis. Water is more transparent to some colours of light than others. In clean water blue light penetrates to the greatest depth, while red light is absorbed near the surface.

Nutrients:Life in the oceans depends on molecules that support itespecially, substances containing nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, silicon, sulphur and sosome also contain trace elements as manganese, zinc, copper, cobalt, and iodine. These molecules enter the cell as nurients or compounds that autotrophs reqiure for the production of organic matter. The main inorganic nutrients required in primary productivity include nitrogen(as Nitrate ) and phosphorus (as phosphate ). the source of these nutrients is the surface runoff from the continents. Nitrates and phosphates, the basic ingredient of garden and farm fertilizer also nourish aquatic plants and phytoplankton.

Through photosynthesis, aquatic plants and phytoplankton combine these nutrients with carbon dioxide and water to produce the carbohydrates, proteins and fats that store the energy. The rest of the biological components depend upon this energy in plants. These nutrients liberated at depth by the decay of plant, as well as animal tissues or they are returned to the water in the form of waste products of herbivores and carnivores. The primary productivity may be very high when light is available, the total biomass cannot increase until more inorganic nutrients made available by recycling, upwelling, runoff from land or other means.
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hard light been the primary determinant of plant life, much of open ocean would have been very productive but this is not the case. Most open ocean areas are oligotrophic (nutrient poor, particularly in nitrogen and phosphorus). Marine water bodies become increasingly eutrophic(nutrient-rich) from offshore to inshore because of the input of material elements from the adjacent land, and because in certain areas, cold nutrient rich water wells up at the surface from oceans deeps.

Temperature:The marine enviroment is thermally much more stable than than the land enviroment.The specific heat of water is higher than that of solids; it absorbs heat and losses it more slowly than the the land surface; ocean temperature remain in a far narrower range, and change far more slowly, than land temperature. The minimum surface temperature observed in the open sea in seldom much below-2`C and the maximum seldom exceeds 32`C. In contrast, continental temperatures are extreme -88`c to 58`C. Daily ocean surface variations rarely exceed 0.2`c or 0.3`C, although they may be somewhat higher in shallow coastal waters -2`C to 3`C. In contrast, there is wide diurnal and seasonal variation in the land temperature.
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The annual range of ocean is also small. They range from 2`C at the equator to 8`C at 35 degree and 45 degree latitude and decrease again in higher latitudes. In shallower coastal waters, the temperature range may be as high as 15 degree. The continental temperature range, in contrast can vary dramatically over the year. The temperature variations go on decreasing with increasing depth and in deep ocean temperature variations become insignificant. The temperature remains fairly uniform throughout the deeper parts of the ocean. At the bottom of the ocean basin, 1.5 km deep, temperature hover around 3`C regardless of latitude. Vertical movement, i.e., overturning is engendered by variations in water density. Resulting from differences in salinity and temperature.
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The rate at which chemical reactions occur in a living organism is largely dependent on the molecular vibration that we call as heat. Since agitation brings reactants together, water temperatures increases the rate at which chemical reaction occur. The rate of chemical reactions and the enzymatic activities of cells, in turn govern the nutritional requirements, growth rates, reproductive success and the general activity of organisms. This is particularly true for marine organisms, which are overwhelmingly poikilothermic, i.e., their body temperature is always close to that of the surrounding water and varies accordingly. Thus, their metabolic rate or physiological activity varies greatly with temperature.

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In the coldest parts of the sea,where temperatures are close to -2`C, the blood of fishes would be below freezing point but for the antifreeze action of relatively high concentrations of glycoprotein in their plasma. The physiological effects of temperature change are complex but, in simple terms, rate of metabolic processes increases with rising temperature, usually about 10% per 1`C rise over a range of temperature up to a maximum beyond which they fall rapidly. Consequently, the biota of polar seas tend to grow more slowly, be large in size, reproduce less frequently. Some animal species can live only in cooler waters, whereas others can live only in warmer waters. Many of these can withstand only very mall temperature change and are called stenothermal organisms. Other varieties apparently are little affected by temperature and can withstand o changes over a large range. These are called eurythermal organisms.
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Salinity and Osmotic processes:Marine animals are significantly affected by relatively affected by relatively small change in their environment and their sensitivity to salinity varies. The distribution of marine biota shows a wide range of ability to withstand salinity changes. Euryhaline organisms are most salt tolerant of salinity fluctuations; Stenohaline are least salt tolerant. Due seasonal changes in the inflow of river water, steanohaline animals that dwll near the shoreline must migrate in and out of the region as salinity varies. In contrast, many benthic anoimals are firmly attached to the bottom of the estuaries and cannot relocate as salinity conditions fluctuates: these are typically euryhaline.By necessity, the oyster, clams and barnacles that inhabit estuaries have a high tolerance for salinity changes.

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Salmon spawn in fresh water but move down the rivers as juveniles to live their adult lives in the sea . After several years, the salmon return to their home streams. Species may be limited in their geographic distribution by changes in salinity. Many organisms can maintain their salt fluid balance over only limited salinity ranges. Since their is little change in salinity in deep water, species living below the surface layers are dispersed over large areas with respect to salinity. The surface dwelling forms are more likely to find salinity barriers in coastal waters since the salinity varies in bays and estuaries.
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The surface layer is usually well mixed by waves and currents, producing water with a uniform salinity that changes in response to the seasonal vagaries of the weather. Consequently, the surface water layer has a higher proportion of euryhaline organisms that occur in the layer beneath the halocline, where salinity is stable in both space and time It has been found that the major dissolved mineral salts in the body fluids of both invertebrates and vertebrates in remarkably similar to the salt composition of sea water. The absolute salinity of internal fluids, however, can differ significantly from that of ocean water. Those invertebrates whose salinity of cellular fluids is equal to that of surrounding seawater are isotonic. When the body fluids are less saline than seawater, the organism are said to be hypotonic and when their body fluids have a higher salinity than the water then they are called hypertonic.

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The body fluids of living plants and animals are separated from seawater by membrane boundaries that are semi-permeable. Molecules that move along these membranes do so along a gradient from a region of higher concentration, of a substance to a region of low concentration of that substance, a process called diffusion. Diffusion also causes water molecules to pass through cell membranes whenever their concentrations inside and outside the cell are unequal. The diffusion of water molecules through a semi permeable membrane called osmosis. Osmotic pressure is simply a measure of the force required to prevent water from diffusing across a membrane that separates fluids with unequal salinity levels.
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The magnitude of the pressure is directly dependent on the differences in salinity content between the fluids that lie on either on either side of the semi permeable membrane. If the difference is greater the osmotic pressure is higher. Organisms, which remain in osmotic balance with their surroundings when their salinity varies, are termed poikilosmotic and these include some widely euryhaline creatures. Where it is widely distributed in marine, brackish and estuarine muddy sands and are able to survive salinity down to about 18%. . Some animals are able to control the concentration of their internal fluids within limits, independently of salinity changes in water. This process is known as osmoregulation and organisms this stability of internal environment are described as homoiostomotic.
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Marine fishes osmoregulate by drinking large quantities of seawater; urinating infr4equently, and excreting excess salt ions through specialised chloride cells located in the gills. In contrast, hypertonic freshwater fishes compensate for excess osmotic water intake not by drinking, expelling large quantities of dilute urine, and absorbing salt through the gills.

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Gases:In order to stay alive, virtually all marine organisms required dissolved gases, in particular, carbon dioxide and oxygen. Carbon dioxide is required by the plants for photosynthesis. Carbon dioxide is present in seawater mainly as bicarbonate ions, but there are also some dissolved carbon dioxide , un dissociated H2CO3 and carbonate ions. At the surface, dissolved CO2 tends toward equilibrium with the atmospheric CO2, the oceans acting as a regulator of the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, but deep water contains more carbon dioxide than surface water. This is because there is greater dissolution of CO2 at lower temperature s; and the deep water is cool and dense
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CO2 builds in deep water because only heterotrops live and metabolise there, and because CO2 is produced as decomposers consume falling organic matter. No photosynthetic primary producers are present in the dark depths to use this excess CO2. Oxygen is required by all organisms to liberate energy from organic compounds. Oxygen is available at the surface as rapid photosynthesis lowers CO2 concentration and increases the quantity of dissolved oxygen. Oxygen is least just below the level of photosynthesis because respiration by many small animals at middle depths. The amount of oxygen in the water influences the distribution of organisms and is influenced by the temperature, salinity and pressure of the water.
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Shallow tidal pools and bays on warm, quiet days increase in temperature and salinity, decreasing the ability of water to hold oxygen, forcing mobile animals out; and limiting these areas to the organisms that can successfully tolerate these changes. The bottom of deep isolated basins may be so low in oxygen that only non-oxygen requiring, an anaerobic bacteria can survive there.

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Hydrostatic pressure:The situation in the ocean is parallel to that on land, in the sense that, while land animals live in air pressurised by the weight of the atmosphere above them marine organisms are subject to great pressure from the constant weight of the water above them. This pressure is called hydrostatic pressure.The rapid increases in hydrostatic pressure is a consequence of the density of sea water. Which changes with depth, due to variations in tempreature, salinity and pressure. Hydrostatic pressure averages about 1.035 grams per cubic centimetre (g/cm3). The large hydrostatic pressure combined with the very cold bottom water of the deep sea appears to make life an impossibility there. The ocean, however, is populated by a richy diversified fauna, even down to its greatest depths in deep sea trenchs.

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There many organisms dwelling at such depth that cope with such great pressure. The explanation for such an adaptation is that the gases, which are highly compressible, are absent in the bodies of many of the seas deepest inhabitant. Deep, sea living organisms such as worms, crustaceans and sea cucumbers, are unaffected by pressure, because they do not have gas filled cavities or lungs that must be maintained at high pressure or mechanically protect against the pressure of the overlying water. It is possible that pressure may alter metabolic rates and growth at greater depths but little is known about such effects. These organisms are also composed mostly of water, a fluid that resists mechanical compression.
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Therefore, bottom dwelling organisms are not influenced by or aware of the excessive hydrostatic pressures that exist in the deep sea realm. Air breathing marine mammals have made adjustments in their physiology that permits their blood to absorb more oxygen and to tolerate higher concentrations of carbon dioxide than land mammals. They also have a larger blood volume than non diving mammals and a vascular shunt system that directs the blood flow only through the brain and heart while underwater. Their muscle store additional oxygen and are able to tolerate the build up of waste products from exertion to a greater degree than those of other animals. During their dives their lungs collapse completely forcing the air out and preventing the blood from absorbing compressed gases at high pressure; therefore, they are able to change their depth rapidaly.
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Viscosity:Viscosity is define as internal resistance to flow. It is characteristic of all fluids. The viscosity in the ocean water is affected by two variable temperature and salinity. Higher salinity increases the viscosity of seawater. But temperature has an even greater effect. Lower temperature thickens the seawater. As a result of this temperature relationship, phytoplanktons and animals that float in colder waters have less need for extensions to aid them in floating, because the water is more viscous. Crustaceans exhibit this phenomenon very well, where they occupy warmer waters they are ornate with feather-like appendages are missing in colder, more viscous enviroments.
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Thus, high viscosity water benefits floating members of the marine biocommunity, helping them maintain their position near the surface. Whileviscosity is an aid to tiny floating organisms, it is an obstacle for larger animals that swim freely in the open ocean. The faster they swim, the greater is the stress on them. Not only must water be displaced ahead of the swimmer, but water must also move behind it to occupy the space that the animal has vacated. There are important considerations in streamlining. The familiar shape of free swimming fish, and of mammals such as whales and dolphins exemplifies the streamlining adaptations of organisms to move with minimum effort through water. A common shape of such an adaptation is a flattened body, which presents a small cross section at the front end and a gradually tapering back end.

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Circulation:The ocean is in constant motion . The seawater is moved and mixed by currents, waves and tides. The oceanic circulation plays a very important role in marine life bringing food and oxygen, replenishing nutrients, and removing waste. Circulation helps in the dispersal of floating organisms and scatters the reproductive stages of swimmers and attached forms. The horizontal movement of ocean waters may carry the differs rather than swimmers out of their habitat but this does not always happen. Population of drifting animals appear to take advantage of their ability to move in the vertical direction either by swimming or changing their buoyancy. They are able to maintain their place horizontally in ocean space moving away from the surface during the day to depths where current flows in in a direction opposite to the surface current. They moved upward at night to be carried back to their starting point.
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Vertical water motions in the ocean are much slower than horizontal motions, but small displacements of organism in the vertical direction can mean substantial changes in light, salinity, temperature and nutrient supply. If the vertical flow is upward, it counteracts the tendency of organisms and other particulate matter to sink. In this way, light dependent organisms are held in the photic zone. The upward motion of the water also supplies nutrients to the photic zone to promote plant growth. A downward vertical flow under an area of surface convergence accumulates a population of organisms as the surface flows move toward the area of downwelling. Areas of downwelling are usually regions of low plant growth, but at the surface convergence, the accumulation of organisms provides a rich-feeding ground for carnivores.

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Divisions of Marine Environment

One of the primary division is between water and ocean bottom. The ocean water is the pelagic environment while the ocean bottom constitutes the benthic environment. Epipelagic zone Mesopelagic zone Bathypelagic zone Abyssopelagic zone

1. 2. 3. 4.

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Pelagic (Open Sea Environment)

The majority of the oceans living organism are pelagic. This is especially true for plant life, because it is necessary for them to remain in the sunlight near the surface. Most marine animals are also pelagic because it is advantageous for them to remain near the food sources. The pelagic environment is divided into two provinces neritic and oceanic. The neritic extends from the shore to seawater, including all water overlying an ocean bottom that is than 200m in depth. Oceanic province includes the depth beyond 200 m. It includes water with a very great range in depth from the surface to the bottom of the the deepest ocean trenches.

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The oceanic province is further subdivided into four zones a) The epipelagic zone from surface to a depth of 200 meters corresponds to the lighted photic zone. b) The mesopelagic zone from 200 to 1000 meters. c) The bathypelagic zone from 1000 to 4000 meters. d) The abyssopelagic zone

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An important factor in determining the distribution of life in the oceanic province is the availability of light, and on that basis, there are three zones: i. The euphotic zone extends from the surface to a depth where enough light still exists to support photosynthesis. This is rarely deeper than 100 meters. ii. The disphotic zone lying below the euphotic zone has a small but measureable quantity of light. It lies to a depth of about 1000 m. iii. The apotic zone lies below 1000 m where no light exists.
Table:- percentages of marine habitat

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PELAGIC ENVIRONMENT

Zone
Epipelagic
Mesopelagic

Depth(m)
0-200
200-1000

Volume
3
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Bathypelagic
Abyssal pelagic

1000-2000
2000-6000

15
54

Hadalpelagic
BENTHIC ENVIROMENT Sublittoral Bathyl Abyssal Hadal

More than 6000

more than 1

0-200 200-2000 2000-6000 More than 6000

8 16 75 1
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Epipelagic zone:The epipelagic zone corresponds to the photic zone. The upper poryion of the epipelagic zone is sufficiently illuminated to support photosynthesis.The boundary between it and the mesopelagic zone is at 200 meters depth at which the level of dissolved oxygen begins to decreases significantly. Planktons are mainly microplanktons which comprise diatoms , dinoflagellates and coccolithoporoids. Generally, diatoms predominate in the more fertile regions of the ocean; their proportion relative to other phytoplankton tends to decrease with distance from land.
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Mesopelagic zone:Within the mesopelagic zone, a dissolved oxygen minimum occurs at the depth of about 700-1000 m. Sunlight from the surface is very dim, certain animals still sense light. The mesopelagic zone is inhabited by the fishes that have unusually large and sensitive eyes, capable of detecting light levels 100 times higher than humans can sense. This feature, characteristic of many fishes and invertebrates, is an adaptation of living in very low light levels. Another adaptation is bioluminescence, i.e., the phenomenon of glow. This include groups, such as shrimp, squid and fish. Approximately 80% of these4 organisms carry light producing organs called photophores. These are glandular cells containing luminous bacteria surrounded by dark pigments.

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Some photophores involve the compound luciferin and enzyme luciferage. The overall reaction involves the oxidation of the substrate catalysed by an enzyme(luciferag), so that some of the energy release by the reaction is emitted as light rather than heat. In the sea, the agitation of the water disturbs microscopic bioluminescent organisms, causing them to flash and produce growing wakes crests. Animals feed on these organisms often concentrate the chemicals in their tissue and also glow. Jellyfish glow in this way. Some of the animals have photophores on their sides possibly for identification. In the absence of plants, food in the disphotic region is scant. The small zooplankters rely on the fallout of organic detritus from above. Others, such as euphausides and lantern fish engage in diurnal fish engage in diurnal vertical migrations. They swim upward to the photic zone at night to feed and descend to depths of 700-900 m during the day

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Also present in the mesopelagic zone is the Deep Scattering Layer (DSL). This is a layer of organisms that move always from the surface during the day and toward the surface at night. The layer scatters or return s vertically directed sound pulses.

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Bathypelagic Zone and Abyssopelagic Zone The aphotic bathypelagic and abyssopelagic zones represent over 75% of living space in the ocean province. The zone, which begins at a water depth of 500-1000 m, is constantly dark and cold. The biomass of the region is low and decreases with depth. Oxygen content increases with depth as the deep and bottom water masses carry oxygen from the cold surface waters where they are formed to the deep ocean. Most species of deep-water fish share common morphological, if peculiar, traits that are adaptations to darkness and to a lack of food. Typically, midwater fishes are small and have proportionately enormous mouth, lined with sharp teeth for firmly grasping prey, an expandable body, a jaw that can be unhinged to accommodate a large meal, and not frequently, biolumnescent organ to entice prey. The female deep sea angler fish is noted for her fishing prowess.

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Benthic (Sea Bottom) Environment

Benthic environment is the sea floor environment, subdivided into larger units corresponding to the neritic and oceanic provinces of the pelabic environment. the subneritic province extends from the spring high tide shoreline to a depth of 200 m, approximately encompassing the continental shelf. The suboceanic province includes the entire benthic environment deeper than 200 m. Littoral zone encompasses several areas or zones supralittoral, sublittoral and others. The transitional region from land to seafloor, that is, above high tide is called supralittoral. Commonly called the spray zone, it is covered with water only during periods of extremely high tides and when tsunamis or large storm waves break on the shore.
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The intertidial zone is the littoral zone and is covered or uncovered once or twiceeach day. From low tides shoreline out of 200 m water depth the subneritic province is called the sublittoral zone or shallow subtidal zone and is essentially on the continental shelf. The inner sublittoral zone includes the sublittoral zone to a depth of approximately 50 m. The seaward limit varies considerably because it is determined by the depth at which no plants are found growing attached to the ocean bottom. The outer sublittoral zone includes that portion of the sublittoral zonefrom the inner sublittoral zone out to a depth of 200 m or the shelf break, which is the seaward edge of the continental shelf. Within the aphotic zone are the deeper portions of the subtidal zones; the bathyl zone extending from 200 m to 4000 m and coinciding with the continental slope, and the abyssal zone between 4000 m and 6000 m, or roughly the area over the abyssal plain. The hadal zone lies below 6000 m and is assciated with trench and deeps.
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Distribution of Marine Life

The various organisms are divided into 1. Plankton 2. Benthos 3. Nekton 4. Neuston

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Plankton(Floaters)

Phytoplankton

Zooplankton

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Table:-Ways of characterising plankton

TYPES OF PLANKTON

Size
Picoplankton Nanoplankton Smaller than about 5 micron m Between 5and 70 micron m

Microplankton
Macroplankton

Between 70micron m and 1 mm

Larger than 1 mm Duration of planktonic life

Holoplankton

Entire life

Meroplankton

Only part of life

Ecological role

Phytoplankton Zooplankton

Producers Consumers

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Conclusion:This is the study of all aspects of the physics, chemistry, geology and biology of the sea. We are concerned only with giving a basic understanding of life in the sea and how it is organized and persists. In order to understand the ecology of various marine association, it is necessary to know something about the structure and motion of the ocean water masses.

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