This document describes various coastal ecosystems including rocky shores, coral reefs, mangroves, salt marshes, kelp forests, and sea grass beds. It then discusses the primary producers that form the base of the food web in coastal ecosystems, including various types of phytoplankton, cyanobacteria, algae, seagrasses, and mangroves. Finally, it provides information on adaptations of marine organisms that inhabit coastal ecosystems.

1. Coastal Ecosystems

2. Coastal Ecosystems
Rocky
shores
Ice edge Soft
substratum
Coral
Marshes
reefs
Rocky
Mangroves
reefs
Kelp Estuaries
forests Sea
grass
beds

3. Primary Producers

4. Photosynthetic organisms
• Cyanobacteria
• Diatoms and Coccolithophores
• Algae
– Haptophytes (Phaeophytes)
– Rhodophytes
• Plants

5. Primary Production
 the lowest level of the food chain
 utilize sunlight or chemical nutrients as a source
of energy (autotrophy)
 primary production = rate of photosynthesis or
chemosynthesis
 most occurs > 100 m (max = 268 m or 879 ft)
Primary producers serve as the basis
for nearly all life in the ocean

6. Factors Affecting Primary Productivity
• Light
– polar regions: a single pulse of phytoplankton abundance
occurs in summer
– temperate latitudes: primary productivity is maximal in
spring and autumn
– tropics: phytoplankton are nutrient-limited year round
• Nutrients
– oligotrophic
– eutrophic
– mesotrophic
• Hydrographic conditions
– Currents
– Upwelling
– Vertical mixing

7. Patterns of Productivity

8. Estimates of primary production
Total (marine plus terrestrial) global annual net
primary production (NPP) =
104.9 Gt C/yr
Terrestrial = 56.4 Gt or 53.8%
Oceanic = 48.5 Gt or 46.2%
(From Field et al. 1998. Science 281: 237-240)

9. Estimates of primary production
Pelagic zone = 50-600
Grasslands = 2,400
Tropical forests = 5,000
Mangroves = 2,700
Seagrass beds = 800-10,000
Coral reefs = 1200-8,000
(measured as g C/m2/yr )

10. Primary Production
1. Water column – Plankton
Most productivity occurs in plankton
2. Seabed – Benthos

11. Plankton
 Phytoplankton
 Meroplankton part of lifecycle in plankton and
benthos
 Holoplankton entire lifecycle in plankton
 Neuston plankton near surface
Ultraplankton <2 mm
Nannoplankton 2-20 mm
Microplankton 20-200 mm
Macroplankton 200-2,000 mm
Megaplankton >2,000 mm

12. Major Groups of Primary Producers-
Phytoplankton
• Cyanophytes
• Stramenopiles (Diatoms, Silicoflagellates)
• Haptophytes (Coccolithophores)
• Alveolates (Dinoflagellates)
• Chlorophytes

13. Cyanophyceae
Cyanobacteria
(blue-green algae)
• ultraplankton
• comprise ~25% of the total
primary production
• nitrogen fixation
• produced O2 in atmosphere

14. Stromatolites
Shark Bay, Western Australia
Oldest = 3.5 billion years old

15. Bacillariophytes: Bacillariophyceae
Diatoms
• Unicellular nanno – microplankton
• Dominate temperate-polar regions
• Silica valves (2) form pillbox frustule
• Centric diatoms – radially symmetrical
• Pennate diatoms – bilaterally
symmetrical

16. Domoic acid
• Neurotoxin produced by Pseudo-nitzschia sp.
• Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning

17. Haptophytes - Coccolithophores
•Unicellular
•Nannoplankton
•Calcium carbonate
coccoliths
•Can form large blooms
Emiliania huxleyi

18. Haptophytes - Silicoflagellates
• Internal skeleton of silica scales
• More abundant in Antarctica and open ocean

19. Dinoflagellates – Whirling flagella

20. Red Tides

21. Red Tides
Many dinoflagellates produce neurotoxins
(saxitoxin, brevitoxin, polycyclic ethers)
• Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP)
Alexandrium sp.
• Ciguatera
Gambierdiscus toxicus
• Diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP)
Dinophysis acuta and D. acuminata
• Neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP)
Gymnodinium breve

22. Specialized dinoflagellates
• Zooxanthellae
• Noctiluca

23. Zooxanthellae
• Live as symbionts in
animal hosts
• Corals, clams, jellies
• Symbiodinium sp.

24. Zooxanthellae
• Live as symbionts in
animal hosts
• Corals, clams, jellies
• Symbiodinium sp.

25. Coral Bleaching

26. Noctiluca

27. Bioluminescence
Chemiluminescent reaction in which a
substrate, luciferin, is oxidized,
releasing a large amount of energy in
the form of light
Pyrodinium bahamenese

28. Benthic primary producers
Major lineages of algae and plants:
• Chlorophyta (green algae/plants)
• Heterokonta (stramenopiles - brown algae)
• Rhodophyta (red algae)

29. General morphology

30. Life histories
Most have complex life histories:
• Alternation of generations (iso- or
heteromorphic)
• Dispersing spore
• Rhodophytes have
tri-phasic life history

31. Chlorophyta

32. Sargasso Sea
• Location determined by the changing ocean
currents
• Supports a unique fauna associated with
drifting mats of Sargassum sp.

33. Sargasso Sea

35. Brown Algae
• Their cells contain different pigments, such as
chlorophyll c and fucoxanthin
• Almost all phaeophytes are marine

36. Kelp forests

37. Kelp forests

38. Kelp forest distribution

39. Rhodophyta
• Highly variable morphologies
• Some members heavily calcified (coralline
algae) by calcium carbonate in cell walls
• Contain chlorophylls a, d
• Cell wall made of agar or carrageenan
• Store sugars in the form of Floridian starch

40. Rhodophyta

41. Angiosperms
• Seagrasses
• Mangroves

42. Seagrasses
• 59 species worldwide in 12 genera
• Abundant in Australia, Alaska, S. Europe,
India, E. Africa, SE Asia, Caribbean, Gulf
of Mexico
• 7 species found in Caribbean:
Thalassia, Syringodium, Halodule, Ruppia, Halophila
engelmanni, H. decipiens, and H. baillonii

43. Seagrasses
Jobos Bay, PR

44. Functions of seagrass –
An ecosystem perspective
• Primary production
• Canopy structure
• Epiphyte and epifaunal substratum
• Nutrient, contaminant and sediment filtration and
trapping
• Below-ground structure
• Nutrient regeneration and recycling
• Wave and current energy damping

45. Seagrass ecosystem

46. Mangroves
• Over 60 species worldwide
• Mainly limited to tropics in the intertidal
• Indo-West Pacific has highest diversity
• Important in island formation
• 4 species found in Caribbean:
Rhizophora mangle (Red mangroves),
Avicennia germinant (Black mangroves),
Laguncularia racemosa (White mangroves), and
Conocarpus erectus (Buttonwood mangroves)

47. Mangroves

48. Mangroves

49. Mangrove dispersal
•Red mangrove dispersal
period = 40 days
•Black mangrove = minimum
14 days
•White mangrove = 5 days
Germination occurs on parent

50. Ice shelf
• Resource-poor and inhabited
by only the hardiest of
creatures (similar to deep sea)
• The transition to a fully
mature community may take
hundreds to thousands of
years
• In the water column, change
occurs more quickly
(opportunistic when ice
opens)
• Krill extremely abundant

51. Adaptations
• Good swimmers
• Adapted to life in extreme cold
– Layer of blubber
– Thick layer of feathers
– Behavior modification (huddling)
– Live near ice-free zone

52. Penguin species:
1. Emperor 10. Macaroni
2. King 11. Fiordland Crested
3. Yellow-eyed 12. Erect-Crested
4. Chinestrap 13. African Black-footed
5. Adelie 14. Magellanic
6. Gentoo 15. Peruvian
7. Royal 16. Galapagos
8. Rockhopper 17. White-Flippered
9. Snares Crested 18. Blue (Fairy)

53. Emperor Penguins
Aptenodytes forsteri
• Colonies of 200,000 individuals in the Ross
Sea, Antarctica
• Large birds (30-40 kg)
• Only organism to breed during the Antarctic
winter

54. Emperor Penguins
Aptenodytes forsteri

55. Emperor Penguins
Aptenodytes forsteri

56. Order
Procellariformes
• Large wing span
• “Pelagic” birds
• Most of the world's albatross nest in
subantarctic waters in the southern
hemisphere
• Albatross are the “tuna” of the avian world
with the most efficient flight and one of the
largest wingspans – 12 ft
• Oldest seabird reaching 60-70 years old
• Lay only one egg per year
• Frigates sleep on the wing!

57. Order Pelecaniformes
Tern
Cormorant
Frigate Bird

58. Order
Charadriiformes
• Most diverse group (112 sp.)
• Many species very abundant
(i.e.,Auks)

59. Order Charadriiformes
Skimmers

60. Bird migrations
• Arctic tern has longest migration (25,000
miles every year)

61. Transients

62. Marine Mammals
• Order Carnivora
– Suborder Fissipedia (dogs, cats, weasels, sea otters,
polar bears)
– Suborder Pinnipedia (seals and sea lions)
• Order Cetacea (whales and dolphins)
• Order Sirenia

63. Suborder Fissipedia - Sea otters
Enhydra lutris

64. Suborder Fissipedia - Sea otters
Enhydra lutris

65. Ursus maritimus

66. Ursus maritimus

67. Order Cetacea
Suborder Mysticeti (baleen whales)
Suborder Odontoceti (toothed whales)
Family Delphinidae (marine dolphins)
Family Phocoenidae (porpoises)
Family Physeteridae (sperm whales)
Family Monodontidae (beluga and narwal)
Family Ziphiidae (beaked whales)

68. Suborder Mysticeti (baleen whales)

69. Suborder Odontoceti (toothed whales)

70. Suborder Pinnipedia
Seal
Sea lion

71. `

72. Diving Physiology
• Deepest dive by mammal (unaided): 2,250 m,
Sperm Whale
• Elephant seals spend most of their time submerged
and can dive to over 1,500 m depth
• Provides access to prey living at great depths (ie,
Giant Squid)
• Animal must have mechanisms to deal with
oxygen consumption and build-up of carbon
dioxide and lactic acid

73. Diving Physiology
Major adaptations:
1. Larger volume of blood transport
2. Storage of oxygen in hemoglobin of muscles
3. High red blood cell concentration
4. Low heart and oxygen consumption rate
5. Restriction of peripheral circulation

74. Sirenia