Marine Ecosystems: Energy Flow

In the food chain, I was the Beleen Whale.  The Beleen Whale eats krill and Copepods, and the Phytoplankton is at the bottom of the food chain as a producer.  The trophic levels start with the producers, then the primary, secondary, tertiary, and then quaternary.  As the trophic levels go up, the energy decreases by 10%.  Biomagnification occurs when the concentration of a substance in an organism exceeds the background concentration of the substance in its diet.  Examples are mercury and DDT.

Oceanography Final Essay

The fundamentals of physical oceanography and meteorology make the Earth habitable.  The physical oceanography includes the waves, tides, currents, etc.  The meteorology includes the winds and the climate.  Earth is the only planet in our solar system and universe that can sustain life.  That is because the Earth is in a spot in the solar system that enables us to be able to comfortably live in our planet.  The Earth is the third planet away from the sun, so we get the perfect amount of sun in order to live, we aren’t too close so we don’t get too much, and we aren’t too far so we don’t get too little.  The waves, tides, and currents along with the winds and climate all come into play because of the Earth, and where it is located.  The waves, tides, currents, winds, and climate all take part in making the Earth habitable.

            The ocean is a major influence on weather and climate, which is one of the reasons that make Earth habitable.  The oceans in the world are important to heating the planet.  The winds and currents move the nutrients and the heat around the world.  The areas of land and atmosphere absorb some of the sunlight, while the Earth’s oceans absorb the majority of the sun’s radiation.  The areas around the equator are the warmest on Earth, and the ocean acts as a heat-retaining solar panel.   If it wasn’t for Earth’s atmosphere, all the heat we get from the sun during the day would quickly radiate into space after sunset, so the atmosphere plays a huge part.  Along with solar radiation, the ocean helps distribute heat around the globe.  Evaporation happens when the water molecules are heated, and they exchange freely in the air.  Since the ocean water is constantly evaporating, so the temperature and humidity is increasing of the surrounding air which is how rain and storms are formed,  and then are carried off by the winds and can go very far distances, maybe all over the world.  Most of the rain on land starts out in the ocean, and the tropics have so much rain because of evaporation.  Weather patterns are mostly caused by ocean currents.  Ocean currents transport precipitation and warm water around the world in a specific order, which causes the currents to regulate the climate of Earth, which evenly distributes the solar radiation of Earth’s climate.  Without the ocean currents, Earth’s land would be much less habitable.

            The oceans around the world and the people on Earth are inextricably interconnected for multiple reasons.  Humans cannot live without the ocean.  The ocean supplies fresh water for humans, and almost all of our oxygen.  The ocean gives humans food, medicines, and energy resources.  The ocean provides a variety of different jobs for humans, and serves as a global transportation for countries all around the world to trade goods and such, acting as a highway.  Not only does the ocean affect humans, but humans affect the ocean, as well.  Fishing, pollution, and building are all ways that humans affect the ocean.  All living things on Earth depend on the ocean, so it is up to everyone to care for it.  Explorers also have a big part in the ocean.  The European’s were the most famous ocean explorers, but there were also the Polynesians, Phoenicians, etc.  The explorers used the ocean to discover knew parts of the world, like how the Europeans discovered the Americas.  If it wasn’t for the ocean, then they would not have been able to do that.

            The ocean shapes the features of the Earth.  The ocean affects the places that we live in.  A lot of the rocks and minerals that form our planet come from the ocean.  The beaches are made and changed by the effects of the ocean waves and its currents.  The changes in sea level have also literally shaped the surface of Earth’s lands.  The deep ocean trenches are an example of features that can form along plate tectonic boundaries.  From the result of the ocean, the plate tectonics move a few centimeters each year.  That shapes the Earth because it causes the land on Earth to move, as well as creating mountains and volcanoes, which changes the land areas.  The ocean is very powerful, which causes the features on Earth to change.  The breaking waves form and shape the coastlines on Earth.  Waves deposit and carry away the sediments on the land areas.  The coastlines all around the world are different from the different oceans and waves, but no matter where it is, the ocean has a major effect to the coastline, shaping it to how it is.
            The Earth is habitable all because of the waves, tides, currents, winds, and climate.  They are all very important to the survival of all life on Earth.  All of these fundamentals of physical oceanography and meteorology correspond in order to make Earth habitable.  Without just one of these, it could have a major impact of life on Earth.  I think for in order to keep Earth how it is, or even better, we need to make specific changes for the better connecting to each individual fundamental.  If it wasn’t for the major influence on weather and climate, we would not have the winds and currents move nutrients and heat.  If it wasn’t for the ocean and the people and how they are inextricably interconnected, we could not have had the explorers who even founded other continents in the world, along with food from the ocean, and oxygen in order to survive.  If the ocean didn’t shape the features of the Earth, we wouldn’t have tides, waves, coastlines, and plate tectonics.  All of these fundamentals tie things together, and we need to keep things the way they are in order for Earth to stay habitable for much longer.  

Work Cited

http://www.neosec.org/ol6

http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/climate.html

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/

http://www.neosec.org/ol2

http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/shaping.html

http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/tectonic-features.html

http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/students/waves/waves4.htm

Sand: A Grain of History

When people think of sand, usually the first thing that comes to mind is a sandy beach.  Sand is the pulverized, weather rock including some fragments of tiny shelled creatures, which are tossed up by the waves and are also sediment from other inland areas.  Sand is basically the breakdown of rocks.  Some minerals are very unstable and decompose, while other minerals are much more stable.  The minerals that are more stable tend to get left behind.  All of the variables come together to create different-looking beaches.  Sand has been around for a long time, so most of the sand that is on the beaches, especially on the East coast and the Gulf coast, are about 5,000 years old.  Sand doesn't reach beaches today like it used to, so most of the sand is old.  One reason is the general rise in sea levels.  The rise in sea levels over the last 12,000 years has flooded river valleys and created large estuaries.  The estuaries trap the sand that would of reached the coast and gone onto the beaches, but instead stays trapped in the estuaries.  After major storms, beaches have to be replenished, by having sand off-shore be dragged up to the beaches.
There are so many grains of sand in the world, more than anyone could ever imagine.  With all this sand, where could it possibly come from?  Well, a lot of this sand is poop.  Key players in regulating algae and reef life is the Parrotfish.  The Parrotfish have additional teeth in their throats to help break down all the coral they eat into sand.  Parrotfish don't even have stomachs, so when they digest the sand, in comes right out exploding into a cloud of sand.  840 pounds of sand can be created alone by a larger parrotfish.  Besides the parrotfish; worms, sponges, and oysters also produce sand in the Pacific ocean, but no animal can do it as well as the parrotfish.  Sand has a very interesting history.