Mohammad Saifur Rahman

Lecturer,
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Maritime University, Bangladesh.
Email: saifur.ocn@bsmrmu.edu.bd
Cont: +880 1854275142
 Biological Oceanography
Why should life have arisen in the sea, and not on land?
• Water vs. Air (density)
• Terrestrial vs. Aquatic organisms e.g. skeletal
material (e.g. tree trunks, bones)
• Overcoming the effect of gravity
• Water is fundamental constituent of all living
organisms, and it is close to being a universal solvent
with the ability to dissolve more substances than any
other liquid
• The temperature of the oceans does not vary as
drastically as it does in air.

What about the constraints (Sunlight and Nutrients)

 Classification of M arine environM ents
The basic ecological divisions of the ocean
 Classification of M arine EnvironM ents
• ‘Epi’ means
above/Upper.
• ‘Meso’ means
Intermediate.
• ‘Abyssal’ means
Deep.
• ‘Hadal’-greatest
Ocean depth,
Hadal>6000m.
• Littoral
zone=Intertidal
zone (used
interchangeably)
Classification of pelagic organisM s
Classification of pelagic organisM s
 Basic Ecological Terms
Species- distinctive group of interbreeding individuals that is
reproductively isolated
Population- a group of individuals of one species living in a
particular place
population density- the number of individuals per unit area
(or per unit volume of water)
Community- populations of micro-organisms, plants, and
animals that inhabit the same physical area make up an
ecological community.
Habitat- the place occupied by an entire community
Environment- abiotic, and biotic factors
Ecosystem- the highest unit
r- and K- selection

r-selected:
opportunistic species.

K-selected:
equilibrium species.
r- and K- selection
What is carrying
capacity?
In biology and environmental
science, the carrying
capacity of a
biological species in a
particular habitat refers to the
maximum number of
individuals (of that species)
that the environment can carry
and sustain, considering its
geography or physical
features.
Historical development of
Biological Oceanography:
Human interest in the biology of the
oceans can be traced back to
observations made in the fourth
century B.C. by Aristotle, who
described and catalogued 180
species of marine animals.

The British naturalist, Edward

Forbes, is called the Father of
Oceanography because of his
systemically designed studies on
marine biota.
Solar Radiations
 Solar Radiations

Red Light (ca. 650 nm) is quickly absorbed, with only about 1% still remaining at
10 m in very clear seawater. Blue Light (ca.
450 nm) penetrates deepest, with about 1% remaining at 150 m in clear water.
Solar Radiations
Temporal variations in surface
solar radiation. (Relative scales)
As light passes through water, it
is both scattered and absorbed,
with different wavelengths of
the visible spectrum penetrating
to different depths.
Solar Radiations
The vertical ecological
zones established by light
penetration in the sea.
Note that the light
intensity scale is
logarithmic with depth.
The positions of the
vertical broken lines
delimiting the three
ecological light zones are
approximate only.
(Theoretical Figure)
 Solar Radiations
The amount of light required for photosynthetic
production to just balance respiratory losses in
plants is known as the compensation light
intensity.
The depth at which photosynthetic production
is balanced by plant respiration is called the
compensation depth (Dc), and it defines the
lower boundary of the euphotic zone.

Photosynthetic production (Pc )= Plant

respiration (Rc )
Ocean Zonation based on Light intensity

Euphotic Zone

Disphotic Zone/Twilight Zone

Aphotic Zone
• Upper • 200- • Below
200 m 1000 1000
m m
Global SST patterns
Vertical teM perature distribution
 Salinity

Salinity=Salt/
Minerals
Content of
seawater
Salinity regulatory factors

Evaporation

Precipitation
& Fresh
water inflow
Horizontal Distribution of Salinity
 Salinity Range

Open Ocean 32-38 (Avg. 35)

Shallow Coastal Area 27-30

Estuary 0.5-30 (Brackish

water)
Hypersaline >40
Environment (e.g. Red
Sea)
 Salinity Depth Profile

Halocline:- An area
where salinity
changes rapidly with
depth is called a
halocline.
 Basic Terminology
• Species that can tolerate a wide
range of salinity are called
euryhaline
• Those animals that can only
tolerate a narrow salinity range are
called stenohaline.
• Osmoconformer: a marine
organism (usually an invertebrate)
that maintains its internal salinity
such that it is always equal to the
surrounding seawater. Exp: Marine
Organisms.
• Have permeable body to maintain
in and out of water.
 Density

• Density=mass/unit volume
• Mainly governed by Salinity and Temperature
• As salinity increases, the density increases (positive
correlation); as the temperature increases, the density
decreases(Negative correlation/ Anticorrelation)
Salinity and temperature are physically independent variables
but they are not randomly distributed in the ocean.

The upper water layers are moved horizontally by surface

currents generated by wind systems. Vertical movements of
water are controlled in part by temperature and salinity
variations that change the density of seawater.
Phytoplankton
 IM pact of Ozone on Phytoplankton
• Produce more oxygen than all plant life on earth
and are vital in maintaining the earth’s
atmosphere.
• They are also the organisms most likely to be
affected by global warming and climate change.
• Scientists around the world are concerned that
harmful rays from the sun could pass through
the hole in the ozone layer and kill
phytoplankton, which live mostly in the upper
layers of the ocean.
Major groups of Phytoplankton
 Phytoplankton
There are many species of phytoplankton, despite few
limiting resources and lots of mixing.

Phytoplankton (single-celled primary producers) have

various competitive strategies that enable coexistence.
Four Major groups of Phytoplankton
Cyanobacteria Diatoms

• Small (<1 μm) or

• Large (2-200 μm)
Large (0.5-4 mm)
• Have silica frustules
• Nitrogen fixers
Coccolithophores Dinoflagellates
(Calcareous shell)
• Small (2-25 μm) • Large (5-2000 μm)

• Have CaCO3 tests • Have unique life

cycle & blooms
 Nutrients
• N, P, Si, Fe
• Nitrogen is most often limiting in ocean
• Bioavailable forms of inorganic N:
• Nitrate (NO3-)
• Ammonium (NH +)
4
• Nitrite (NO2-)
 DiatoM s
• Single-celled yellow green algae.
• Have a cell wall.
• Cell wall contains silica, a glass-like substance.
• Come in lots of shapes and sizes
• Intricate lines and etchings
 DiatoM s

• Word “diatom” means cut in two because

its cell wall is made of 2 parts one fitting
over the other.
• ‘Pearls of Ocean’

Kind of like a
petri dish!!!
 DiatoM s
• Probably the single most important food source
in the ocean!!!!
• Eaten by small plankton and by larger oysters
and clams.
• Cell wall is made of Silica.
• Diatomaceous Ooze=deposition of Diatoms
 Dinoflagellates
• Propel themselves using 2 flagella
• Can swim like simple animals
• Photosynthesize like plants
 Dinoflagellates

2 Species: Gonyaulax & Gymnodinium

responsible for Red tides
 Dinoflagellates
• Plankton-rich water.
• Responsible for fish mortality and paralytic
shellfish poisoning (PSP).
 Dinoflagellates

• Autotropic= produce its own food using light,

water, carbon dioxide, or other chemicals
• Heterotrophic=cannot produce its own food,
instead taking nutrition from other sources of
organic carbon, mainly plant or animal matter
• Mixotrophic=are capable of both autotrophic
and heterotrophic production
 Different strategy for living
At low nutrient concentrations, smaller phytoplankton
tend to grow faster
Assume cell is a sphere. r

Surface area: A = 4 r 2
4 3 r
Volume: V =  r
3
A 3
Surface area to volume ratio: =
V r
Smaller cells have relatively more surface area
for taking up nutrients.
PA R = photosynthetically active radiation

•(visible light wavelengths)

Irradiance = power of electromagnetic radiation per unit

area of ocean’s surface (e.g. W m-2) - or -
energy per area per time (e.g. mol photons m-2 s-1).
 Critical Depth(Dcr)

• There is a depth below which

phytoplankton can not sustain their
metabolic process.
Or,
• The depth where their total production of
water column(Pw) equals to their total
respiration of water column (Rw).

Pw=Rw
 Critical & coM pensation depth
(Pc > Re) and (Pc < Re)
ABCD = Respiration and ACE
= photosynthesis. These
two areas are equal at the
critical depth.
When Dcr < DM (as illustrated in
this figure), no net production
takes place because Pw < Rw;
Net production of the
phytoplankton (Pw > Rw) only
occurs when the critical depth
lies below the depth of mixing.
Species adapt to different light levels

Photo-inhibition
1 at high light levels

0
Irradiance Ryther 1956

Too much light damages cells and reduces

photosynthesis (photo-inhibition)
 Phytoplankton with multiple pigments
capture M ore wavelengths

• All phytoplankton have chlorophyll

• Coccolithophores and diatoms have carotenoids
• Cyanobacteria have phycoerythrin, phycocyanin
 Coccolithophores & Cyanobacteria
Coccolithophores and Cyanobacteria most adapted to
broad spectrum of light found in shallower mixed layer

High Nutrients Low

Shallow water / Summer

Deep water / Winter

Low Light Intensity / Irradiance High

Narrow Light Spectrum Broad

Low Temperature High

Microbial Loop
Biological PuM p

EarthLabs
Biological PuM p
 Physical Controls of Primary Production

• Light is one of the two major physical factors controlling phytoplankton

production in the sea.
• The second includes those physical forces(that control water movement
and mixing) which bring nutrients up from deep water, where they
accumulate, into the euphotic zone.
• These two features together largely determine what type of phytoplankton
develop and how much primary production occurs in any part of the world's
ocean.
• The amount of light decreases from the Equator towards the poles
• On the other hand, the amount of wind mixing, which brings nutrients up to
the surface, increases from the tropics (where water is vertically stabilized
by solar heating) toward the poles.
• The abundance of light and the abundance of nutrients in the euphotic zone
form an inverse relationship (Figure 3.9) which largely determines the
pattern of phytoplankton production in different latitudes.
 Physical
control of
Productivity
 Oceanic Gyres
• Definition: A gyre is a circular ocean
current formed by Earth's wind
patterns and the forces created by
the rotation of the planet.
• Governing Factors: Global wind and
Earth’s rotation
• Major Types: Tropical, Sub-Tropical,
Polar
• Major Types: the North Atlantic
Gyre, the South Atlantic Gyre, the
North Pacific Gyre, the South Pacific
Gyre, and the Indian Ocean Gyre
Oceanic Gyres
Monthly Distribution of Plankton
 Summary Information
1. The marine phytoplankton community is composed of several diverse
groups of algae that carry out autotrophic production and begin the pelagic
marine food chain. Photosynthesis results in the production of high-energy
organic materials from carbon dioxide and water plus inorganic nutrients.
2. All phytoplankton species require certain inorganic substances to carry out
photosynthesis, including sources of nitrogen, phosphorus, and iron (also
silica for diatoms) which may be in concentrations that are low enough to
be limiting to plant production.
3. Estimates of the total phytoplankton crop (standing stock or biomass) in a
particular locality can be determined by measurements of cell numbers,
total volume, or most commonly, by quantity of chlorophyll a. The rate of
primary production is most often measured by following the uptake of
radioactive (C-14) in samples of seawater containing phytoplankton.
4. The amount of photosynthesis increases with light intensity up to a
maximum value known as Pmax which is specific for each species. When
light intensity increases beyond this value, the rate of photosynthesis
declines due to photo-inhibition.
 Summary Information
5. The light intensity at which plant photosynthesis (production) exactly equals
plant respiration (losses) is the compensation intensity. Gross
photosynthesis describes total photosynthesis; net photosynthesis is gross
photosynthesis less respiratory losses.
6. Growth rates of phytoplankton are also controlled by the concentrations of
essential nutrients in seawater. Oligotrophic regions have low
concentrations of essential nutrients and therefore low productivity.
Eutrophic waters contain high nutrients and support high numbers of
phytoplankton.
7. Despite year-round high light intensity, tropical regions are generally low in
productivity because solar heating stabilizes the water column and nutrients
remain at low concentrations within the euphotic zone. Conversely, polar
regions are generally high in nutrients but low in solar radiation except for a
brief period in the summer. Maximum annual productivities are generally
found in temperate latitudes where light and nutrients are both reasonably
abundant.
8. The vertical profile of phytoplankton production changes with season and
with latitude. High surface productivities generally occur in temperate
latitudes in spring and autumn, whereas chlorophyll and productivity
maxima occur considerably deeper in tropical waters.
Thank You
Questions???