Deck 10: Marine Communities

Question 1

Why are harmful algal blooms, or HABs, so dangerous?

A) They block light from reaching other photosynthesizers.
B) They can produce potent toxins.
C) They clog fish gills.
D) They absorb sunlight, raising the water temperature.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Where is the greatest annual total oceanic primary productivity?

A) rocky intertidal zones
B) in the temperate continental shelves
C) in the northern polar regions
D) productivity is about equal at all latitudes

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Organisms that spend their entire life cycle as plankton are called .

A) nanoplankton
B) meroplankton
C) holoplankton
D) zooplankton

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The whale shark is the largest species of shark and eats .

A) seals and other smaller marine mammals
B) fish, especially tuna
C) plankton near the surface of the water
D) benthic crabs

Question 5

Autotrophic plankton are generally called .

A) zooplankton
B) meroplankton
C) holoplankton
D) phytoplankton

Question 6

Which zone corresponds to the lighted photic zone?

A) epipelagic zone
B) mesopelagic zone
C) bathypelagic zone
D) abyssopelagic zone

Question 7

In the gill of a fish, water and blood circulate , which transfer efficiency.

A) in the same direction; increases
B) in opposite directions; increases
C) in the same direction; decreases
D) in opposite directions; decreases

Question 8

A massed group of individual fish of a single species and size class packed closely together and moving as a unit is called a .

A) flock
B) herd
C) clutch
D) school

Question 9

An example of a zooplankton that is very important to many pelagic communities is .

A) krill
B) squid
C) coccolithophores
D) diatoms

Question 10

A group of organisms of the same species that occupy a specific area is called a(n) .

A) community
B) population
C) ecosystem
D) niche

Question 11

Organisms that are unable to actively move laterally, instead drifting with ocean currents, are called .

A) plankton
B) nekton
C) hadal
D) benthic

Question 12

The portion of the pelagic zone that is near the shore on the continental shelf is the .

A) oceanic zone
B) abyssal zone
C) neritic zone
D) bathyal zone

Question 13

Organisms with backbones are called .

A) vertebrates
B) invertebrates
C) molluscs
D) foraminifera

Question 14

refers to organisms that live on or are associated with the bottom.

A) Pelagic
B) Neritic
C) Planktonic
D) Benthic

Question 15

Organisms that spend only part of their life cycle as a member of the plankton community are called .

A) zooplankton
B) meroplankton
C) holoplankton
D) phytoplankton

Question 16

Toothed whales (Odontoceti) can search for prey using .

A) echolocation
B) sensitive organs that detect electric charge
C) sensitive organs that detect water pressure
D) bioluminescence

Question 17

Many populations that interact with one another at a particular location form a .

A) niche
B) habitat
C) community
D) genus

Question 18

How do marine reptiles and seabirds deal with the salinity of seawater?

A) They have special glands that help excrete salt.
B) They dilute the salt with freshwater.
C) Their bodily fluids are saline, as well.
D) They have a filter in their throats that removes salt.

Question 19

A is an organism's "address" within its community, while its is its "occupation."

A) habitat; metabolism
B) niche; resource
C) neritic zone; selection
D) habitat; niche

Question 20

Which type of organism is responsible for harmful algal blooms, or HABs?

A) diatoms
B) dinoflagellates
C) coccolithophores
D) foraminifera

Question 21

The root-shaped jumble at the base of a seaweed is called a(n) .

A) holdfast
B) blade
C) stamen
D) aerenchyma

Question 22

Desiccation is a threat to organisms living in .

A) seafloor vent communities
B) the pelagic zone
C) the intertidal zone
D) the disphotic zone

Question 23

Coral reefs are typically home to . chemosynthetic microbes

A) a large number of species
B) mostly one dominant species
C) autotrophs only
D) chemosynthetic microbes

Question 24

The coral reef community .

A) is made up exclusively of various species of coral polyps
B) is limited to carnivorous animals
C) lies only within the kelp forest habitat of the tropics
D) is a highly productive and diverse collection of organisms in shallow water environments

Question 25

Perhaps the most difficult oceanic habitat is/are .

A) the abyssal zone
B) intertidal coarse sand and cobble beaches
C) intertidal rocky shores
D) the epipelagic zone

Question 26

Marine mammals are .

A) ectothermic
B) endothermic
C) autotrophic
D) disphotic

Question 27

Which organism forms colonies of individuals living within a connected framework of skeletons?

A) kelp
B) diatoms
C) corals
D) krill

Question 28

Which of the following categories includes manatees and dugongs?

A) Cetacean
B) Cnidaria
C) Sirenia
D) Teleost

Question 29

Which of these statements is FALSE concerning estuaries?

A) Larvae are often abundant there.
B) Estuaries are in danger of development and pollution.
C) Very few autotrophs live in estuaries, but many animals can be found there.
D) Estuaries are places where saltwater and fresh water meet.

Question 30

Which of the following organisms is a cephalopod?

A) whale
B) sea turtle
C) seal
D) squid

Question 31

An individual coral animal is called a .

A) polyp
B) rhodophyte
C) phaeophyte
D) stipe

Question 32

Nutrients in coral reefs are .

A) extremely limited, which is why productivity is lower than the deep ocean
B) so plentiful that there is no limit to phytoplankton growth
C) largely trapped below the pycnocline
D) recycled efficiently because the water is shallow

Question 33

Kelp forests are an example of a(n) community.

A) estuary
B) plankton
C) pelagic
D) benthic

Question 34

Life in productive tropical reefs is best characterized by .

A) extreme competition for food, living space, and mates
B) very few species, but large numbers of each species
C) very little competition due to the abundance of resources
D) mostly symbiotic relationships

Question 35

are vascular plants that are successful in low, muddy coasts in tropical and semitropical areas.

A) Mangroves
B) Ahermatypic corals
C) Kelp
D) Diatoms

Question 36

Why are organisms in rocky intertidal zones sorted into horizontal bands?

A) Crashing waves remove weaker ones close to the water line.
B) Some float and are carried upward at high tide.
C) Some can better tolerate drying out between high tides.
D) Some need to stay out of the water to breathe.

Question 37

The most important physical factor for intertidal communities is .

A) lack of light
B) high salinity
C) l ack of nutrients
D) the rise and fall of the tides

Question 38

Primary productivity in estuaries is high because .

A) light is seasonal and dim
B) nutrients are abundant
C) there is no saltwater
D) there are no primary consumers

Question 39

Benthic organisms live .

A) on or associated with the bottom
B) suspended in the water column
C) by drifting through the water, unable to swim against currents
D) near the water's surface

Question 40

Seaweeds are .

A) vascular plants
B) unicellular algae
C) multicellular algae
D) phytoplankton

Question 41

Species abundance and diversity is generally higher on the deep ocean floor than in the part of the water column immediately above it.

Question 42

Which of the following statements is FALSE concerning hydrothermal vents?

A) They are typically found in shallow waters near subduction zones.
B) Certain animals are found at hydrothermal vents such as tube worms.
C) Hydrothermal vents are typically found associated with spreading centers.
D) Vent waters cool as they are released from the vent.

Question 43

Photosynthetic plankton are called phytoplankton and include the diatoms and dinoflagellates.

Question 44

Tube worms at seafloor vents get their energy by .

A) catching small organisms for food
B) absorbing the thermal energy of the heated water from the vent
C) hosting chemosynthetic bacteria
D) performing photosynthesis

Question 45

Which adaptive characteristic do organisms within the deep pelagic and benthic communities have in common?

A) heavy support structures
B) gigantism
C) calcium carbonate exoskeleton
D) gas-filled internal spaces

Question 46

What do scientists think might form the "stepping stones" that would enable organisms to disperse from one seafloor vent to another?

A) high spots on the seafloor that extend into the photic zone
B) whale carcasses
C) coral reefs
D) large fish that swim from vent to vent

Question 47

The active swimmers of the pelagic realm are called the zooplankton.

Question 48

In classifying the ocean by light level, the primary divisions are between neritic and oceanic zones.

Question 49

Pelagic organisms live in the open ocean.

Question 50

Individuals of representative families in deep water often tend to be much smaller than related individuals in the shallow ocean.

Question 51

Zooplankton are the most numerous primary consumers in the ocean.

Question 52

An estuary is where rivers meet the ocean and where freshwater and seawater mix.

Question 53

Green sea turtles are the only species that are strictly herbivorous as an adult, feeding on sea grass as their primary diet.

Question 54

Because of the harsh contrast in salinity, estuaries are among the last productive of marine habitats.

Question 55

Hydrothermal vents that support biological communities exist because of primary productivity in the form of chemosynthesis.

Question 56

Most seabirds live in the northern hemisphere.

Question 57

Tropical coral reefs typically form in areas of high wave energy.

Question 58

The symbiotic dinoflagellates that live in the tissues of coral polyps .

A) provide carbon dioxide and phosphates for the polyps
B) feed on the tissues of the polyps and are dangerous parasites
C) are the main cause of coral bleaching, and are threatening the reefs of the world
D) provide additional nourishment and oxygen to the polyps through photosynthesi

Question 59

Sharks have skeletons made of cartilage, not bone.

Question 60

The distribution of phytoplankton in the ocean is directly influenced by the distribution of nutrients.

Question 61

Some of the very large species of animals in the ocean, namely whale sharks and baleen whales, feed on plankton. How can they support their large size eating microscopic organisms?

Question 62

What does "ecological black market" mean and how does it relate to the official economy of the food chain?

Question 63

What is the largest, and most sparsely populated, marine community? What are the feeding and breeding habits of organisms that live in this community?

Question 64

Hydrothermal vents support a community of organisms including pogonophorans, clams, crabs, and worms, just to name a few. But hydrothermal vents are found in the deep-sea far from the photic zone. If no light reaches hydrothermal vents, what is the basis of the primary productivity that supports the community?

Question 65

What factors are necessary for plankton productivity and therefore determine where productivity is high and where it is low?

Question 66

Explain why salt marshes and estuaries are among the most productive of marine habitats.

Question 67

Compare and contrast the toothed whales and the baleen whales.

Question 68

The pelagic realm is massive and supports a great diversity of living things. Considering zonation in the pelagic realm, where would you expect to find most of the organisms and why?

Question 69

Discuss adaptations in fish that function to reduce drag.

Question 70

The intertidal zone represents one of the most stressful environments in terms of changing environmental conditions. Explain this comment using specific examples of stresses and how organisms are able to survive in the intertidal zone.