Article Title: Life in the Ocean
Author: James W. Nybakken and Steven K. Webster
About 71% of the Earth's surface is covered with water, but researchers have only studied up to 1% of the total ocean because it is quite difficult to get to the floor. The pressure would be able to crush us. In addition, there is scarce sunlight and oxygen down there. From what researchers have gathered about the ocean is that the most oxygen depleted part of it is not the deepest, but the area of intermediate depth. In fact, the cold, heavy water at the bottom is rich with nutrients, but not many organisms take advantage of it as no photosynthesis takes place because of the lack of sunlight. The surface is often nutrient poor because photosynthesizers that love the sun and stay close to the top have depleted them. Animals and invertebrates at the deep part of the sea have poorly developed shells due to the scarcity of calcium carbonate.
After reading this article, I was really interested about what was at the bottom of the ocean. There's probably thousands, maybe even millions, of organisms we haven't discovered yet. We've only scratched the surface so far. We should try to go deeper and study more of the ocean so we can have a better understanding of how the world works.
Author: James W. Nybakken and Steven K. Webster
- 71% of Earth's surface is covered with oceans
- Researches have only studied 1% of the ocean floor because of the difficulty of getting to the floor
- Phosphorus and nitrogen are only available in the ocean at 1/10,000 of their concentration as it is available in fertile soil
- The thermocline separates the warm surface from the colder
- Cold, heavy water is the key to the food chain as it is richly supplied with nutrients; but no photosynthesis takes place because there is no sunlight so not many organisms take advantage of the nourishment
- Surface water is often scarce of nutrients because sun-loving photosynthesizers have depleted them
- Tropical seas are usually crystal clear because they lack microscopic life
- Temperature and depth control the availability of oxygen
- The ocean is most depleted of oxygen at intermediate depths
- In some areas of the Pacific Ocean, "oxygen minimum zones" are found between 500 and 1,000 meters below the surface
- Deep sea animals and invertebrates have poorly developed shells because it is difficult to get calcium carbonate under high pressure
- In the ocean, oxygen only enters at or near the surface
About 71% of the Earth's surface is covered with water, but researchers have only studied up to 1% of the total ocean because it is quite difficult to get to the floor. The pressure would be able to crush us. In addition, there is scarce sunlight and oxygen down there. From what researchers have gathered about the ocean is that the most oxygen depleted part of it is not the deepest, but the area of intermediate depth. In fact, the cold, heavy water at the bottom is rich with nutrients, but not many organisms take advantage of it as no photosynthesis takes place because of the lack of sunlight. The surface is often nutrient poor because photosynthesizers that love the sun and stay close to the top have depleted them. Animals and invertebrates at the deep part of the sea have poorly developed shells due to the scarcity of calcium carbonate.
After reading this article, I was really interested about what was at the bottom of the ocean. There's probably thousands, maybe even millions, of organisms we haven't discovered yet. We've only scratched the surface so far. We should try to go deeper and study more of the ocean so we can have a better understanding of how the world works.