Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2004 -

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Ecology

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Life in the Upper Layers

The Ocean provides a favourable environment for life and the development of plant and animal organisms. All organisms living in the Ocean are divided into three large groups:

The vegetation (plants) such as seaweed and photosynthesising bacteria, using solar energy, transform biogenic nutrients using a process of photosynthesis. Also in this group are many bacteria that convert mineral substances to organic substances by a process called chemosynthesis.
The second group, animals, consume plants and other animals.
The third group feeds on the remains of plants and other animals and also serve as food for many organisms.

In the Ocean, therefore, a dependency exists between its living things. Food is the primary dependency, followed by the effects of life on Ocean productivity and then our ability to use sea life as a resource. The diverse vegetative and animal life in the Ocean is extremely non-uniform in its distribution. Next to areas with abundant sea life, such as zones of upwelling, there may exist areas that have almost no living matter. These are similar to deserts on land. On the globe there exist 63 classes of animals and 33 classes of plants, a basic part of which live in the oceans (76% of the animals and about 50% of the plants). See More...

Life at Depth

The World Ocean as an environment for vegetable and animal organisms is subdivided as such: pelagic (living in the layers of water from the surface to the bottom) and benthic (living on the bottom of ocean) In the pelagic class, epipelagic, mesopelagic, bathypelagic and abyssopelagic life forms live. Below the 3,000 depth and extending to the deepest parts of the ocean is the abyssopelagic zone. Inhabitants of the abyssopelagic zone are often colourless. The fishes and crabs most often have no eyes but some have special flashing organs used to assist them to find food. For distribution of benthic organisms (living on the Ocean bottom) a number of zones have been allocated. The upper zone - littoral and sub-littoral includes places from the tide line to depths of about 200 m; bathyal includes the range from 200 to 3,000 m; abyssal takes in the zone from 3,000 m and ultra-abyssal takes in the zone from 6,000 m to the floors of the deepest trenches in the Ocean. The littoral and sub-littoral are characterised by the greatest species varieties and abundance of food. Only in this zone does bottom vegetation develop.. See More...

Areas where Organisms Live in the Ocean

I. Pelagic 1. Epipelagic 2. Mesopelagic 3. Bathypelagic 4. Abyssopelagic II. Benthic 5. Littoral, Sub-littoral 6. Bathyal 7. Abyssal 8. Ultra-abyssal

Text and images are from Man and the Ocean, a CD-ROM produced by the Russian Head Department of Navigation and Oceanography (HDNO).

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Title

Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2004 ( BOOK )

Author(s) / Editor(s)

Wilkinson,C (ed)

Description

Volume 1, Volume 2, Summary and CD-ROM in the series.

The Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2004 report documents how human activities continue to be the primary cause of the global coral reef crisis. The report details many new initiatives aimed at reversing this degradation such as by conserving the biodiversity, the economic value and beauty of coral reefs. The report recognises that the major stresses to coral reefs are: natural forces that they have coped with for millions of years; direct human pressures, including sediment and nutrient pollution from the land, over-exploitation and damaging fishing practices, engineering modification of shorelines; and the global threats of climate change causing coral bleaching, rising sea levels and potentially threatening the ability of corals to form skeletons in more acid waters. If reefs are to survive as our natural heritage, we need to act locally to reduce direct human impacts and, globally, to combat greenhouse emissions.

Keywords

CORAL REEFS;

SCIENCE;

EDUCATION;

Geography Keywords

EAST AFRICA;

INDIAN OCEAN;

SOUTHEAST ASIA;