Let’s Name the Zones, the Zones, the Zones

Intertidal Zone

• Are above the low tide mark and below the high tide mark.– High tide marked with the strandline

• Very difficult to live in because of changing water levels.

• Organisms have to be able to either hang on or burrow– Clams, oysters, clinging seaweeds, burrowing

crabs

Supratidal Zone

• Above high tide line• Very dry and desert like• Sand contains a lot of salt• Gets abused by the forces of the ocean• Home to seagulls, dune grasses and shore

trees like the pitch pine

Subtidal Zone

• Below the low tide mark• Lots of waves and current• Battered by the surf zone• Have to be able to cling on, burrow, or have

some other method to try and avoid moving water.– Flounder and other flatfish, mussels, barnacles, oc

topus, etc.

Pelagic Zone

• Pretty much the whole ocean.• Variety of abiotic conditions depending on

location.• Many fish like to school in “open ocean”

areas.

Neritic Zone

• Located over continental shelf• Is almost entirely in the photic zone and

receives sunlight.• Very rich in nutrients due to sunlight and

runoff from land.• Home to large seaweeds, other plankton,

schools of fish

Oceanic Zone

• Deepest part of the ocean.• Area containing the dropoff.• May be barren because of the depth and lack

of sunlight near the bottom.• Contains occasional, roaming shark or whale

and is home to the benthic creatures like tubeworms, hagfish, deep sea anglerfish, and all the weird, darkness creatures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sandy BeachSandy Beach

Where do you live?

Habitat- where an organism livesEnvironment/ecosystem- the total surrounding of a

living thing.

Biotic- Living things in an ecosystemAbiotic- Non-living things in an

ecosystem

Upper Beach

• Includes trees, shrubs and grasses.• Roots hold onto sand and prevent erosion.• Sand collects in dunes

Supratidal Zone• Area above intertidal.• Too much salty mist for plants• Where most people lay their blanket

Intertidal Zone

• Area located between high & low tide• Strandline- long line of debris left by the high

tide

Subtidal Zone

• Area below the low tide line that is always under water.

• Heavy wave impact.• Some organisms cling!!

Surf Zone

• Region of crashing waves• Moves with the tide• Animals must be adapted to the turbulence

Mole crab (Emertia)-

It as smooth jellybean shape that helps it swim through sand and water; avoids wave impact by digging into sand with paddle like appendages; feeds on microscopic organisms by sticking it’s feathery appendages in the water.

Lady crab (Ovalipes)

Swims and digs into the sand by means of its paddle like appendages; hides from predators by burrowing in the sand, leaving it’s eye stalks exposed.

Silverside fish (Menidia)-

• Small fish that swims in schools in the well-oxygenated waters of the surf zone; feeds on invertebrates and crab eggs; are preyed on by larger fish such as the striped bass

Rocky Coast

Rocky Coast!

• Provide stable substrates (rock!!) where organisms can attach.

• Rocky coasts are found on the east and west coast….Which states are they found in?

Rocky Coast!

• Provide stable substrates (rock!!) where organisms can attach.

• Rocky coasts are found on the east and west coast….Which states are they found in?– Alaska, California, Maine Oregon, Washington,

Hawaii

Upper intertidal

–Above the high tide mark. Receives wave splash. Blue-green bacteria/algae, snails and limpets (eat algae).

Mid intertidal

– Barnacles, mussels, seaweeds (rockweed). These all cling to rocks through various means (natural glue, sticky byssal threads, holdfast). Barnacles feed on plankton and close shells during low tide. Dog Whelks eat barnacles and mussels.

Lower intertidal

– Dominated by seaweeds at low tide. Tide pools form in spaces between rocks. Algae, invertebrates and small fish live here; sand dollars. During high tide, sea stars, sea urchin and fish come in to eat these.