MS1 NOTES

Ocean Primary Productivity

Photosynthesis: makes glucose

In ocean uses dissolved co2 and sunlight to make glucose

Majority primary prod are pelagic phytoplankton (microscopic plant-life organisms)

Prod varies from time to time, location as well (coastal)

- Bacterioplankton (prokaryotic)
- Macroalgae/seaweeds
- Seagrasses
- Mangroves

Plankton: term for free-floating…, carried by winds and currents

Plankter – individual, singular

Plankters – plural

More silicate = diatoms

In general, in tropical areas = dinoflagellates

Phytoplankton – unicellular, chainformers

Define diatoms

Color depends on pigmentation

Harmful algal blooms (HABs):

- Blocks sunlight
- Has toxins: consumed by surviving organisms like muscles, bivalves, etc.
- Takes oxygen away = fish kill (suffocating them) ; this happens when phytoplankterns die,
bacteria comes to degrade them, uses oxygen = deoxygenation

What controls primary production?

- Nutrients
- Waves and currents
- Absence of predators
 - Photosynthetic light limitation - Light: wavelength of light gets filtered depending on depths
(deeper = lower primary prod) 20-40m depth is the peak position or has the highest prod
- Amount of dissolved inorganic nutrients
- Marine bacteria and nutrient cycling
- Zooplankton grazing
- Vertical mixing (nutrients); upwelling and downwelling

Photoinhibition

Amount of dissolved nutrients: it has a saturation point

More nutrient concentration = higher growth rate but there is a limit

Nutrient regimes

Eutrophic = well fed (trophic means nutrition)

High nutrients = high prod

In upwelling areas, coastal waters

Oligotrophic (poorly fed)

Low nutrients = low prod

This is typical to the open ocean

Mesotrophic is between eutrophic and oligotrophic

Nitrate prod is changing; related with Habagat and Amihan

Marine bacteria and nutrient cycling

Zooplankton grazing (predators)

Keeps food web under control

Mixing:

Compensation depth
Mixing depth varies seasonally

Poles: uniform term, not much mixing

Critical depth

Photic zone: area/depth that has light penetration

Why is primary prod important?

Sustains life

Provides energy to fuel life

Photo-autotrophs (plants) (base)

Herbivores (zooplankton, other invertebrates, and some vertebrates)

Carnivores (eats herbivores) (squid, sardine, etc.)

Top predators (sharks, birds, humans)

Fish vertical tail

Mammal horizontal tail

Biological pump

Phases: fixation, sinking, decomp.

Seasonal seas

- Temp
- Location
- Predation
- Physiology
- Uses
- Mechanisms
- Reproduction
Algae:

- Photosynthetic
- Autotrophic
- Eukaryotic
- Important in the food web for aquatic ecosystems

Algae has two divisions:

Macro and micro

Macro can be seen by the naked eye

Micro cant (ex: phytoplankton)

H.A.B or Harmful Algal Blooms:

Colonies of algae grow out of control = overgrowth

Density

Produces toxins or harmful effects on people and marine animals which can be fatal

Still harmful because it throws off the balance of the marine ecosystem, fish kill doesn’t necessarily
mean toxins are the cause

Less mixing (cold and hot)

Warmer temp

High nutrients

Climate and weather

Biological community interactions (algae defense mechanisms)

Cyst (1st): dormant “seed”, buried in sediment in ocean floor for 4yrs or so + the right environment =
dinoflagellate cells, more of those = chains (this part is the asexual phase)

They form chains up until they can/fission though it is not optimal, once the limit has been reached then
they go into the sexual phase = release gametes = planozygote = buried again = return to cyst (1st)
Ever present dinoflagellates

Pseudo-nitzichia

Passive and active gamete

Auxospores -> mature -> matured pseudo nitzichia cells, rinse and repeat

Types of HABS

Mass prod

Toxin prod

Ocean zones

Ocean habitats: 2 major provinces: benthic and pelagic, pelagic has two division: neritic and oceanic

Benthic is divided by depth:

- Littoral
- Sublittoral
- Bathyal
- Abyssal
- Hadal

Intertidal: areas affected by tides

Light zones in the ocean

Light is still detected as far as 1000m below but the there’s barely any significant light beyond 200m

Euphotic – sea level

Dysphotic – 200m

Aphothic – 1000m
Estuaries: life in the transition zone

Connection between freshwater and seawater

Rivers to oceans/seas

Gleaning

Euryhaline and seenohaline

Mangroves

3 zones in estuaries:

Based on salinity:

- Fresh
- Oligohaline
- Mesohaline
- Polyhaline

Osmoconformers

Osmoregulators: mangroves

Estuary: high life = high nutrients

“nurseries of the sea”

Traps co2

Mangrove: Portuguese: tree

Grove: stand of trees

Considered amphibious plants

Coral triangle: also, other organisms

Sheltered shores

Coves
Embayment

Toxin: costly metabolite

Blue carbon

Tectonics and formation of PH islands

Product of converging plates

Sandwich between Philippine sea plate and Eurasian plate

Palinspathic reconstruction of south east asia

Narrow and steep continental shelf: gently sloping submerged extension of a landmass, usually 100-
200m (geological definition)

Continental shelf teems with life

Definition by law: seabed up to 370km from shore or to the outer edge of the continental margin

UNCLOS

Isobath = ocean deep.

Geological oceanography

Study of earth beneath the oceans

Physical shelf

Continental shelf

Continental slope

Mid-ocean ridges

Volcanic islands
Sea mounds

Abyssal plain

Trenches

Continental drift

Continents fit together

Example: s. America and w. africa

Sea floor spreading

- Ocean floor
- Bathometric map of Atlantic Ocean -> outer core made of fe and ni molten liquid metal ->
movement makes magnetic field (magnetic north and south switch periodically overtime)
- Sonar
- Scar, mountain range
- Harry hess and Robert ___
- Younger near spread area and older as you go away
- Sediment also gets thicker as you go away

Alfred Wegener: “continents are moving”, Pangaea: all earth

Evidences:

Shapes of continents: coastlines fit (apparent fit)

Evidence of life: Mesosaurus (freshwater); fossil correlation

Geologic structures: rock and mountain correlation

Past climate data: evidence of glaciers (striations), bituminous coal (compacted plant remains) ->
paleoclimate data

Functions of the ocean:

5 oceans: pacific, Indian, Atlantic, southern, artic

No boundary

Pacific: latin – peaceful

Named: 16th century Magellan

Circular shape

Largest (covers 30% of earth) (half of earth’s water)

Deepest trench: are depth = 3800m

Philippine trench

Mariana trench

Pacific ring of fire: 90% earthquakes and 81% world’s largest earthquake happen here

Direct effect w/ plate tectonics

Atlantic: Greek god atlas

Mid-atlantic ridge (Iceland -> mid-atlantic range)

Longest mountain range

Puerto rico trench (2nd deepest)

Used for trade routes

s-shaped

Indian: 3rd largest

20% cover

Surrounds densely

Inverted y shape

Triangular

Relatively higher water temp

1st ocean to be crossed extensively

Southern: newest ocean recognized (2000)

Hydrographic organization

Severe climate

Least understood

20km squared
Borders antarctica

4th largest

Nearest is chile

Artic ocean: north pole location

Has polar ice

Smallest

Russia size

Least salty

Shallowest

Coldest

Virtually landlocked

Major functions:

Carrier of materials

Regulation

Production of resources

Information

Water:

Fun facts 97% mass of sea water

Most common liquid on the planet

Plays major role in heat control

Universal solvent

Colorless

Tasteless

Odorless

Relative high boiling point/specific heat

Most polar
Ocean: absorb more of the sun’s energy, they store energy in the form of heat

Uneven global heat distribution gives rise to convection cells that attempt to equalize the heat
distribution

Coriolis effect: 3 convection cells up and down

6 total

Hadley cell: air rises -> equator (condensation: rain): trade winds -> drops at 30 degrees

Ferrel cell: air falls at 30 deg North and South (dry air, no rain, desert): westerlies

Polar cell: air rises at 60 deg North and South (condensation and rain); polar easterlies

Difference between Hadley and Ferrell: 30degrees ___

Density of water: pure water is most dense at 1g/cm cube at 4 deg C

Water is odd; less dense as a solid than liquid

Relevant to ocean circulation

Water always flows down toward the lowest point

Water’s density is affected by temp and salinity (amount of salt absorbed)

Cold water density > hot water density

Denser: cold water > hot water

High salinity > low salinity

Water goes to equilibrium

If surface water cools, becomes denser then sink then equilibrium

Types of ocean currents

To maintain approx.. steady climate; ocean and atmosphere must move excess heat from tropics to
poles

Surface currents (surface circulation): horizontal movement

Deep water: (thermohaline): vertical plane movement

Surface current: 10% of all ocean water

Moves upper 400m of ocean

Deep water: 90% of all ocean water

400m below

Density driven forces and gravity

Density diff is a function of temp and salinity difference

Wind driven circulation: moving air masses (sets into motion)

Horizontal

Upper waters

Currents carry warm water away from equator and replaces same amount w/ cold water

Thermocline – sharp temp change

Salinity: fluctuates spatially and temporally

Atlantic saltiest

Thermohaline circulation moves a massive current of water around the globe

Themo – heat
Haline – salt

Factors affecting seawater density

Ocean is always moving in reaction to water density

Global conveyor belt

Global conveyor pumps water and heat around the earth and regulates earth’s climate

About 1500yrs for water to return to its original point

Ocean currents create radically diff envi.

Gyros search

Gulf stream: one of the strongest ocean current

Gulf of Mexico to Us EAST COAST TO N. EUROPE

PACIFIC NORTH EQUATORIAL CURRENT REACHES PHILIPPINES THEN DIVIDES INTO 2:

KUROSHIO: GO TO JAPAN (WARMS SOUTH)

PACIFIC EQUATORIAL COUNTERCURRENT: EQUATOR TO S. AMERICA

NORTEQUATORIAL BIFURCATION

BIOGEOGRAPHIC:: HOSTS UNIQUE ASSEMBLAGE OF ORGANISMS

6 IN PHILIPPINES

WEST PHILIPPINE SEA

SULU

CELEBES

CENTRAL PHILIPPINES
IT CREATES BARRIERS

REGULATION

SEAGRASSES: SUBMERGED MONOCOT FLOWERING PLANTS IN THE MARINE ENVI

18 SPECIES IN THE PHILIPPINES

CORAL TRIANGLE

SEA GRESS AND SEAWEED ARE BOTH:

UNDERWATER

SUBSTRATE

PHOTOSYNTHETIC

BUT SEAGRASS HAS REAL ROOTS, HAS XYLEM AND PHLOEM, FLOWERING, AND FRUITS, WHEREAS
SEAWEED HAS NONE OF THOSE

Seagrasses are plants

True plants

Enhalus acoroides: most common in the Philippines

Tolerant to extremes

Can also reproduce asexually by cloning

Where to find?

Littoral zones

Adaptations:

Isotonic to seatweater

Euryhaline

Seenohaline
Bouyant to remain upright for surface area for sunlight

No stomata in order not to drown

Planktonic pollen

Well developed rhizome system for attachtment to soft subtrate (loose and sandy)

HAVE THICKER AND FLESHY ROOTS

BENEFITS:

Area stabilization because of root system

They’re filters of excess nutrients and sediments

Habitat

Bioshield

Mangroves -> seagrass -> seaweed > corals

Seaweeds and their envi

Benthos: benthic

Important ecologically

Provides;

Habitats: nursery and foraging

Primary producer: food

Reef formation: physical buffers

Calcareous seaweeds = white sand beach

Economically important

Provides

Food

Bioactive compounds
Phycocolloids

Fertilizer

Biofuel feedstock

Feeds

Used in agriculture and horticulture: aids in growth promotion

Also in mariculture

Carrageenans: thickening agent from red seaweed

Alginates: stabilizer and emulsifier from brown seaweed

Agars – binders and emulsifiers

Agarroose

Medicine: carrageenans, carraguard

Carrageenan – hard

Iota carrageenan – soft

Simply body: thallus

Non vascular

Non-flowering

Sea weed:

Thallus

Holdfast

Stipe

Blades

Filamentous

Via diffusion

Exception to the rule is kelp: very large brown seaweed that grow in cool and relatively shallow seas
They have sieve tubes and sieve plates

More light in shallow depth

Simple reproductive structure: spores and gametes from a single cell

Seaweeds in shallow coastal areas where light and substrate are available

Supratidal

Intertidal: anti herbivory

Shallow littoral zone

Rocky wave-swept area

Mesophotic

Adaptation strats:

Light

Water movement

Substrate: holdfast

Wave-swept shore

Biochemical adaptation

Wounding: carbohydrate polymer plug; proteinaceous wound plug

Dessication

Cold

Light

Salinity: euryhaline d-sorbitol; d-dulcitol

Herbivory: spatial escape

Biomimicry

Chemical defense

Structural escapes:

Palatability goes down = spines, leathery, chalk (CaCO3)

1065 SEAWEED TAXA IN THE PHILIPPINES

MOST DIVERSE

Keeps Great Barrier Reed warm enough to allow corals to thrive

Low nutrient but removes heat from area, releasing it to mid-latitude water and atmosphere

Fun fact: the EAC is 100km wide and 1.5km deep up to 7km/h

Ocean is its vastness represent the greatest extremes of temperature, light, and pressure encountered
by life

In situ cultivation of soft coral pseudopterogorgia elizabethae, which contains a prostaglandin used in
antiwrinkle cream

Cultures of microalgae that produce okadaic acid, a protein phosphatase inhibitor

Agar from seaweed

Anti-inflammatory and antiviral/antimicrobial activity have also been found in seaweeds and extract

Rice growth promotion by irradiated carrageenan

0.5% carrageenan for treating localized eczemas

Vaginal insert preventing HIV with seaweed-derived bioactive compound griffithsin from the red alga.
Grifftihsia is being developed

Aquaculture techniques have been enhanced by the discovery of natural inducers for spawning and
larval settlement

Development of marine models as alternatives to living terrestrial mammal models, the nudibranch
hermissenda, a marine model used in memory and learning

Ocean color, red areas contain the most life (highly productive) while the purple areas are nearly empty
of life

Highly productive areas

O2 produced > CO2 consumed

More food = more fish

Global wind pattern

If earth was not spinning there would a single cell of atmospheric circulation between the equator and
the pole (convection cell)

Density of water

Pure water is most dense at 1g/cm^3 at 4 dec C, water is unusual because it is less dense as a solid than
liquid, but this is also influenced by the amount of dissolve gases

Differentiate surface currents and deep-water currents, also their respective type of circulations.

What causes ocean currents

Salinity fluctuates spatially and temporally

Decrease:

Precipitation

River runoff

Groundwater flow

Salt farming

Glacial melting

Increase:
Freshwater extraction
rise of sea level
sea water freezing
evaporation

density-driven water flow: thermohaline circulation

Surface water: changes in salinity through evaporation or precipitation and in temp through cooling or
heating

Once water sinks and is isolated from the atmosphere, salinity, and temp set for an extended period of
time

Ocean currents create radically diff envi

Centers of gyres have little mixing

Off-shore currents causing upwelling

Warm oceans have high vertical stability (less vertical mixing = low nutrients)

The Gulf Stream, without the warm Gulf stream, England and other places in Europe would be as cold as
Canada

Pacific north equatorial current

Divides upon reaching the Philippine. Lesser part turn south and then the east to start the Pacific
Equatorial Countercurrent, and the greater part flowing north as the Kuroshio current

NEC Bifurcation

Regulation: ocean supplies water vapor to atmosphere

Evaporation from the ocean and precipitation on the ocean surface couple the ocean and atmosphere
hydrological cycle.

Aside from heat, what other entities are transported by currents?

Matter transport:

Gas exchanges especially O2 and CO2

Nutrient exchanges important within surface waters (incl. outflow from continents) and deeper water
(upwelling and downwelling)

Pollution dispersal

Impact on fisheries and other resources

Nutrient transport

Upwelling: upward moving current which brings deep nutrient-rich waters to the surface

Occurs when wind blowing parallel to the shore pushes surface water out of the sea

Downwelling
Downward movement of current

(e.g. due to salinities and temp differences)

Downwelling regions are devoid of nutrients and marine life is limited

Sargasso sea in the North Atlantic is among the primary downwelling region in the subtropics

The sargasso sea stis in the whirlpool between four major currents in the Atlantic ocean

Named after the brown seaweed sargassum that are abundantly floating in the area

Upwelling

Nourishment promotes phytoplankton growth, attracting zooplankton, and then fishes

Deeper, colder, nutrient rich water then go to warmer surface water, surface winds push surface water
away from an area then rinse and repeat

Major upwelling zones

NW Africa (canary current)

S Africa (Benguela current)

California and Oregon (California current)

Peru and chile (Humboldt current)

Somalia and oman (somali current)

Marine primary prod

Production is highest in continental margins and shallow seas, because:

Upwelling transports nutrients to the surface and

Nutrient runoff from land

Gamete and larval transport

Why scientists study currents?

Knowing the direction and speed of ocean currents is important as they influence many natural and
man-made conditions:

Predicting the direction of oil spills

Aid in marine search and rescues

Finding fish location (ocean prod)

Predicting storm tracks

Monitoring possible iceberg locations; early warning for ships

El nino events occur irregularly approx. every two to seven years

Cold waters are nutrient-rich and attracts fish

Ocean currents are organized flows that persist over some geographical region and over some time such
that water is transported from one part of the ocean to another part of the ocean. Currents also
transport plankton, fish, heat, momentum, and chemicals such as salts, o2, and co2. Currents are a
significant component of the global biogeochemical and hydrological cycles. Knowledge of ocean
currents is also extremely important for marine operations such as navigation and search and rescue at
sea.

Geological oceanography or marine geology

Involves investigations of history and structures of the ocean floor and the interaction between the
ocean and the seafloor:

Geophysics

Geochemistry

Sedimentology

Paleontology

There are active fractures in the lithosphere along the ocean floor, in a patter that mimics the shapes of
the continental coastlines

Ridge axis

Magma chamber
Normal faults

Scrap

Ocean crust

Lithospheric mantle

The age of the seafloor rock increase as you get further away from the mid-ocean ridge

The thickness of the layer of sediments deposited on the ocean floor increases as you get further away
from the mid-ocean ridge

The movement of this liquid metal generates a magnetic field, turning the earth into a massive magnet

Patterns of seafloor magnetism on either side of mid-ocean ridges match up with one another

How the Philippines began?

Visayan legend
(Isang Alamat)

It’s a product of converging plates

Sandwiched between Philippine sea plate and Eurasian plate

Mosaic of islands or landmasses that originated fromdifferent places stitched together by tectonic
features

e.g. Palawan, Zamboanga, rest of Philippines

convergent forces produce major tectonic features

oceanic-oceanic convergence: trenches

ex. Philippine trench, manila trench, negros-sulu trench, Cotabato trench

oceanic-continental convergence: collision fronts

ex. Mindoro and Panay (Palawan block), northwest Mindanao (Zamboanga block)

transform fault: Philippine fault

mosaic of islands or landmasses that originated from different places were stitched together to form
Philippine islands

continental shelf (geology)

teem with life because of the sunlight available in shallow waters

most commercial exploitation from the sea, such as metallic-ore, non-metallic ore, and hydrocarbon
extraction

continental shelf (law of the sea)

the seabed up to roughly 370km (200 nautical miles) from shore or the outer edge of the continental
margin, whichever is farther

maximum limit of ~650km (350 nautical miles) from the coast or about 185km (100 nautical miles)
beyond the 2,500m isobath

a continuation of the country’s land territory

coastal countries have exclusive rights to resources located within the continental shelf – exclusive
economic zone (UN Convention on the Law oF the Sea, UNCLOS)

GIVE ME THE CONSEQUENCES OF DELINATING EEZ USING THE GEOPOLITICAL DEFINITION OF

CONTINENTAL SHELF OVER THE GEOLOGIC DEFINITION

WHAT ARE THE ARGUMENTS AND EVIDENCE PRESENTED FOR OUR CLAIM AN EXTENDED CONTINENTAL
SHELF EAST OF THE PHILIPPINES

APART FROM THE DISPUTED ISLANDS ON THE WEST PHILIPPINE SEA, ARE THERE OTHER POSSIBLE
PROBLEMS THAT WOULD ARISE ON OUR EEZ IN SULU AND CELEBES SEA

Primary production

Amount of plant tissue built up by process of photosynthesis over time

What is photosynthesis?

Process used by plants and algae, among others to transform light energy to chemical energy

Majority of primary prod is accomplished by small, dispersed pelagic phytoplankton (microalgae) rather
than marine plants (plants only account for 5-10% of total marine prod)
Who are the ocean’s primary producers?

Phytoplankton:

Bacterioplankton/prokaryotes, macrolagae/seaweeds, seagrasses, mangroves

Plankton: a term that refers to free-floating and suspended protists, plants, and animals, they are also
primarily carried by winds and currents including horizontal and vertical currents, turbulence, eddies,
etc.

Plankter – individual

Plankters – individuals of plankton

Phytoplankton – free floating and suspended autotrophic photosynthetic organisms (algae)

Primarily unicellular although some of them are chainformers (e.g. colonial diatoms, filamentous blue
green algae, dinoflagellates, coccolithophores, etc.)

Very important and significant component of the food chain

Since ~70% of the earth is covered by oceans, phytoplankton are the most important group of primary
producers on earth

Diatoms:

Occur in large numbers and form dominant component of plankton of temperate waters;

Also grow normally at the bottom of the littoral zone, where they may or may not be attached by stalks,
or they glide freely over the bottom;

May grow in profusion on other plants and animals (copepods, whales, etc.)

Dinoflagellates:

Most members process both plant and animal characteristics – borderline group (protista)

Found in coastal and open ocean waters; dominant component of plankton of tropical waters (warm
waters)

Their ecology is very important to human affairs because of some marine species that form blooms (red
tides – HAB or harmful algal blooms)

Controls of primary prod

Amount of dissolved nutrients

Nitrogen in the form of nitrates (no3-); nitrites (no2-) and ammonium (NH4+)

Phosphorus in the form of phosphates (PO4 3-) = soft tissue builder

Silica in the form of silicate (SO3 -) = Hard tissue builder (such as diatoms and silicoflagellates)

Growth rate and nutrient concentration have a direction relationship but there’s a saturation point

Nutrient vertical profiles

Nitrate

Phosphate

Dissolve silicon

Most of the ocean shows near-complete nitrate utilization

Marine bacteria and nutrient recycling

Vertical mixing:

Wind mixing -> buoyancy changes

Vertical mixing

Compensation depth (rate of photosynthesis = rate of respiration)

Mixing depth less than critical depth (total amount of plant production greater than total plan
respiration)

Critical depth (total plan production = total plant respiration)

Below critical depth (total plant production less than total plant respiration)

Compensation depth – depth where net growth rate is zero; above this depth population is growing,
while below is where population shrinks

Mixing depth, varies seasonally

Critical depth, marks the lower limit of the photic zone (only 0.1-1% of solar radiation reaches this
depth)
Primary prod is different at different places

Seasonal variation of primary prod in these areas:

Mid-latitudes, tropical-latitudes, and high-latitudes

In terms of:

Average daily light input

Nutrients

Phytoplankton and zooplankton abundance

Surface water temperature

Vertical profile of temp

Photic zone and mixed layer depth

Trophic levels in the marine ecosystem

Photo-autotrophs (plants)

Phytoplankton

Seaweed

Seagrasses

Herbivores

Zooplankton

Sea urchins

Pufferfish

Carnivores

Squid

Sardines

Top predators

Shark

Tuna
Biological pump

Biologically driven carbon sequestration from the atmosphere to deep sea water and sediment

Pathway for rapid sequestration of carbon from the atmosphere and ocean surface

Phases of the biological pump

Carbon fixation by phototrophs (i.e. Phytoplankton) (sunlit portion (euphotic))

Sinking and aggregation of biomass

Decomposition, remineralization, and sedimentation (seafloor)

Global carbon cycle

Carbon is exchanged between the active pools due to various processes – photosynthesis and
respiration between the land and the atmosphere and diffusion between the ocean and the atmosphere

What is an algae?

Photosynthetic, eukaryotic organism

Chlorophyll – pigment use to capture sunlight

Important part of the food web in aquatic ecosystems and are eaten by many simple animals and some
fish

What is harmful algal bloom?

Colonies of algae grow out of control = overgrowth of algae in water

Density

Produce toxic of harmful effects on people and marine animals, which can be fatal

Common characteristics of a “bloom” include:

Extremely high algal cell density

Greater than 20,000 to 100,00 cells per ml

Dominated by a single or a few algal species

Visible accumulation of algae

What’re the effects of harmful algal bloom?

Ecological concerns:

Low dissolved o2 concentration

Death of aquatic animals

Food-web disruption

Public health concerns:

Allergic reactions

Illness caused by algal blooms

Economic concerns:

Loss of recreational revenue

Added drinking water treatment cost

Fishery and aquaculture contamination (bans of exported food products)

Types of HAB
blooms of mass-producing species

The blooms produce basically harmless discolorations

High biomass can cause fish gills to clog, leading to suffocation

Exceedingly high biomass blooms can alos lead to the development of “dead zones”

Blooms of toxin-producing species

the blooms produce potent toxins which accumulate in food chains

The toxins cause a variety of gastrointestinal and neurological illnesses in humans and aquatic animals
Examples of human syndromes caused by ingestion or exposure to algal toxins:

Cyanotixin poisoning

Amnesic shellfish poisoning asp

Paralytic shellfish poisoning psp

Neurotoxic shellfish poisoning nsp

Diarrheic shellfish poisoning dsp

How to detect HABS

Not all species/cells toxic; toxins not equally toxic

Cells – identify and quantify

Microscope

New molecular methods

Remote methods

In water sensors

Satellite and aircraft

Toxins – quantify and assess risk

Quick methods for screening

Detailed chemical analyses

In water remote methods

Cultures and microscopy -> gene id and detection methods -> (meta) genomes

What can be done?

Prevention – keep blooms from starting

Control – stop or reduce blooms that have started

Physical (ultrasonic, mixing)

Chemical (algicides, copper sulphate)

Biological (toxin-degrading bacteria)

Mitigation – minimize impacts

Better monitoring and forecasting

Early warning

What we do

90% optimization of protocols for the application of the molecular approaches including FISH, qPCR and
PCR-based assays to the local samples

Protocols optimized: DNA extraction, regular PCR, qPCR

High-resolution imaging faculty

What now? What can we do?

Algal blooms are not necessarily harmful

Check for HAB warnings

Report fish kills, discolored water, human and animal illness

Inform yourself about human activities that cause HABs or make them worse; take appropriate action

Participate in citizen science

Ocean habitats, there are two major marine provinces

Benthic (bottom)

Pelagic (water column)

Pelagic province

Epipelagic – 0-200m

Mesopelagic – 200 – 1000m

Bathypelagic – 1000 – 2000m

Abyssalpelagic – 2000 – 6000m

Hadalpelagic >6000m

Benthic province

Littoral – intertidal

Sublittoral – 0-200m

Bathyal – 200-2000m

Abyssal – 2000-6000m

Hadal >6000m

What is an estuary?

A partially enclosed body of water where two different bodies of water meet and mix, (e.g. fresh water
and rivers or streams and salt water from the ocean)

Estuary features and landforms

Salt marshes from in estuaries in areas protected from high-energy waves

Tidal flats are part of many estuaries. Oyster and clams are harvested here

Mangroves line estuaries in many tropical coasts

Ecology

Three zones based on salinity (fresh, oligohaline, mesohaline, polyhaline)

Organisms live in different zones of estuaries

Adaptation for salinity regulation necessary (osmoconformers, osmoregulators)

Rich in nutrients – lots of decaying plant material; rich soil

Plants attract a diversity of animals – birds, fish, crabs, lobsters, clams, shrimp, worms, and reptiles

Life in the estuary

Thousands of species of birds, mammals, fish, and other wildlife’ depend on estuarine habitats as places
to live, feed, and reproduce

Importance

Food production

Nutrient recycling

Cultural values

Mangue, Portuguese word for “tree”

Grove, an English word for a “stand of trees”

Assemblages of salt-tolerant trees and shrubs that grow in the intertidal regions of the tropical and
subtropical coastlines

“woody plants that grow at the interface between land and sea in tropical and subtropical latitudes
where they develop adaptation mechanisms in conditions of high salinity, extreme tides, strong winds,
high temp, and muddy, anaerobic soils”

Global distribution – coral triangle mostly

Luxuriantly grow where freshwater mixes with seawater and where sediment is composed of
accumulated deposits of mud.

Mangrove species zonation

Landward zone

Bruguiera gymnorrhiza

Intermediate zone

Ceriops australis

Rhizophora stylosa
Friging zone

Avicennia marina

All increased toward shore

Salinity

Inundation

Decreasing soil stability

Sedimentation rate

The Philippnes has 39 mangrove species

Structure of mangrove forest in the Philippines trees vary in heigh from 2-40meters

Zone3 rear

Zone2 central

Zone1 exposed

Most ideal mangrove shores occur where numerous meandering river channels from a network of quiet
water ways confining the ebb and flow of the tide (e.g. siargao, Mindanao; ulguan bay, palawan;
Buenavista, guimaras)

Environmental conditions in mangrove areas

At high tide, their roots are fully immersed in salt water

At low tide, their roots can be exposed to river runoffs, heavy rainfall, or to high salinity water

Usually exposed to intense light and high temp and low humidity (dry wind)

Mangrove soild are poorly drained (water logged), saline, anoxic, fine-grained, and rich in organic matter

Poorly consolidated, clayey mud varying from grey to black

Anaerobic conditions below the surface where sulfate-reducing bacteria produce H2S (this gas gives
pungent odor also gives the soil the characteristic dark color)

Finest sediments and other suspended materials carried by rivers settle in mangroves due to reduced
current velocities, reduced turbulence, and the coagulating effect produced by mixing with seawater.
Mangrove adaptation strategies:

Extreme conditions in mangrove habitats

Flooding

Prolonged hydroperiods

Anoxic

Salinity extremes

Arid atmosphere

Adaptation to loose substrate

Development of specialized roots, buttress roots, pneumatophores, anchor roots, nutritive roots, knee
root, cable root, stilt root, aerial root

Long branched cable roots in avicennia marina provide support when ground is too soft

Prop roots or stilt roots from lower part of stem/trunk

Drop roots from upper part of stem/branches

Pneumatophores negatively geotrophic roots

Aerenchyma provide internal pathway for o2 transport in flooded and anaerobic habitats

Lenticels are the breathing pores on the surface of the tree trunk

Roots provide an ultrafiltration mechanism that excludes salt (60-90%)

Specialized glands (hydathodes) on leaf surface secrete salt

Mangroves develop thick leaves with well-developed water storage tissue, leaves with waxy epidermis,
and sunken stomata

Leaves produce toxic saps that may also blind humans and animals BUT they’d rather not produce since
this is a metabolite

Leaves could be stiff, with sharp spines

Flaking bark cleans off epiphytes

Reproduction – vivpary is the condition whereby the embryo (young plant within the seed) grows first to
break through the seed coat then out of the fruit wall while still attached to the parent plant, this
condition is found in rhizophora, bruguiera, ceriops

Oxygen diffuses through the spongy tissue of the pneumatophore to the rest of the plant

Pneumatophores (breathing roots) arise from the cable roots

Cable roots radiate from the trunk. Fine feeding-roots grow off these radial roots and create a stable
platform
Specialized root membranes in some mangroves prevent salt from entering their roots (salt excluders)

Proproots descend from the trunk to provide additional support

Salt may accumulate in older leaves before they fall

Salt glands in the surface layers of leaves secrete salt (salt excretors)

Mangrove ecological importance

Major prod of detritus that contribute to offshore productivity

Filter land runoff, thus trapping organic matter coming from land

Serve as a habitat and nursery grounds for many species of small fish, invertebrates, various epifloral
and epifauna, as well as birds and other animals

Mangrove food web

Carbons sinks – blue carbon is the term for carbon captured by the world’s oceans and coastal
ecosystems

Coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, tidal marshes, and seagrass meadows sequester and store more
carbon per unit area than terrestrial forests and are now being recognized for their role in mitigating
climate change

These ecosystems also provide essential benefits for climate change adaptation including coastal
protection and food security for many coastal communities

Global averages of carbon pools

However if the ecosystems are degraded or damaged, their carbon sink capacity is lost or adversely
affected, and the carbon stored is released, resulting in emissions of co2, that contribute to climate
change

Dedicated conversation efforts can ensure that coastal ecosystems continue to play their role as long-
term carbon sinks

Ecological important

Shelter for terrestrial life

Sources of natural resources: foods, fuels, building materials, and medicines

Traps sediment to build new land

Shelter for aquatic life

Shoreline protection from wave action

Source of food for mangrove food web

Important of mangroves to human affairs

Marine ecosystem interconnectivity

Sources of high-quality charcoal

Source of low quality, medium, and high-quality firewood

Used for:

Furniture

Equipment

Building materials

Etc

Dyes (tanning compounds)

Insecticides

Medicines for fever, ointments for insect bites

Seagrasses

Submerged monocotyledonous flowering plants in the marine envi

They develop fruits, produce seeds

With true roots

Global seagrass diversity and distribution

Sea grasses come in many different shapes and sizes

Small bodies – large bodied

Small, thin leaves – large, thick leaves

Small rhizome – large rhizome

Guerilla strategy – phalanx strategy

Short-lived with fast turnover – long-lived with slow turnover

Low biomass – high biomass

Exploits new space – holds space

Abundant flowering – patchy flowering

Many small seeds – few larger seeds

Seed bank – seeds germinate rapidly

Seagrass habitat in the indo-pacific

Estuary

Shallow coastal/back reef

Deep coastal

Seagrasses vs seaweeds

Seagrass produces flowers, seeds, and fruit

Seaweed produces spores

Both are threatened by damaging fishing methods and pollution

Seagrass has roots whereas seaweed doesn’t, seaweed uses holdfasts for anchorage

Seagrass is a flowering plant

Seaweed is macrolagae

Seagrass uses its roots to extract nitruents from sediments

Seaweed gets it from the water

Seagrasses are plants

The Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica is among the oldest (~100000y/o) and largest (~15km
wide) organism in the world

Can also reproduce asexually by cloning

Occur in abundance in shallow, upper intertidal areas where substrate is soft and light is available
Adaptations

Blade (flat ribbon shaped or cylindrical) are supple and can withstand water movement yet remain erect

Veins transport nutrients and water throughout the plant, and have little air pockets, called lacunae that
help keep the leaves buoyant and exchange o2 and co2 throughout the plant

Chloroplasts located in the epidermis to maximize capturing light, they lack stomata a thin cuticle layer
allows gasses and nutrients to diffuse directly into and out of the leaves

Hydrophilous pollination – a pollen released in gelatinous strands that are carried by water currents

Fertilization can be aided by invertebrates that feed on pollen (i.e. bees of the sea)

Important

Seagrass ecosystem have very high primary productivity and play an important role in the food chain in
the marine envi

Trophic dynamics of seagrass bed

Main role of seagrasses; as a nutrient source; that is, when dead seagrass decomposes and releases its
nutrients to the water

Seagrass beds serve as habitats (nursery, shelter, and food) for fish, invertebrates (Shrimps, polychaetes,
crabs, insects, sea urchins, clams, starfishes, etc.) dugongs and for other plants (seaweeds, diatoms, etc.)

Human use

Traditional use

Weaving baskets

Salt making and heat

Stuffing for mattresses

Roof thatch

Upholstery and packing materials

Compost for fertilizer

Insulation for sound and temp

Fiber substitute for making nitrocellulose

Piles to build dikes

Cigars

Children’s toys

Potential contemporary uses:

Biolfilters for sewage

Coastal stabilizers

Paper manufacturing

Source of useful chemical fertilizer and fodder

Food

Medicine

Drivers of seagrass habitat loss

Eutrophication

Turbidity

Erosion and sediment discharge

Invasive species

Dredging and boating

Climactic events

Threats:

Habitat destruction, coastal dev, and aquaculture

Overfishing

Provide the consequences