Ecology of a Rocky Shore Community

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Ecology of a Rocky Shore Community
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Zones of Life along a Rocky Shore

• Why are some animals and plants located in
  special zones and not all over?

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Adaptations for life on a high energy rocky
shoreline

• High energy waves
• Low tide exposure

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Animals on a typical New England rocky shore
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• Asian Shore Crab
• Periwinkle snails
• Blue Mussels
• Purple Sea Urchin
• Rock Barnacles
• Common Sea Star

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Algae on a typical New England rocky shore

• Fucus
• Knotted Wrack
• Ulva
• Chondrus
• Kelp

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Adaptations to life on a rocky shore
lineAdapting to Wave Shock

• Barnacles
• Cements shell to rock
• Snails
• Use a suction cup like foot

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Adaptations to Wave Shock

• Sea Stars and Urchins
• Tube feet with suction cup ends

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Adaptations to Wave Shock

• Blue Mussels
• Byssel Threads ( strong cables)

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Adaptations to Wave Shock

• Crabs and Lobsters
• Wedge into rock spaces
• Hide under rocks

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Adaptations to Wave Shock

• Sea Weeds (macroalgae)
• Hold fasts attach to rocks

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Rocky shore animal feeding adaptations

• Barnacles
• Filter food with feathery legs (filter feeder)
• Snails
• Scrape food with a radula - tongue with teeth
  (grazers and carnivores)
• Sea stars
• Use tube feet and stomach

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Reproduction adaptations
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• Barnacles are hermaphrodites
• Each barnacle has both male and female
  reproductive organs
• Marine snails mate and deposit egg cases
• Sea stars and Urchins broad cast eggs and sperm
  into the water
• Marine Arthropods like crabs and lobsters mate.
  Female attracts male using pheromones.
• After the female molts and mates with the male,
  eggs will later be deposited on underside of her
  abdomen and carried until they hatch.

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• Lobster with eggs
• Green crab with eggs

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Ecology

• Ecology the study of the relationships between
  living organisms and with their environment.
• The marine environment for all marine life is
  composed of the nonliving environment, or abiotic
  factors
• and the living organisms, or biotic factors

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What are the abiotic factors that these tide pool
organisms deal with every day?

• How about organisms in this deep sea vent
  community?

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What are the abiotic factors here?
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The biotic factors are the organisms and how they
interact with each other.

• Not a good day for the Sea Lion

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Biotic factors in the marine environment
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Plankton

• Phytoplankton Zooplankton

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Levels of Organization

• There are four distinct levels of organization in
  the biotic sector of the environment
• The individual organism
• The population of that species
• The community of organisms that species exists
  within
• The ecosystem the community exists in along with
  the abiotic factors affecting those organisms

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The individual organism (species)

• Littorina littorea the Periwinkle Snail
• How is this animal adapted to its environment?

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The population of Periwinkle Snails

• How do these snails interact with each other?
• Competition?
• For what?

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The community of orgnanisms that the Periwinkle
snails live in

• How do these organism interact with each other?

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A Rocky Shoreline Ecosystem
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The Flow of Energy and the Recycling of Nutrients

• All the living organisms in this rocky shoreline
  community require energy for survival.
• How is this energy acquired and how much is
  passed on?
• How do these organism obtain atoms and molecules
  for growth and repair?
• and how are these nutrients passed on?

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