Throughout marine biology i have learned many new values and meanings behind our oceans and that which surrounds us. There have been many moments in which i couldn't believe what i was hearing because it just so uncommon and unbelievable.But yet it would be in fact true and would have scientific evidence to prove so. What was even more impressive was when we had the field trip to the New England Aquarium. This is where i learned many weird things about the different fish species because we had a chance to actually observe them. Then we also got to see how smart sea lions are, and what that are capable of with there intelligence   

    

One thing that interested me very much about Ms.Goodrich's class was the amount of marine life she kept in her class room. Then the most amazing thing (other then the coral tank) was the shark tank by which she kept a live shark in it for a couple months. And then it died a week before we started to study sharks which was a bummer. But overall i had a blast within this class and i hope to keep my interests within our oceans going.   

While at the aquarium last Wednesday, we  had a chance to observe many different species of fish, coral and other marine organisms. By going to the aquarium we had a chance to see many organisms that we would never be able to see in our local oceans. The best part of this field trip was seeing the huge tank in the middle of the building that had so many different variety's of fish from all over the world that we would never have a chance to see any where else. Another thing that fascinated me was how we could actually touch live sting rays and sharks in the stingray and shark exhibit. To me that was very interesting because I have never had the opportunity to touch an animal such as that. What was even more interesting was how the sharks felt. I kind of expected the sting rays to feel like a regular fish which was exactly how they felt, but the sharks had a unique feeling to them. Their skin felt rough and allot like that of an old carpet that has been worn down over the years.

 

         When first studying seaweed at first sounded very boring because up to this point all I thought it was, was grass that grew in salt water instead of land. After some time though we began to realize that these "weeds" were very diverse and had many parts to them. Seaweed isn't actually just one type of plant but it instead summarizes the many other different types of these species found in our body of water's on earth. Among these sub groups there are Phaeophyta, Rhodophyta, and Chlorophyta and a fourth called Anthophyta. Phaeophyta are also known as the brown algae which are known to grow the largest in the kingdom. Rhodophyta are also known as red algae and can live the deepest out of any of the seaweeds. The Chlorophyta are also as the Green Algae and are by far the most common out of this kingdom. Anthophyta species are sea grasses and have true roots and the ability to produce flowers. 

        What makes seaweed so interesting is how the plants allow themselves to absorb different light pigments at different levels for each color of light. The pigments of algae are divided into three major groups: the chlorophylls, the carotenoids, and the phycobilins. . Also, the role of some pigments in these groups is not yet known. It is known, however, that photosynthesis in algae, as well as in higher plants, is associated with the complex molecule chlorophyll. Two very important pigments are chlorophyll a and b. Only chlorophyll a is a common factor in all photosynthetic plants because of its uses.The other chlorophylls, as well as some carotenoids and phycobilins, function in photosynthesis as accessory pigments, being involved either as part of the light reaction pigment systems or as donors of light energy to chlorophyll a. Over all though all these pigments produce the same idea, which is to allow them to survive in their environment. 
  

www.seaweed.ie and oceanservice.noaa.gov are two more great sites if your interested in more research

Pytoplankton are dropping in enormous numbers.

Within these articles were many facts that told us facts about how the phytoplankton and how they are being affected. What we learned was the phytoplankton population has been dropping "about 1%..a year". With this now known the major concern about these animals is the affect they will have on other species and the world its self. As we know they are a huge anti gas killer and with their population dropping so dramatically it brings to mind how much it will affect the global warming causes. many scientist also believe " the loss of phytoplankton is a huge problem for marine food chains.". This is now becoming a huge a problem because these small organisms are the beginning food chains that we all rely on.

   en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytoplankton 

 

Works cited

• Minogue, Kristen. "Critical Ocean Organisms Are Disappearing." Science/AAAS. American Association for the Advancement of Science, 28 July 2010. Web. 12 Feb. 2014.

• Morello, Lauren, and ClimateWire. "Phytoplankton Population Drops 40 Percent Since 1950." Scientific American Global RSS. Scientific American, 29 July 2010. Web. 12 Feb. 2014.

• University of New South Wales. "Algorithm Finds Missing Phytoplankton in Southern Ocean."Algorithm Finds Missing Phytoplankton in Southern Ocean. PhysOrg, 18 Sept. 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2014.

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Relationships Among Marine Organisms

Marine Food Web:    When completing the food web activity it became quit clear that the Bull Shark is on the top of the food chain. The Bull Shark is at the top of the food chain because they do not have any other species that can harm or kill it other than humanity and illnesses. Bull sharks are known to be able to devour anything but it mostly concentrates on injured or weakened fish. Since the bull shark is a shark it would be badly hurt if the food in which it mainly ate, somehow became extinct or disappeared forever. If the main food source had died out, the top species would slowly dissipate because it wouldn't have food to survive on. But the species that had been feed on by the now new extinct fish species (that the Bull Shark survived on) would overpopulate because there is no crowd control.Now if the Species the Bull Shark feeds on went extinct the bull shark species would dramatically decrease or maby even become extinct itself if it cannot find new food sources. But then there would be an overpopulated sea of plankton and other small organisms because there are no fish and sharks can't survive on those tiny things.

I was not in class for the food web activity.

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