The imprint of life on the oceans

A. Terms that should mean something to you
Related words are grouped together

Photosynthesis [ 348-349 ] Respiration [ 348-349 ] Decomposition [ lecture ] Energy [ lecture ] Chemical energy[ lecture ]	Nutrients [ 336 ] Limiting nutrients [ 354-355, 416-418 ] Competition [ 416 ] Adaptations [ lecture ] Changing communities [ 419 ]	Food [ 349 ] Food web [ 350-351 ] Autotroph [ 355-364, 367-372 ] Heterotroph [ 364-367, Chapter 15] Photic zone [ 159-161 ] Primary Productivity [ 349-354 ] Biomass [ 350 ]
Phytoplankton [ 355+ ] Zooplankton [ 365+ ] Protozoan [ lecture ] Symbiosis [ 433 ]

B. Questions you should be able to answer

1. What is photosynthesis?
2. What is respiration?
3. What does respiration have in common with decomposition?
4. What are the ingredients and products of photosynthesis and respiration/decomposition?
5. What impact does each process have on the concentration of dissolved components (solids and gases) in seawater?
6. Are the inorganic components involved in these processes usually "conservative" or "nonconservative" components of seawater?
7. Why is photosynthesis essential for life? (besides providing the oxygen we breathe?)
8. What is a nutrient?
9. What makes some nutrients be classified as "limiting nutrients"?
10. What is the shape of the vertical profile of dissolved carbon dioxide in seawater? Explain the shape of its vertical distribution.
11. What is the shape of the vertical profile of a typical nutrient? Why?
12. What is the shape of the vertical profile of oxygen? Why?
13. How does the concentration of a nutrient like nitrate change over the path of deep water circulation around the world?
14. What other processes besides those associated with living things, cause nonservative behavior in some dissolved chemical components of seawater?
15. Why is life concentrated close to the surface of the ocean?
16. What kinds of terms are associated with marine organisms capable of photosynthesis?
17. What phyla contain organisms capable of photosynthesis?

C. On the web

1. Flower Gardens
2. Ocean Fertilization

E. Notes and diagrams

1. Photosynthesis
2. Autotrophic Bacteria
   Prochlorococcus: A window into the photosynthetic machinery of the oceans
3. The Bioluminescence Web Page