Chapter 9 Key Terms

The variety of different species in a particular region.

The limestome chemical (CaCO3) that forms the skeleton of corals and many other organisms including clams, snails, calcareous algae, and foraminifera.

A condition, often fatal, in which corals expel their symbiotic zooxanthallae.

An individual coral animal. Polyps are generally cylindrical and have a central mouth surrounded by tentacles.

A large circular ocean current that flows around the periphery of an ocean. Gyres in the northern hemisphere flow in a clockwise direction while in the southern hemisphere they flow counterclockwise.

A large crustacean zooplankter that feeds on phytoplankton and is in turn fed upon by larger carnivorous organisms incuding many whales. They are important link in many food chains and are particularly important in polar regions.

Any substance except CO2, O2, and H2O required for survival and obtained from the environment by an organism. Nitrate, phosphate, silicate, and iron are examples of nutrients required by phytoplankton.

A reduction of ozone O3 in the upper atmosphere caused mostly by a chemical reaction between the ozone and chloroflurocarbon (CFC) pollution.

The study of ancient enviromental conditions and ecosystems.

The organisms that drift about in the ocean. They are generally microscopic and divided into zooplankton (animal like plankton) and phytoplankton (plant like plankton).

The biological synthesis of organic food molocules such as glucose sugar from inorganic molocules. Photosynthesis is the major form of primary production.

An upward moving ocean current that brings cold and often nutrient-rich bottom water to the surface

Symbiotic, photosynthetic algae that live within the tissues of hermatypic corals and supply the coral polyps with sugars and other food molecules derived from the algae's photosynthesis.