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Do-It-Yourself Summary
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Read each sentence and identify the word/phrase that you believe correctly completes the statement. Then, click on the arrow to see if your answer is correct.


1. The zone is the zone between the sea surface and the depth where plants can no longer grow because of light limitation.

2. The primary producers in the epipelagic are almost all . The most important are , , and .

3. are extremely small photosynthetic organisms that live in the plankton.

4. are by far the most abundant members of the zooplankton in the epipelagic. Shrimp-like and other crustaceans are also important.

5. Organisms that spend part of their lives as larvae in the plankton are called .

6. Organisms must avoid sinking to remain in the epipelagic. Some ways to do this are to increase water resistance by having a body size, a body shape, and long (or ). Epipelagic organisms also have adaptations that increase , such as stored , gas-filled bladders, and changes in ionic composition.

7. Sensory organs, especially and the line, are well developed in epipelagic fishes.

8. Epipelagic fishes tend to have smooth, bodies, well-developed and efficient , and high, relatively narrow .

9. Some zooplankton make vertical migrations. They stay below the photic zone, typically at depths of around (or ) during the and migrate to the surface at .

10. Organic compounds that are dissolved in water rather than being in particulate form are called . are the major consumers of this material in the ocean, and make the energy it contains available to animals.

11. Nutrient levels are low near the surface and high in deep water. This is because (or ) removes nutrients from surface waters and organic particles sink to deep water, where the nutrients are (or ) by bacterial decomposition.

12. Coastal waters have high production because the shallow bottom prevents from sinking out of the and because bring in nutrients from land.

13. At high latitudes, primary production is -limited during the winter, but overturn and mixing bring nutrients to the surface. In the spring there is a spring , whereas in the summer phytoplankton become -limited.

14. The Coriolis effect produces transport, in which the upper layer of water moves at right angles to the wind direction. When strong winds blow along a coast, this produces coastal , which results in very high production. occurs because the north and south equatorial currents at the Equator.







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