Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The benthic boundary layer (BBL) represents a few tens of meters of the water column directly above the sea floor [3] and constitutes an important zone of biological activity in the ocean. [4] It plays a vital role in the cycling of matter, and has been called the “endpoint” for sedimenting material, which fuels high metabolic rates for ...
For comparison, the pelagic zone is the descriptive term for the ecological region above the benthos, including the water column up to the surface. At the other end of the spectrum, benthos of the deep ocean includes the bottom levels of the oceanic abyssal zone. [7]
Benthos are highly sensitive to contamination, so their close proximity to high pollutant concentrations make these organisms ideal for studying water contamination. [21] Benthos can be used as bioindicators of water pollution through ecological population assessments or through analyzing biomarkers. In ecological population assessments, a ...
Meiobenthos, also called meiofauna, are small benthic invertebrates that live in marine or freshwater environments, or both.The term meiofauna loosely defines a group of organisms by their size—larger than microfauna but smaller than macrofauna—rather than by their taxonomy.
A rock, seen at low tide, exhibiting typical intertidal zonation. A specimen of the shell Pinna nobilis exposed by low tide. Because intertidal organisms endure regular periods of immersion and emersion, they essentially live both underwater and on land and must be adapted to a large range of climatic conditions.
Bottom trawling mixes these pollutants into the plankton ecology where they can move back up the food chain and into our food supply. [25] Phosphorus is often found in high concentration in soft shallow sediments. [26] Resuspending nutrient solids like these can introduce oxygen demand into the water column, and result in oxygen deficient dead ...
Filamentous cyanobacteria growing on an underwater surface. Phytobenthos (/. f aɪ t oʊ ˈ b ɛ n θ ɒ s /) (from Greek φυτόν (phyton, meaning "plants") and βένθος (benthos, meaning "depths") are autotrophic organisms found attached to bottom surfaces of aquatic environments, such as rocks, sediments, or even other organisms.
Macrobenthos consists of the organisms that live at the bottom of a water column [1] and are visible to the naked eye. [2] In some classification schemes, these organisms are larger than 1 mm; [1] in another, the smallest dimension must be at least 0.5 mm. [3] They include polychaete worms, pelecypods, anthozoans, echinoderms, sponges, ascidians, crustaceans.