Monday 2/25

Otter!!
Common name: Sea Otter
Scientific names: Lutrinae
Habitat: They are found on all different continents except for Austrailia and Antartica. They are found no more than 100 meters away from the water.

Reproduction: The otter becomes sexually mature in their second or third year, most don't successfully reproduct until the age of five or seven. The reproduction cycle of the sea otter is about 12 months, if the pup does not survive the mother may have postpartum estrus.

Prey: An otters diet consists of crayfishes, crabs, and other aquatic invertebrates; fishes; and frogs.  Giant otters mainly eat fishes and crabs. Others may feed on mulluskes, clams, mussels and snails.

Interesting facts:
1.) The male otters are often called meoweaters, females are called queens.
2.)They are the only species that doesn't have a mussle in the tail.
3.)They have the ability to create and use tools.

Friday 2/22

Mangroves

There are three types of mangroves, the Black Mangrove, the Red Mangrove, and the White Mangrove.

The black mangrove has specialized tubular roots that take in oxygen.  They stick straight up from out of the ground and these bristles are known as pneumatophores.  This is probably the most tolerant of salty conditions.
 Benefits (organism): Provides a breeding, nursery, and a feeding zone for the environment.
Benefits (humans): Used for fishing poles, charcoal, and honey from the mango blossoms.

The Red Mangrove is more tree like that have an aerial root system which stabilizes the trees.  The roots also contain a waxy substance to keep the salt out because their not tolerant of it.
Benefits (organisms): It applies to young fish that hide in the mangroves from bigger predators.
Benefits (humans): Takes the impact of storms and lessens it, also prevents sediment erosion also helps the fishing industry by keeping the young fish alive until they are big so humans can eat them.

The White Mangroves are the shortest of the mangroves and have un-buttressed roots.  The leaves have adapted from the salty environment by developing special glands that allow salt to pass from the inside the tree to the outside.
Benefit (organisms): Many insects eat the sugars extracted from the leaves.
Benefits (humans): Used for wood for fences, tools, and fishing poles.

Thurs. 2/21

Ocean Garbage Patch

The ocean garbage patch is found in the pacific ocean that is a a gyre of marine debris located roughly between 135 degrees W to 155 degrees W and 35 degrees N and 42 degrees N.  It has high concentrations of pelagic plastics, chemical sludge and other debris.  All of this comes 80 % of land-based pollution  and 20 % of pollution from ships.  Some of these plastics end up in stomachs of birds and animals, including sea turtles, and albatrosses.  Many of the birds young dies because of the plastic being fed to it from the mother. Toxic chemicals are also eaten by many other marine creatures witch in turn are eaten by a larger predator.  Then some fish that we eat might also have these chemicals, so therefore it affects humans too.  The ways humans can fight off this garbage patch is creating organizations of clean ups and get lots of people to help.  And also to promote the idea of cleanup and to let people understand what littering does.

Wed. 2/20

Reptiles - Marine Iguana 
Scientific name: Amblyrhynchus cristatus
Sometimes called: Galápagos marine iguana
Marine iguanas are found in of course, the Galapagos Islands, but can also be found on the rocky shores, mangroves, or beaches.   These are the worlds only marine lizards. They can dive up to 50 feet and stay under water for about 40 minutes.  The have evolved blunt noses to help them feed on seaweed, a strong tale for swimming, and powerful limbs with strong claws to help them cling to rocks.  They also have a specific nasal gland that allows them to spew out salt from their system.  This animal is not endangered, however, they do face threats.  Things like predators such as hawks, cats, and dogs affect them. But mainly El Nino changing the coastal environment and depleting their food sources, causes the death of marine Iguanas by 50 percent.

http://www.arkive.org/galapagos-marine-iguana/amblyrhynchus-cristatus/

I chose this animal because I watched a special on the TV on the Galapagos islands recently and thought these marine iguanas were very interesting creatures.

Tues. 2/19

Ocean Acidification is when carbon dioxide is absorbed into ocean water and the ocean becomes very acidic.  When the ocean gets more acidic, the balance of molecules needed for organisms that have shells and skeletons is altered.  This causes the shells to of some sea creatures to dissolve or skeletons to be harder to create.  Animals like crabs, sea stars, plankton, and sea urchins etc. are impaired with ocean acidificaiton. When these animals suffer so do the creatures that eat them affecting the entire food web.  Humans are a huge contribution to ocean acidification from cars to factories making the CO2 in the air more abundant.  We can help by cutting back on how much we drive cars or putting limits on states to how long you can run factories maybe.
Three things I've learned
1. I had no idea that ocean could absorb carbon dioxide, I thought polluting the ocean just meant oil spills or something.
2.Our ocean is more acidic now then any point in history.
3. This will also affect our ecosystem by making it harder to find fish when fishing if the acidity becomes worse

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Friday 2/15

Karenia Brevis is a toxic dinoflagellate which has a significant role in producing harmful algae blooms or "red tides" like in places such as the Gulf of Mexico and the coast of Florida.  Karenia Brevis is a microscopic, single celled organism that each cell has two flagella that allow it to move through water in a spinning motion. It produces potent neurotoxins collectively called brevetoxins, which cause neurological problems in other organisms, responsible for many die-off marine animals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karenia_brevis (only website containing it's characteristics that i could find.)


Neurotoxic Shellfish Poisoning is a condition caused by ingestion of brevetoxin, a neurotoxin which is given off by certain dinoflagellates.  Most of the brevetoxin is generated by Kerenia Brevis.  The Neurotoxic Shellfish Poisoning symptoms found in humans usually appear within one to three hours.  The person may feel tingling, numbingness and intestinal distress as the body processes the toxin.  Death would be normally rare.
  http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-neurotoxic-shellfish-poisoning.htm  However, when marine animals are exposed to this toxin there are more sufficient deaths or it can cause the creature to be confused or mentally ill. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amnesic_shellfish_poisoning#Possible_animal_effects This effects the Gulf coast economy by affecting what sea food is produced and eaten that could be poisonous.  Therefore it would slow the economy tremendously if this were to occur often.

Thurs. 2/14

5.) Plankton like phytoplankton rely on the sun for photosynthesis, the other type, zooplankton, feed on phytoplankton.

Five things we have learned about Plankton.

1.) Plankton makes up half of the worlds oxygen today.

2.)Plankton are divided into two distinct types:
- Phytoplankton: That are algae that live near the waters surface where there's sunlight to support photosynthesis.
- Zooplankton: Includes animals like crustaceans, jelly fish, and other animals that feed on plankton. Also eggs of larger animals are in this category.


3.) Plankton is large marine animal's main food source.  If plankton were to go extinct it would effect the entire food web and including our oxygen source.

4.) Plankton is the most abundant creature, besides bacteria, in the ocean.


5. Zooplankton is the smallest creature in the ocean. It's length ranges from one-tenth of a millimeter to four millimeters.