Chapter 4 - Kinds of Ecosystems

4.4 Marine Ecosystems

MARINE ECOSYSTEMS 4.4

• Coral Reefs can be damaged by many things; when the water temperature gets too high or too low,  water drainage from freshwater sources, agricultural runoff, oil spills, sewage, ozone depleation, overfishing, dredging, careless divers, shipwrecks, and souvenir collecting.
• Estuaries are very vulnerable to pollution because human development along them brings pollution.  Humans depend on estuaries for many things including food and filtering.
• If the sea levels were to rise significantly the coral reefs would all die, they would be too far below sea level for sunlight for photosynthesis.
• Most of the ocean is poor in nutrients because the ocen floor is too far below where the sunlight can penetrate, so there is no photsynthesis, and bo base for food chains.

LOOK AT VOCABULARY FOR CHARACTERISTICS OF INDIVIDUAL ECOSYSYSTEMS