Oceans For Dummies

Introduction 1 About This Book 2 Foolish Assumptions 3 Icons Used in This Book 3 Beyond the Book 4 Where to Go from Here 4 Part 1: Getting Started with Your Ocean Voyage 5 Chapter 1: Brushing Up on Ocean Fundamentals 7 Taking a Nickel Tour of the Ocean(s) 8 Dividing the ocean into oceans or not 8 Recognizing the ocean zones 9 Dropping in on the different ecosystems 10 Going with the Flow: The Physical Properties of the Ocean 10 Getting up to speed on the water cycle 11 Checking out what’s at the bottom of the ocean (and below) 13 Riding waves, tides, and currents 13 Recognizing the ocean’s role in climate control and weather 14 Meeting the Ocean’s Inhabitants 14 Recognizing strength in numbers: Marine microorganisms 15 Going green with marine plants and plant-like organisms 15 Grouping the ocean’s animals 16 Exploring the Complex and Evolving Human-Ocean Relationship 17 Chapter 2: Appreciating the Ocean’s Many Gifts 19 Supplying Over Half of the World’s Oxygen 20 Playing a Key Role in Regulating Climate and Weather 20 Producing Protein for Billions of People 22 Contributing Trillions to the Global Economy 23 Serving as a Source of Mystery and Wonder 24 Stimulating our imaginations 25 Increasing our knowledge of the world around us 26 Getting in touch with our emotional connection to the sea 27 Chapter 3: Looking Back at the Ocean’s History (and Prehistory) 29 Discovering How the Ocean Got Its Start 30 The wet planet theory 30 The water delivery truck theory 31 Tracing the Evolution of Ocean Life 31 Getting the evolutionary ball rolling 32 Going cellular 32 And now for a word about metabolism 33 All together now: Multicellular organisms 34 Taking evolution to the next level in the Paleozoic era 35 Gaining momentum in the Mesozoic era 41 Increasing sophistication in the Cenozoic era 44 Taking the Earth’s Present Evolutionary Pulse 48 Looking Ahead: What’s in Store for the Ocean’s Future? 51 Part 2: Finding Your Way Around 55 Chapter 4: Mapping the Ocean by Zones 57 Dividing the Ocean into Three Horizontal Zones 58 Where land meets sea: The intertidal zone 58 Wading through the neritic zone 60 Heading out to sea: The oceanic zone 61 Exploring the Five Vertical Zones of the Water Column 62 Skimming the surface: The epipelagic zone 62 Dimming the lights in the mesopelagic zone 63 Taking a deeper, darker dive into the bathypelagic zone 65 Delving into the abyss: The abyssopelagic zone 67 How low can you go? The hadalpelagic zone 69 Acknowledging the Existence of Other Zones 71 From light to dark: The photic and aphotic zones 71 From top to bottom: The pelagic and benthic zone 72 Chapter 5: Checking Out the Neighborhoods: The Ocean’s Ecosystems 73 Hugging the Shore 74 Digging life in the sand 74 Living life on the rocks 75 Mixing it up in the estuaries 77 Muddling through the mudflats 78 Settling down in salt marshes 80 Meandering through the mangroves 81 Swimming through Kelp Forests 83 Swirling in Sargasso: A Sea without Borders 85 Grazing in the Seagrass Meadows 87 Building Their Own Communities: Reefs 88 Coral reefs 88 Oyster reefs 92 Chilling Out at the Poles 92 Living Under Extreme Conditions: Deep Ocean Ecosystems 95 Hydrothermal vents 95 Deep-sea coral reefs 95 Cold seeps 97 Whale falls 97 Moving Out and About: Migratory Species 98 Chapter 6: Taking a Deeper Dive: Beneath the Ocean 99 Grasping the Basics of Plate Tectonics 99 Tracing the Contours of the Seafloor 102 Creating the first map of the seafloor 104 Fine-tuning seafloor maps with better technology 105 Chipping Away at Ocean Rock and Sediment 106 Checking Out Deep-Sea Cores 106 Part 3: Sampling the Vast Diversity of Sea Life 109 Chapter 7: Getting to Know the Mighty Microbes 111 Meeting the Marine Microbes 112 Bacteria 112 Archaea 114 Viruses 114 Protists 115 Fungi 115 Recognizing the Importance of Microbes 116 Feeding the ocean’s living organisms 117 Anchoring food chains and webs 118 Cleaning up our messes 122 Looking at the Relationship between Microbes and Plankton 123 Phytoplankton 123 Zooplankton 123 Distinguishing lifers from juvies 124 Chapter 8: Sorting Out Algae, Seaweed, and Other Aquatic Vegetation 127 All You Need to Know about Algae, and Then Some 128 Go big or go home: Macroalgae (a.k.a seaweed) 128 Small, but just about everywhere the sun shines: Microalgae 132 Understanding the threats posed by harmful algae blooms (HABs) 134 Shoring Up the Shoreline with Mangroves 137 Not Your Typical Lawn: Seagrass 138 Checking Out What’s Growing in the Salt Marshes 139 Chapter 9: Getting the Lowdown on Simple Invertebrates 141 Sponges and Other Holy Creatures: The Porifera 142 Calcarea 143 Demospongiae 143 Hexactinellida 145 Homoscleromorpha 145 Jellyfish, Anemones, and Other Notable Cnidarians 146 Scyphozoans 147 Hydrozoans 148 Anthozoans 149 Cubozoans 150 Ctenophora (Comb Jellies) 150 Starfish, Urchins, and Other Famous Echinoderms 151 Asteroidea (sea stars) 151 Ophiuroidea (brittle stars) 152 Echinoidea (sea urchins and sand dollars) 153 Crinoidea (sea lilies and feather stars) 154 Holothuroidea (sea cucumbers) 155 Squirmy Wormies: The Annelids 156 Polychaetes 156 Oligochaetes 158 Hirudinea 158 Chapter 10: Getting Mushy over Mollusks 159 Meet the Mother of All Mollusks 160 Gastropods: Putting Their One Foot Forward 161 Snails 161 Sea slugs and sea hares 165 Bivalves: Parts One and Two 167 Clams 167 Oysters 168 Mussels 169 Scallops 169 Cephalopods: Head and Tentacles Above the Rest 170 Octopi 171 Squid 172 Cuttlefish 174 Nautilus 175 Chapter 11: Wearing Their Skeletons on the Outside: Crustaceans 177 What Makes a Crustacean a Crustacean? 178 The Shrimpy Crustaceans: Branchiopoda 178 Real Softies: Malacostraca (Soft-Shell Crustaceans) 180 Phyllocarida 180 Hoplocarida 181 Eumalacostraca 182 A New Twist on Putting Your Foot in Your Mouth: Maxillopoda 190 Copepods 190 Barnacles 191 Fish lice 191 Crustacean Cave Dwellers: The Remipedia 192 Ostracoda 192 What about Horseshoe Crabs? 193 Chapter 12: Getting Chummy with Fish: Bony and Otherwise 195 Look Ma, No Jaw! Agnatha 196 Lampreys 196 Hagfish 197 Look Pa, No Bones! Chondrichthyes 198 Elasmobranchii: The fish with a PR problem 199 Holocephali: Chimaera 208 Check Out the Bones! Osteichthyes 209 Ray-finned 211 Lobe-finned 215 Chapter 13: Meeting a Few Marine Reptiles 217 Everybody’s Favorite: Sea Turtles 218 Meet the family 219 Making babies 223 A seriously threatened animal 224 Will the Real Sea Serpent Please Slither Forward? 225 The Only Lizard to Make the Cut: Marine Iguanas 227 Saltwater Crocodiles 228 Chapter 14: Bird Watching in and Near the Ocean 231 Knowing What Makes a Bird a Shorebird or a Seabird 232 Shorebirds 232 Seabirds 233 Flying Way Below the Radar: Penguins 234 Going Loony 236 Courting Grebes 237 Tubular, Dude! Albatross, Petrels, Shearwaters, and Fulmars 238 Soaring with the albatross 238 Skimming the surface with shearwaters 239 Fluttering above the surface with petrels 240 Pelicans and Other Pelecaniformes 241 Pelicans 242 Frigate birds 243 Boobies and gannets 243 Cormorants and shags 245 Phaethontidae — Tropicbirds 246 Sea Ducks and Geese: The Saltwater Variety 246 A Curious Mix: The Charadriiformes 247 Gulls, terns, skimmers, and friends 247 Auks, puffins, and other Alcids 249 Shorebirds and waders 251 Ospreys, Herons, Flamingos, and Other Seaside Attractions 253 Osprey 254 Eagles 255 Herons 255 Flamingos 256 Chapter 15: Getting Warm and Fuzzy with Marine Mammals 257 What Makes Marine Mammals So Special? 258 Staying toasty 258 Breathing easy 259 Adapting to their food source 259 Adapting to salt water 263 Exhibiting special sensory adaptations 263 Getting Acquainted with the Cetaceans: Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises 265 Sizing up baleen whales 266 Sinking your teeth into the toothed whales 270 Swimming with the Sirenians: Manatees and Dugongs 276 Seals, Walruses, and Other Pinnipeds 277 Earless (true) seals 278 Eared seals 279 Walruses 280 Stepping Out with the Marine Fissipeds 281 The ever-popular polar bears 281 Otters you “oughter” know 283 Part 4: Grasping Basic Ocean Physics 285 Chapter 16: Following the Ocean in Motion 287 Meeting the World’s Largest Wave Machine 288 Plain ol’ surface waves 288 Tsunamis: So-called tidal waves 289 Rising and falling with the tides 291 Going unnoticed: Internal waves 294 Upwelling and Downwelling in the Water Column 295 Riding the Currents: The Ocean’s Global Conveyor Belt 296 Knowing Where the Winds Blow 298 Going Round and Round with Gyres 301 Following the Ups and Downs of Sea Levels 303 Chapter 17: Driving Climate and Weather 307 Understanding the Ocean’s Role in Climate and Weather 307 Differentiating climate and weather 308 Looking at how the ocean impacts climate and weather 308 Letting Off Some Steam 309 Hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons 309 Monsoons 312 El Niño and La Niña 312 Understanding Climate Change and Global Warming 314 Part 5: Understanding the Human-Ocean Connection 319 Chapter 18: Taking a Quick Dip into the History of Underwater Exploration 321 Getting to the Bottom of Things 322 Diving bells 322 Hard-hat diving helmets and suits 324 The self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) 324 Submersibles 328 Setting Up Shop in Underwater Research Stations 333 Conshelf 333 SeaLabs 334 Aquarius 335 Checking Out Other Ocean Monitoring Gadgets and Technologies 335 Buoys (moored and drifting) 335 Coring, dredging, and trawling tools 337 Water column samplers 337 Sonar and lidar 338 The Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) 338 Chapter 19: Tapping the Ocean’s Resources: The Blue Economy 341 Supplying the World’s Seafood Diet 342 Harvesting plant life, too 343 Growing our own supplies: Aquaculture and mariculture 344 Tapping the Sea as a Source for Fresh water 344 Shipping Goods ‘Round the World 345 Digging Up Gold, Diamonds, and Other Valuables: Deep-Sea Mining 345 Harnessing the Ocean’s Energy Resources 346 Discovering New Medications 348 Capitalizing on Tourism and Recreation 349 Accounting for a Few Ancillary Ocean Benefits 349 Carbon storage (a.k.a blue carbon) 349 Coastal protection 351 Cultural value 351 Biodiversity 352 Chapter 20: Governing the Ocean: Treaties, Laws, Agreements, and Enforcement 353 Recognizing the Two Systems of Law That Govern the Seas 354 Admiralty Law 354 The Law of the Sea 355 Establishing Sovereign and International Jurisdictions 357 Understanding sovereign jurisdiction 357 Ruling the high seas: International jurisdiction 359 Policing the Ocean and Enforcing the Laws 360 Preventing illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing 361 Combating piracy on the high seas 361 Chapter 21: Taking Care of the Ocean That Takes Care of Us 363 Keeping Tabs on Ocean Health 364 Zeroing in on the Problems 365 Pollution 366 Overfishing 372 Acidification 373 Habitat destruction 374 Invasive species 374 Warming sea temperatures 374 Coming Up with Solutions 377 Improving socio-economic conditions 377 Building marine sanctuaries 378 Cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 380 Restoring and conserving coastal and ocean habitats 381 Reducing the impact of plastics and other trash 382 Preventing and recovering from overfishing 382 Engaging youth 383 Get involved! 384 Part 6: The Part of Tens 385 Chapter 22: Ten Deadly Ocean Creatures 387 Saltwater Crocodiles 388 Fugu Fish 388 Killer Whales 389 Blue-Ringed Octopus 389 Sea Snake 390 Stone Fish 390 Sharks (But Not All of Them) 391 Cone Snails 392 Box Jellyfish 393 Humans 393 Chapter 23: Ten Ocean Myths Busted 395 Melting Sea Ice Increases Sea Levels 395 Sharks Must Swim Constantly to Survive 396 Some Penguins Can Fly 397 Salt Water Kills Bacteria 397 Seawater is Just Salty Water 398 Waterspouts Are Tornadoes Over Water 398 The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a Solid Mat of Plastic 399 All Jellies Can Sting Humans 399 The Ocean is Blue Because It Reflects the Color of the Sky 400 Nothing Lives in the Middle of the Ocean 400 Chapter 24: Ten Ways You Can Help Preserve the Ocean 401 Reduce Your Carbon Footprint 402 Steer Clear of Plastics 403 Make Sustainable Seafood Choices 403 Use Ocean-Friendly Sunscreen 404 Don’t Buy Products That Exploit Marine Life 405 Vote for the Ocean with an Environmental Conscience 405 Defend Your Drain: Use Natural Products 406 Protect Your Local Watershed 406 Make It a Family Affair 407 Join and Support Ocean Conservation Organizations 408 Index 411