whales

Population

A group of individuals of the same species living in a particular area.

Species-

A group of similar organisms that reproduce amongst themselves and do not naturally reproduce with any other organisms. (ie: tiger, bald eagle, orca...)

Biodiversity

A measure of the health of an ecosystem by looking at the variety of organisms living in it.

Food Web (chain)

A way to understand the connection that organisms have to in an ecosystem based on what they eat.

Omnivore

An animal that eats both plants and animals. Some fish are omnivores and eat whatever is available.

Decomposer

An animal that eats dead plants and animals. Sea cucumbers, crabs, and sea stars are great decomposers in the ocean.

Carnivore-

An animal that only eats other animals. In the ocean this is a whale, dolphin, shark, pelican etc.

Herbivore

An animal that only eats plants (or producers). In the ocean this is an animal that eats only seaweed or phytoplankton. This would be a Zooplankton and some fish.

Biome

An area of globally similar ecosystems that can be classified together based on their climate and geographical similarities. (ie: tundra, rainforest, ocean, desert...)

how do whales use oxygen in their muscle?

Cetaceans have more myoglobin which is the oxygen binding protein in their muscles which allows them to store more oxygen in their muscles that isn't being provided by the lungs. They also have a high tolerance for the build up of lactic acid and carbon dioxide which are the waste byproducts of muscles doing work without sufficient oxygen levels.

Loss of biodiversity could be from:

Habitat loss or destruction Changes or alterations to an ecosystem (ie: changes in the food web) Introduction of non native species that may out compete native species

the food chain

I. SUN II. Producer a. Plant or photosynthetic protozoan= 10% energy III. Primary Consumer a. Herbivore= 1% energy IV. Secondary Consumer a. Carnivore eats herbivore= 0.1% energy V. Tertiary Consumer a. Carnivore eats Carnivore= 0.01% energy

what do other tooth whales eat?

Most of these toothed whales eat octopuses, squid, fish, and crustaceans, which are sea animals with shells, such as crabs

example of a loss in biodiversity in a marine ecosystem

Sea otters were hunted for their furs in the 1800's and early 1900's and the population was so low that it had a huge affect on the biodiversity of the kelp forest ecosystem. Sea otters hunt and eat purple sea urchins but without enough otters the sea urchin population becomes uncontrollable.

Ecosystem

The interaction of all the living organisms (biotic factors) in an area as well as all the non-living components (abiotic factors) they depend on for survival.

Producer

Usually a plant or organism that gets its food from the sun by a process called photosynthesis. In the ocean the producer is going to be either kelp (seaweed) or phytoplankton

Zooplankton

an animal that floats through the ocean. Usually microscopic but not always. Could be baby (larval) fish, crabs, or other animals or even jellyfish.

Organism- a

any individual form of life (ie: plant, animals, fungus,

added pressure

assisted by the higher pressure when diving to colder depths. The pressure reduces the circulation to the extremities and keeps the warm blood circulating around their internal organs.

pods

groups called pods to capture and eat large sea creatures, such as other whales. This process can take up to 5 hours, as they bite their prey piece by piece.

Toothed whales

have teeth killer whales, dolphins, porpoises, belugas, norwhals, beaked whales and others.

dolphin's melon

head called a melon

primary consumer

is an organism that eats producers (an herbivore/vegetarian) and will gain 1% of the original energy harvested from the sun. remember the sea urchin who ate the kelp?

Baleen

keratin (just like your fingernails) and makes up skinny, hard plates that hang down from the whale's top jaw.

In each trophic level

only 10% of the energy from the previous level in the food web is obtained and 90% is lost to heat and respiration.

secondary consumer

secondary consumer eats primary consumers (carnivore that eats an herbivore) and will gain 0.1% of the energy

What do balen whales eat

small sea creatures that baleen whales eat are small crabs, octopuses, zooplankton (tiny animals floating in the water), fish, krill (which are similar to shrimp), and various crustaceans

sea lion

spend time water and on shore

seals

spend time water and on shore

warm blooded

they can maintain their body temperature no matter what the temperature is of the environment.

Seals and sea lions

they have both fur and blubber

Consumer

three kinds of consumers.

how do marine animals stay warm?

two ways to stay warm, blubber or thick fur.

Whales and dolphins

use blubber- blubber also helps to give them buoyancy and smoothes out their skin making them more streamlined in the water.

food web

way of seeing how animals are connected through the things they eat. There are three kinds of organisms in a food web.

humpback whales use bubble netting.

whale swims up very quickly from the bottom of the ocean, moving so fast that it creates a trail of swirling bubbles. Fish get caught in these bubbles and the whale can turn around and eat them!

echolocation

whales send out noises into the ocean. The noises return signals regarding the location, size and kinds of foods available in their surroundings

Producer

which are photosynthetic harvest the sun's energy by combining the energy from the light with carbon dioxide to produce sugars. However only 10% of the energy from the sun is harvested by the producer and the other 90% is lost to the environment as heat. I

can killer whale hunt alone?

yes, but they prefer to hunt in pods

tertiary consumer eats primary consumers

(carnivore that eats an herbivore) and will gain 0.1% of the energy if the sea urchins grow then they eat all the kelp and the fish die if the otters are killed the orcas are without fish that feeds sea lions, seals.

Habitat

The area naturally inhabited by an organism.

Trophic Level-

The position of an organism in a food chain or web

Niche

The special role each species serves within its ecosystem. (ie: phytoplankton's niche is to photosynthesize and be eaten by zooplankton)

killer whale (or orca)

They eat sea lions, walruses, dolphins, porpoises, seals, sharks, seabirds, and penguins.

which animals spend their life in the ocean

Whales and dolphins spend their entire life in the ocean

what is the bends?

Why don't whales get the bends? In addition to the other adaptations for diving, cetaceans also have very flexible chests with stretchy lungs that are able to compress down while diving. The bends is caused by nitrogen gas that enters the blood stream from the gas exchange during breathing and gets stored in the tissues of the body. As a diver surfaces the trapped nitrogen gas in the body expands causing severe pain and even death. Divers have to surface slowly to allow the gas to exchange out of the tissues as the pressure decreases. Because cetaceans have such stretchy lungs they compress their lungs down so small that the alveoli (pouches that collect air in the lungs) close off and air exchange ceases so no nitrogen gas is exchanged into the body and they don't get the bends.

do organisms higher on the food chain have to consume more?

With this flow of energy through the food web you can see how the organisms higher on the food chain would have to consume more to get the energy they need to survive.

Baleen whales

baleen instead of teeth and include humpback whales, right whales, gray whales, rorquals and others.

how can whales dive so deep?

champion diver is the sperm whale which can dive to nearly 10,000 feet and can hold its breath for over 2 hours! Even though other whales can't compete with this they are all capable of diving to depths of at least 300 feet. Other than coping with the lower temperatures of the depths these animals must also face extreme pressure. Pressure increases by one atmosphere (15 lbs per square inch) for every 33 feet of depth.

main source of all energy in a food web

comes from the sun

energy level

decreases farther up the food web