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The Ocean Coastal Zone Essay, Research Paper

INTRODUCTION

Ecology is the study of living things interacting with its environment, other species,

and its own kind. It?s a study of all external condition and factors, both biotic ( living ) and

a-biotic ( nonliving ), that affect an organism. To carry out this study, scientists observe

different ecosystems: forests, deserts, grasslands, oceans, or any kind of interaction

between organisms and their surroundings, or with each other, which are called ecosystem

effects.

There are four components within an ecosystem. The a-biotic component, which

determines the types of organisms found there, the producers, the consumers, and the

decomposers. These components cause continual change within the system; the exchange

of materials between the living and nonliving. All organisms living within an ecosystem are

dependent on other living and nonliving organisms for survival and continued growth.

Two basic kinds of processes must occur in an ecosystem: a cycling of chemical

elements and a flow of energy. The flow of energy is from the external environment

through a series of organisms and back to the external environment. To preserve the

system, we must try to conserve the specie or manage the natural resources so that they

are sustainable.

THE OCEAN

The ocean is the great body of water that surrounds each continent. Covering more

than 70 percent of the earth?s surface, it contains 97 percent of all the water on the earth

and is recognized as the earth?s greatest single unifying system.

Studies say that the sea was formed due in part of the continental drift. This theory

states that the continents were once a single great mass of land surrounded with one body

of ocean. The mass broke off into separate continents, slowly drifting apart. That explains

why these continents can perfectly fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. The continental drift

theory was questioned, and later scientist formed a new theory called sea-floor spreading,

which explained the forces that caused the continents to move. And even later, another

theory was formed, called plate tectonics, which combined the two theories together.

The coast is the edge of the land, the beginning of the sea, the brink of the beach, the

rim of the ocean. It?s the conflict between human activities and natural forces that is

widespread along the open shoreline. Humans have begun to inhabit the coastline area.

They find the ocean breeze to be so overwhelming that now, many live in houses along the

coast. It disrupts a delicately balanced environment and imperils the lives and property of

coastal dwellers.

The continental shelf belongs to the land and to the sea. It is the submerged land at

the edge of the continents; the thin strip at the edge of land and the surface of the sea. The

shelf begins at the shoreline and gently slopes underwater to an average depth of 430 feet,

having a width averaging 47 miles. In the Arctic region it extends 750 miles, while in the

Pacific region it measures only 1 mile. It encounters the land, air, bright sunlight, grasses

and trees, rain and snow, rivers and glaciers. The shelf supports every class of creature

from bacteria to mammals, both inland and in the sea.

The sea absorbs all changes and the sea creatures would always find regions of

stability and abundance. It experiences only light, sudden extinction and replacements. The

ocean has gradually accepted new types of life, but also maintained many of the old ones.

All over the world sea levels rise and fall, causing disruptive changes that greatly effects its

surroundings. Nothing can really be done to stop these changes, for its all part of nature.

CLIMATE

The surface temperature of the sea varies depending on where it is located. It?s

about 28 degrees Fahrenheit near the North and 86 degrees near the equator. In the polar

regions the surface seawater freezes and the water in the western tropical pacific is the

warmest of them all. As the currents move in the ocean, they carry warm tropical water

toward the poles. Other ocean movements bring colder, deeper water up to the surface,

which lowers the surface water temperature. The water temperature also varies with

depth. The temperature falls as the depth increases.

Oceans also affect the global cycling of chemical elements. They are a major

storehouse of carbon. It exchanges carbon dioxide with the atmosphere, therefore, playing

a major role in the rate of global warming.

LIFE IN THE SEA

There is an incredible variety of living things living in the ocean. Life in the oceans is

so diverse and abundant that you could find anything from a one-celled organism to the

largest animal that has ever lived – the blue whale. All ocean life can be divided into

groups.

THE PLANKTON

The plankton consists of plantlike organisms and animals that drift with the ocean

currents. They are formed into two groups: the phytoplankton, and the zooplankton. The

phytoplankton consists of several kinds of plantlike organisms. Algae are found mostly

anywhere in the ocean. Certain types have the ability to make their own food by

photosynthesis, and others absorb nutrients from their surroundings. Algae may

reproduce in more than one way. Some split into two or more parts, each part becoming a

new, separate plant. Others produce spores and some reproduce sexually -cells from two

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