1. Pg. 76 RTW: What is an advantage & disadvantage of clumped dispersion?
Monday, January 9th
Pg. 76 RTW: What is an advantage & disadvantage of clumped dispersion?
Objective: Discuss the characteristics of populations, such as number of individuals, age structure, density, and pattern of distribution.
Agenda:
Turtle Survivor questions on pg. 80
Homework:
Test Friday (1/13)

2. Tuesday, January 10th
Pg. 76 RTW: What type of survivorship curve has a high infant mortality (Type 1, 2, or 3)? What type of organisms have these?
Objective: Learn what makes up a coral reef and what types of factors affect it’s productivity.
Agenda:
Have Turtle Questions (pg. 80) out to be graded
Coral Notes pg. 81
Homework:
Test Friday (1/13)

3. The Coral Reef
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
(also includes jellyfish and sea anemones)
The largest number of coral reef species are found in the Indo-Pacific

4. Make-Up
Each coral polyp (or animal) occupies a little calcium carbonate (CaCO3) cups (this is limestone), called corallites.
Around the mouth are tentacles that have many stinging cells called nematocysts that it uses to capture food (normally plankton).

5. 2 Types of Coral Polyps
Hermatypic – produces reefs; have a symbiotic bacteria called zooxanthallae that live in their tissues; found only in the tropics; colonial
Ahermatypic – do not form reefs; do not have zooxanthallae; solitary

6. Reproduction Asexual Sexual Budding Fragmentation of skeletal pieces
Males release sperm into water and females release eggs. These come together and form a planula larvae
This larvae settles and makes a new polyp.

7. Abiotic Limiting Factors
Light - (they must be able to get rid of sediment that can cover them)
Salinity - (hurricanes can throw this off)
Temperature - (most important; around 20oC)

8. Nutrition Carnivorous – use nematocysts to capture and eat plankton.
HOWEVER, there is only enough plankton to make up 5-10% of their food needs.
The bacteria, zooxanthallae, living in the polyps, are photosynthetic. They make their own food and 90-95% of the food for the coral polyp.

9. Coralline algae
Red algae that are extremely important in constructing and maintaining reefs.
Secretes CaCO3 in a thin layer over the reef that cements all the pieces together
Helps the reef resist wave destruction.
Too much = suffocate the coral polyps.

10. Coral Reefs
coral reefs are the most taxonomically diverse of all ecosystems on Earth
while diverse, they are also fragile
the conditions coral requires for life are narrow and specific:
clear water
dinoflagellates coexisting in the polyps need light for photosynthesis.
water that’s in moderate motion
this prevents sediments from accumulating on polyps
Coastal Ecosystems
>

11. Coral Reefs
water that is relatively free of nutrients.
lack of nutrients actually protect coral from other organisms
with too many nutrients, algae grows displacing coral and plankton grows reducing water clarity and the amount of sunlight
when a body of water is choked by plant life it is called eutrophication
Coastal Ecosystems
>

12. Coral Reefs Threats to coral reefs include: eutrophication
levels have been rising over the last several decades
thermal stress
coastal dredging and construction
cause sediment to accumulate on the polyps faster than water motion can remove it
coral diseases
Coastal Ecosystems

13. Competition on the Reef
Corals compete for LIGHT!
The upright, branched, faster growing corals extend up and shut out light from the slower growing, encrusting corals = Exploitative Competition
BUT, the slow growing corals must be more aggressive in order for them to grow. They release digestive filaments from their “stomachs”, which kills nearby competing corals = Interference Competition

14. Coral Bleaching Corals bleach = expel the zooxanthellae.
They become white.
If the bacteria is gone for too long, the coral polyp will die.
The cause of bleaching is unclear, but is probably b/c of stress, usually due to increased temperature. Occurs mostly to corals in shallow-water.
Thought to be an early sign of global warming.

15. Pg. 76 RTW: What are the threats to corals?
Wednesday, January 11th
Pg. 76 RTW: What are the threats to corals?
Objective: Prepare for Unit 8.1 Test.
Agenda:
Review
Homework:
Test Friday (1/13)

16. Pg. 76 RTW: Create one test question for your neighbor
Thursday, January 12th
Pg. 76 RTW: Create one test question for your neighbor
Objective: Prepare for Unit 8.1 Test.
Agenda:
Review
Homework:
Test Friday (1/13)

17. Grab your clicker, bags upfront, NO CELLPHONES
Friday, January 13th
Grab your clicker, bags upfront, NO CELLPHONES
Objective: I will be able to ace the 8.1 test.
Agenda:
Test
Homework:
None 