MARINE SCIENCE LATEST EXAMS TEST PAPER
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SURE A+
✔✔nutrient defined - ✔✔any substance assimilated by living things that promote
growth, including any number of inorganic compounds
(nitrogen and phosphorus are important examples) used by producers in primary
production
✔✔nutrient use - ✔✔used in marine organisms from bones/shells and incorporated into
reefs
✔✔nutrients replenished - ✔✔they enter the oceans/productive zones by;
a. runoff from the land; ions from rock, agriculture waste, sewage, fertilizer
b. dissolving from atmosphere/atmospheric dissolution (this can occur for nitrogen and
carbon; in the form of carbon dioxide)
c. upwelling brings nutrients back to the surface
✔✔nutrients enter from food chains - ✔✔assimilated by producers- then passed on to
the consumers
✔✔nutrients lost from food chains - ✔✔a. nutrients released through excretion/waste
b. nutrients released once organism dies and starts to decompose
c. nutrients/ions sink to the sea floor
, d. harvesting by humans
✔✔limiting nutrients - ✔✔nitrate and phosphate are usually the limiting factor
✔✔biological use of nutrients - ✔✔nitrogen- to make proteins and amino acids
carbon- to make all organic materials; glucose, DNA, RNA
magnesium- to make chlorophyll
calcium- to make homes, corals and shells; formation of carbonates/corallites
phosphorus- used ti make DNA, bones, ATP, phospholipids; formation of calcium
phosphate/apatite
✔✔calcium - ✔✔abiotic-
1. calcium is weathered from sedimentary rock, limestone containing calcium carinate
2. brought into the sea by runoff from land/rivers
3. present in water as calcium ions
biotic-
4. as calcium ion it is used by marine organisms such as fish for bones, coral used to
make coral skeleton/polyp and mollusks use it to make up their shells
abiotic -
5. once an organism dies and sinks to the seafloor
6. calcium can be compressed back into limestone
7. land can be uplifted or sea level may fall which will expose the rocks on land and
allow weather and erosion to remove calcium from the rock
8. can also be brought up by upwelling
✔✔phosphorus - ✔✔abiotic-
1. phosphorus us weathered from sedimentary rock, apatite containing calcium
phosphate
- it is brought into the sea by runoff from land/rivers
- present in water as phosphate ion
biotic-
2. as phosphate ions, it enters marine organisms such as fish, to be used from bones
and teeth as week s for DNA/RNA and ATP/ADP
out of biotic, to abiotic-
3. once an organism dies and sinks to seafloor
4. calcium can be compressed back to apatite
5. land can be uplifted or sea level may fall which will expose the rock on land and allow
weather and erosion to remove phosphate from the rock
6. can also be brought up by upwelling
✔✔nitrogen - ✔✔abiotic-
1. runoff from agricultural waste/chemical/fertilizer/pollutants wash into sea as nitrates
2. atmospheric dissolution- dissolves nitrogen as N2 which will be fixed by nitrogen
fixing bacteria to ammonia, then by the process of nitrification done by bacteria convert
ammonia into nitrite, the nitrate
biotic-
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SURE A+
✔✔nutrient defined - ✔✔any substance assimilated by living things that promote
growth, including any number of inorganic compounds
(nitrogen and phosphorus are important examples) used by producers in primary
production
✔✔nutrient use - ✔✔used in marine organisms from bones/shells and incorporated into
reefs
✔✔nutrients replenished - ✔✔they enter the oceans/productive zones by;
a. runoff from the land; ions from rock, agriculture waste, sewage, fertilizer
b. dissolving from atmosphere/atmospheric dissolution (this can occur for nitrogen and
carbon; in the form of carbon dioxide)
c. upwelling brings nutrients back to the surface
✔✔nutrients enter from food chains - ✔✔assimilated by producers- then passed on to
the consumers
✔✔nutrients lost from food chains - ✔✔a. nutrients released through excretion/waste
b. nutrients released once organism dies and starts to decompose
c. nutrients/ions sink to the sea floor
, d. harvesting by humans
✔✔limiting nutrients - ✔✔nitrate and phosphate are usually the limiting factor
✔✔biological use of nutrients - ✔✔nitrogen- to make proteins and amino acids
carbon- to make all organic materials; glucose, DNA, RNA
magnesium- to make chlorophyll
calcium- to make homes, corals and shells; formation of carbonates/corallites
phosphorus- used ti make DNA, bones, ATP, phospholipids; formation of calcium
phosphate/apatite
✔✔calcium - ✔✔abiotic-
1. calcium is weathered from sedimentary rock, limestone containing calcium carinate
2. brought into the sea by runoff from land/rivers
3. present in water as calcium ions
biotic-
4. as calcium ion it is used by marine organisms such as fish for bones, coral used to
make coral skeleton/polyp and mollusks use it to make up their shells
abiotic -
5. once an organism dies and sinks to the seafloor
6. calcium can be compressed back into limestone
7. land can be uplifted or sea level may fall which will expose the rocks on land and
allow weather and erosion to remove calcium from the rock
8. can also be brought up by upwelling
✔✔phosphorus - ✔✔abiotic-
1. phosphorus us weathered from sedimentary rock, apatite containing calcium
phosphate
- it is brought into the sea by runoff from land/rivers
- present in water as phosphate ion
biotic-
2. as phosphate ions, it enters marine organisms such as fish, to be used from bones
and teeth as week s for DNA/RNA and ATP/ADP
out of biotic, to abiotic-
3. once an organism dies and sinks to seafloor
4. calcium can be compressed back to apatite
5. land can be uplifted or sea level may fall which will expose the rock on land and allow
weather and erosion to remove phosphate from the rock
6. can also be brought up by upwelling
✔✔nitrogen - ✔✔abiotic-
1. runoff from agricultural waste/chemical/fertilizer/pollutants wash into sea as nitrates
2. atmospheric dissolution- dissolves nitrogen as N2 which will be fixed by nitrogen
fixing bacteria to ammonia, then by the process of nitrification done by bacteria convert
ammonia into nitrite, the nitrate
biotic-
