Marine Ecosystem Essay

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Analysis of Marine Ecosystems, Specifically the Great Barrier Reef Melissa South Brazosport College Abstract This paper analyzes and explores the definition of marine ecosystems and focuses on the Australian Great Barrier Reef in reference to its general information, genetic variety, uses, threats, and preservation of the ecosystem, and an examination of specific Great Barrier Reef plant and animal species. Keywords: marine, ecosystem, Great Barrier Reef, Australia Analysis of Marine Ecosystems, Specifically the Great Barrier Reef According to Webster’s New World College Dictionary, the definition of an ecosystem is “a system made up of a community of animals, plants, and bacteria interrelated together with its physical and chemical environment,” and the definition of marine is “of the sea or ocean” (Agnes 2004). Therefore, a marine ecosystem is a community of living organisms in a body of salt water, which could include, but is not limited to, oceans, salt marshes, estuaries, lagoons, mangroves, coral reefs, as well as the deep sea and sea floor. Water covers three-quarters of Earth’s surface; about ninety-seven percent of this water is found in the oceans according to the Volume Library, making the marine biome the largest in the world (Jackson 2002). There are a number of types of marine ecosystems, all with their own food sources and different creatures that inhabit their waters: a few examples follow, found in the Volume Library. Phytoplanktons, photosynthetic microorganisms, are the foundation for ocean life. They are fed upon by heterotrophic microorganisms, which are fed upon by tiny crustaceans. Those then form the food supply for larger marine animals. Coastal zones and continental shelves are where the most abundant forms of life are found; there are anchored plants, worms, jellyfish, starfish, urchins, mussels, snails, bony fish, etc.

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