9.2 Marine ecosystems

Humans often describe only a single marine biome, which obscures lots of environmentally useful variability. It’s true that the open ocean is a huge expanse of fairly similar conditions – the kind of situation that makes a good biome. However, the places of greatest interest for biodiversity and other natural resources are often in much smaller bits that punctuate that huge expanse – on underwater ridges and sea mounts and islands and atolls. These smaller bits don’t make good biomes, but they are certainly good ecosystems.

Read the accompanying PowerPoint on marine ecosystems.

Knowledge Check

Take a moment to complete the short quiz below to assess your understanding of this section. Read each question carefully and refer to the section content as needed. This quiz is not graded – it’s simply an opportunity for you to reflect on what you’ve learned and reinforce key concepts.