WHAT IS A TIDE POOL?
Tide pools are the rocky edges of the ocean coast filled with water that is home to marine life such as plants, kelp, crabs, anemones, and the like. There is high wave action in tide pools as this is where water, more specifically the Oceans, meet land. This makes it difficult for living organisms in this ecosystem to survive the harsh conditions that are brought by high tides and storms. The most common forms of tide pools in New England can be found on the coast of Maine where there are large levies (extended rock formations) out into the Atlantic Ocean that serve as a 'home' for marine organisms in this constant movement of space.
Tide pools also experience very harsh conditions of heat and salinity. This causes distress in animals and organisms that cannot survive on low amounts of oxygen and although cooler at night, conditions can become worse; there is no sunlight for photosynthesis to take place. Therefore, the more shallow the tide pool, the better. This habitat is home to many colorful plants and animals/organisms (Amos 109).
PHYTOPLANKTON: DINOFLAGELLATES
Scientific Name: Phylum Dinophyta
Color: Brownish green
Size: 5 nanometers to 2 millimeters in a variety of shapes
Classification: Phytoplankton- nanoplankton and microplankton
Enviornment: Live up to 200m in depth
Image from MarineBio 1998.
Since Dinoflagellates are so small in size and produce food for themselves as well as provide nutrients to marine animals/organisms, they are base of the food chain. For this reason, dinoflagellates are eaten by crustaceans and zooplankton.
Dinoflagellates do not form chains or group together to form a cluster or "family". Instead, they can divide and reproduce themselves in half bodies through a process called fusion. General sexual reproduction of these organisms is done in the summer-autumn months known as the blooming period (Steidinger 29).
Upon deices, they become a part of the seafloor, providing nutrients and fertilizer to the bottom.
CHEMICAL OCEANOGRAPHY
They are most commonly known for releasing toxins that can be deadly to other animals/organisms and human that ingests such animals/organisms. They can also create generate luminescent light in what is known as a bio-bay (aka bioluminescent) through the use of enzyme luciferase and substrate luciferin. Dinoflagellates swim to and from the surface for sunlight to assist in their generation of oxygen and organic nutrients for much of the sea life. This process, known as photosynthesis, distinguishes dinoflagellates based on their morphology; pigments of these organisms include chlorophyll a and c as well as perdinin. "Autotrophic species contain enzymes for photosynthesis while heterotrophic species do not" (Sverdrup 381). For this reason, Dinoflagellates live best in calm, well-stratified waters.
PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY
Using winds, currents, tides and upwellings as means of travel, as well as ship ballasts and hulls or shellfish, Dinoflagellates cannot swim against the current but can swim vertically (Steidinger 26). These 2,000+ species use their single-cell organism body to move through the water by use of two flagella (thread-like extensions that allow for movement). "One encircles the cell like a belt, and the other is located at a right angle to the first. The beating of the flagella makes the cells motile and they spin like a top as they move through the water" (Sverdrup 381).
References
Amos, William H. The Life of the Seashore. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996.
MarineBio. 1998. 28 March 2011. http://marinebio.org/oceans/forests/.
Steidinger, Karen A, and Linda M. Walker. Marine Plankton Life Cycle Strategies. Boca
Raton: CRC, 1984.
Raton: CRC, 1984.
Sverdrup, Keith A, and E. Virginia Armbrust. An Introduction to the World’s Oceans. New
York: McGraw-Hill, 2009.
York: McGraw-Hill, 2009.
