Phytoplankton, coral reef, Upwelling and Marine ecosystem

Phytoplankton
What are they?

Phyto- plants; plankton-floating, thus phytoplankton refers to the floating plants.

They are microscopic in size and are autotrophic.
Phytoplankton are a diverse group, incorporating protistan eukaryotes and both eubacterial and
archaebacterial prokaryotes.
In terms of numbers, the most important groups of phytoplankton include the diatoms,
cyanobacteria, although many other groups of algae are represented.
They inhabit the upper sunlit layer (euphotic zone) of almost all oceans and bodies of fresh water.
They are present mostly in the regions of confluence of warm and cold ocean current.
They are generally green in colour with variation from species to species.

Significance of Phytoplankton:

50% of all the photosynthesis in the planet is done by phytoplankton.

Consequently phytoplankton produces 50% of the total oxygen produced by all the plant life.
Open oceans are only as productive as deserts and grassland on land.
They are agents for "primary production" the creation of organic compounds from carbon dioxide
dissolved in the water, a process that sustains the aquatic food web.
They form the base of the ocean food chains.

Issues related to phytoplankton:

The Nature in 2010, reported that since 1950 oceanic phytoplankton have reduced at an annual
rate of 1%, possibly due to ocean warming.
But some other researches pointed that there was no change in the concentration of the
anthropogenic CO2, absorbed neither by plants (both on land and water) nor by oceans abiotically
suggesting no such decline in phytoplankton population.
Phytoplankton are also crucially dependent on minerals. These are primarily macronutrients such
as nitrate, phosphate or silicic acid, whose availability is governed by the balance between the socalled biological pump and upwelling of deep, nutrient-rich waters.
However, across large regions of the World Ocean such as the Southern Ocean, phytoplankton are
also limited by the lack of the micronutrient iron.
This lead to some scientists argue and experiment for Iron Fertilisation i.e. to add iron for growth
and increase of phytoplankton and consequent increased anthropogenic CO2 absorption by oceans.
But due to fears of adverse effects of manipulating the natural ecosystem, such experiments have
not made any significant headway.

Coral reef

What are they?

Corals are tiny animals with exoskeleton belonging to cnidaria group which also includes jellyfish,
hydra etc.

They are generally sessile (not able to move), they feed on small fishes and planktonic animals by
reaching out to them using their tentacles.
The corals live in colonies and individual coral is called a polyp.
The coral secrets CaCO3 that forms the base or substrate of the colony.
Due to gradual deposition of CaCO3 by the living coral colony, underwater structures are formed
called coral reef.
Depending on the species of the coral and environmental conditions, the reef may grow from 0.3 to
10 cm annually.

A perfect symbiosis:

Almost all corals sustain a symbiotic relationship with algae (phytoplankton) which share nutrients
and energy released via photosynthesis in return of the protection and necessary light.
This is why coral reefs are characteristic of shallow, clear, warm water in tropical and sub-tropical
regions. More than 90% of the coral reefs are in the Indo-Pacific region.
The algae are the reason of the beautiful colours of the coral reefs.
But whenever due to temperature rise, pollution, excess UV radiation etc. the algae dies, bleaching
of the reefs takes place exposing the white colour of CaCo3.

Significance of Coral reefs:

Coral reefs are called the rainforests of the ocean because of the rich diversity. With less than 0.1%
of the earths surface, coral reefs inhabits 25% of oceanic biodiversity.
Coral reefs are very sensitive to the changes in temperature, quality of the water etc. and so they
act as a key indicator of the ecosystem and environment health.
Coral reefs are also very productive fisheries and marine tourism locations.

Threats to coral reefs:

Broader threats to coral reefs are acidification of oceans, rise in water temperature and rise in sea
level all related to the GHG emission.
Localised threats are over-fishing, blast-fishing, pollution, digging of canal, transportation, urban
run-off, sedimentation due to soil erosion etc.
Oil split seems to have no conclusive negative effect on the coral reefs as evident from the
experiences.
Bio-erosion i.e. grazing of the corals, both alive and dead by fishes leaving them vulnerable to other
physical and chemical changes.
During El-Nino years with increase in water temperature, coral reefs are bleached increasing the
vulnerability to diseases, physical and chemical changes.
Although reefs adapts quickly to the short-term natural catastrophes like storm, they cannot adapt
to long-term environmental changes.

Protection:

Marine Protective Areas (MPA) -where destructive activities are not allowed, have been established
in different coral reef regions, but they are not very effective in protecting the coral reef.
Marine Parks, biosphere reserves, heritage status etc. are some of the protective measures.

Coral farming:

Coral seeds are farmed in nurseries and then planted onto reefs.
Providing artificial reefs for corals to grow on helps restoring corals. And even waste products like
tyres, cars etc. can also be used for this purpose.

Upwelling

What is it?

Upwelling is a wind driven oceanographic phenomenon.

Due to upwelling nutrient-rich, cold and dense water below the warm surface water comes to the
sunlit zone.
The nutrients in the cold water are phosphates, nitrates and silicic acid resulted from
decomposition of dead planktons sink into the oceans.
The cold nutrient-rich water causes much growth of microscopic plankton, which feeds
zooplankton, which in turn feeds fish.
Upwelling regions, therefore, are favourite fishing areas.
Most of the upwelling in the ocean occurs in two settings: along the shores bathed by eastern
boundary currents and along the equator.
Normally, the upwelling water derives from depths between 100 and 300 m, a factor that depends
on the strength of the upwelling motion.

Mechanism of Upwelling:

The 3 main drivers of upwelling are- wind, Coriolis Effect and Ekman transport.
Due to Coriolis Effect, wind-driven currents are diverted towards right and left of the wind in the
northern and the southern hemisphere respectively.
This diversion results in surface water moving at right angle to the direction of wind, called Ekman
transport.
When Ekman transport takes place along a coast, the warm surface water gets replaced by deep,
cold and nutrition-rich below surface water i.e. upwelling takes place.
In the equatorial region although Coriolis effect is absent, upwelling which is interlinked with the
ITCZ occurs.
Due to this equatorial upwelling, the Pacific Ocean from the space can be distinguished as a high
phytoplankton region.

Variation in upwelling:

Most prominent is the variation due to El-Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

In an El-Nino year, the upwelled water is warmer, less nutrient and hence during such a year, the
marine productivity along Peruvian coast decreases significantly.
Also different local factors such as geomorphology, wind etc. too leads to variation in upwelling.

Threat to Upwelling ecosystem:

Given the importance of the phytoplankton as Oxygen-generating, nutrient-producing natural

carbon sink and the base of the marine ecosystem and their dependence on upwelling, the
significance of the upwelling ecosystems is immense.
But since such regions are highly productive, over-fishing is quite common threatening the balance
of such ecosystem. Importantly, the diversity of the mid-trophic level (small, pelagic fish) in
upwelling ecosystem is low.
El-Nino also affects as we saw the upwelling ecosystem in a negative way.