The organic world of the Atlantic Ocean depends on temperature, salinity and other indicators characterizing the water area of this part of the MO. The living conditions of organisms vary significantly from north to south. Therefore, in the Atlantic there are areas rich in natural resources, and relatively poor areas where the number of species of animals is in the tens, not hundreds.
The role of living organisms in the natural complex of Moscow Region
The organic world of the Atlantic Ocean is significantly affected by the large extent of the water area from north to south. The diversity of animals and plants is influenced by vast areas of the continental shelf, land runoff, and other environmental factors. The open spaces, the bottom and the surf are home to thousands of organisms that belong to different kingdoms of Earth's nature. Plants and animals are the most important components of the natural complex. They are influenced by climate, the composition and properties of water, rocks that make up the bottom. In turn, the organic world of the Atlantic Ocean affects other components of nature:
- algae enrich water with oxygen;
- respiration of plants and animals leads to an increase in carbon dioxide content;
- skeletons of colony of intestinal membranes form the basis of coral reefs and atolls;
- living organisms absorb mineral salts from water, reducing their amount.
Organic World of the Atlantic Ocean (briefly)
Temperature and salinity are critical for the microscopic living creatures that make up plankton, as well as algae. These indicators are important for nekton - animals freely floating in the water column. The relief features of the shelf and the ocean bed determine the vital activity of benthic organisms. In this group, there are many intestinal and crustaceans. There are a number of features of the species composition that characterize the organic world of the Atlantic Ocean. The photo of the seabed, presented below, makes it possible to verify the diversity of benthos in subtropical and tropical latitudes. Fish-rich water areas are confined to areas of intensive reproduction of plankton in the temperate and hot zones. In these regions, there is a diversity of seabirds and mammals. High latitudes in the north and south are distinguished by the predominance of birds that feed on the surface of ice-free water, and nest colonies are built on the shore.
Phytoplankton
Unicellular algae make up an important part of plankton. This group includes diatoms, blue-green, flagellates and other tiny living organisms capable of photosynthesis. They inhabit a water column with a depth of up to 100 m, but the highest density is observed in the first 50 m from its surface. Intense solar radiation in the warm season leads to the rapid development of phytoplankton - the "bloom" of water in the temperate and polar regions of the Atlantic Ocean.
Large plants
Photosynthetic green, red, brown algae and other representatives of the MO flora are an important part of the natural complex. Thanks to plants, the entire organic world of the Atlantic Ocean receives oxygen for respiration and nutrients. The list of bottom vegetation or phytobenthos includes not only algae, but also representatives of angiosperms that have adapted to live in salt water, for example, the genera of Zoster, Posidonius. These “sea grasses” prefer soft sublittoral soils, form underwater meadows at depths of 30 to 50 m.
Typical representatives of the flora of the continental shelf in the cold and temperate zones on both sides of the equator are kelp and red algae (purplish). They are attached to the bottom rocks, solitary stones. Hot-water marine vegetation is poorer due to high temperatures and significant insolation.
Economic value of algae:
- brown (kelp) - used in food, are used to obtain iodine, potassium and algin;
- red algae - raw materials for the food and pharmaceutical industries;
- brown sargasso algae - a source of algin.
Zooplankton
Phytoplankton and bacteria are food for herbivorous microscopic animals. Freely swimming in the water column, they make up zooplankton. Its basis is made up of the smallest representatives of crustaceans. Larger ones are combined into mesoplankton and macroplankton (ctenophores, siphonophores, jellyfish, cephalopods, shrimps and small fish).
Necton and Benthos
There is a large group of living organisms in the ocean, able to withstand the pressure of water, to move freely in its thickness. These abilities are possessed by medium and large sized marine animals.
- Crustaceans. Shrimps, crabs and lobsters belong to this subtype.
- Clams. The typical representatives of the group are scallops, mussels, oysters, squids and octopuses.
- Fishes. The most numerous genera and families of this superclass are anchovies, sharks, flounders, sprats, salmon, sea bass, capelin, sea tongue, pollock, haddock, halibut, sardines, herring, mackerel, cod, tuna, hake.
- Reptiles. A few representatives are sea turtles.
- Birds. Penguins, albatrosses, petrels get food in water.
- Marine mammals. Highly organized animals - dolphins, whales, fur seals, seals.
The basis of the benthos is made up of animals leading an attached lifestyle at the bottom, for example, intestinal (coral polyps).
Features of plants and animals of the Atlantic
- In the northern and southern parts of the basin, various species and genera are present in the fauna.
- There are few species of plankton, but the total mass reaches impressive values, especially in the temperate climatic zone. Diatoms, foraminifera, pteropods and copepods (krill) predominate.
- High bio-productivity is a feature that characterizes the features of the organic world of the Atlantic Ocean. It is distinguished by a significant density of life in shallow water near Newfoundland Island, the water area to the southwest and northwest of the coast of Africa, the marginal seas and the eastern shelf of the USA and South America.
- The tropical zone, as noted above, is an unfavorable region for phytoplankton.
- The productivity of the nekton of the Atlantic Ocean on the shelf and part of the mainland slope is higher than in similar areas of neighboring oceans. Fish that feed on phyto- and zooplankton (anchovies, herring, mackerel, horse mackerel and others) predominate. In open waters, tuna are of commercial importance.
- The species richness of mammals is one of the features of the fauna of the Atlantic Ocean. In the past century, they underwent significant extermination, the number decreased.
- Coral polyps are not as diverse as in the Pacific basin. Few sea snakes, turtles.
There are various factors that explain many of these features that characterize the organic world of the Atlantic Ocean. The conclusion from everything said above is as follows: the reasons for the differences are associated with the small width of the Atlantic in the hot zone, expansion in the temperate and polar regions. On the contrary, the Pacific and Indian oceans have the greatest extent in the tropical zone. Another factor affecting the relative poverty of the Atlantic by heat-loving animals is the influence of the latter glaciation, which caused a significant cooling in the Northern Hemisphere.
