Chapter 8

Question 1

Saltwater or marine life zones

Answer 1

oceans and their bays, estuaries, coastal

wetlands, shorelines, coral reefs, and mangrove forests

Question 2

Freshwater life zones

Answer 2

lakes, rivers, streams, and inland wetlands

Question 3

Plankton

Answer 3

An organism that is weakly swimming and free floating

Question 4

Nekton

Answer 4

strongly swimming consumers such as fish, turtles, and whales

Question 5

Benthos

Answer 5

consists of bottom-dwellers such as: oysters and sea stars

Question 6

Decomposers

Answer 6

which break down organic compounds in the dead bodies and wastes of aquatic organisms into nutrients that aquatic primary
producers can use

Question 7

Turbidity

Answer 7

cloudiness that can occur naturally, such
as from algal growth, or can result from disturbances such as clearing of land, which when it rains, causes silt to flow into bodies of water

Question 8

Coastal zone

Answer 8

is the warm, nutrient-rich, shallow water that extends from the high-tide mark on land to the gently sloping, shallow edge of the continental
shelf (the submerged part of the continents)

Question 9

Costal wetlands

Answer 9

coastal land areas covered with water all or part of the year—include river mouths, inlets, bays, sounds, coastal marshes (called salt marshes) in temperate zones, and mangrove forests

Question 10

Intertidal zone

Answer 10

The area of shoreline between low and high

tides

Question 11

Open sea

Answer 11

The sharp increase in water depth at the edge of the continental shelf separates the coastal zone from the vast volume of the ocean

Question 12

Lakes

Answer 12

are large natural bodies of standing fresh-
water formed when precipitation, runoff, streams, rivers, and groundwater seepage fill depressions in the earth’s surface

Question 13

Oligotrophic lakes

Answer 13

Lakes that have a small supply of plant nutrients

Question 14

Eutrophic lakes

Answer 14

A lake with a large supply of nutrients needed by producers

Question 15

Cultural eutrophication

Answer 15

Human inputs of nutrients from the atmosphere and from nearby urban and agricultural areas can accelerate the eutrophication of lakes

Question 16

Mesotrophic lakes

Answer 16

Many lakes fall somewhere between the two extremes of nutrient enrichment

Question 17

Surface water

Answer 17

Precipitation that does not sink into the ground or evaporate

Question 18

Runoff

Answer 18

when it flows into streams

Question 19

Watershed or drainage basin

Answer 19

is the land area that delivers runoff, sediment, and dissolved substances to a stream

Question 20

Inland wetlands

Answer 20

are lands located away from coastal

areas that are covered with freshwater all or part of the time—excluding lakes, reservoirs, and streams

Question 21

Aquatic life zones

Answer 21

saltwater and freshwater portions of the

biosphere that can support life