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SURVIVAL STRATEGIES: BENTHIC VS. PELAGIC ZOOPLANKTON
Oceanography, Marine Organisms
Phytoplankton is the primary food source for most marine organisms, either directly or indirectly. Since phytoplankton converts sunlight into energy, in the form of carbohydrates, their habitat is necessarily confined to the upper pelagic layers. The organisms that feed on the phytoplankton, the zooplankton, are thus forced to either remain in the upper pelagic layers or migrate vertically between the upper and lower layers. An important functional division within zooplankton is the ability to actively travel from location to location (nekton) or simply drift with the ocean currents (plankton) (Miller, 2004, p. 111). Whether an organism can swim or not determines to a significant extent what survival strategies are utilized.
Benthic Zone
Since plankton can't evade predators they rely on more passive defense mechanisms. Gastropods grow hard shells with narrow openings or elaborate sharp spines, and microalgae restrict the production of digestible structural material to deter foragers (Duffy and Hay, 2004, p. 137). Some species of benthic algae alter their form of...
For example, lithophyllum congestum grows as a smooth crust on reef slopes where parrotfish prefer to forage and in upright branches on reef flats where parrotfish rarely go. The advantage of upright branches is a more rapid rate of growth and reproduction. Benthic plankton that lack physical defenses, like sponges, ascidians, soft coral, and microbes, secrete noxious chemicals to discourage predation or hide in habitats where predators are not active or are too big to fit.
Some forms of algae (seaweed) produce new growth at night when herbivore activity ceases, thus minimizing losses (Duffy and Hay, 2004, p. 134). During this period of vulnerability the section of new growth secretes noxious chemicals until calcification can occur the next day. Algae may also escape vigorous foraging by growing in a refuge or garden protected by herbivores. Reef damselfishes engage in such behavior and will aggressively defend their 'garden'.
Pelagic Zone
The mesopelagic zone encompasses all habitats too deep for photosynthesis to be energy efficient (Miller, 2004, p. 232). The zooplankton that live in this zone obtain nutrients by…
References
De Meester, Luc, Weider, Lawrence J., and Tollrain, Ralph. (1995). Alternative antipredator defences and genetic polymorphism in a pelagic predator-prey system. Nature, 378, 483-485.
Duffy, J. Emmett and Hay, Mark E. (2004). The ecology and evolution of marine consumer-prey interactions. In M.D. Bertness, S.D. Gaines, and M.E. Hay, (Eds.), Marine Community Ecology (pp. 131-157). Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, Inc.
Miller, Charles B. (2004). Biological Oceanography. Malden, MA: Blackwell Science Ltd.
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