Oceans For Dummies

Ashlan and Philippe Cousteau are world-renowned environmental advocates, filmmakers, and authors with a passion for adventure. Philippe is the founder of EarthEcho International, a leading global voice for ocean conservation. Ashlan is a journalist and storyteller who has explored all seven continents.

• Introduction 1About This Book 2Foolish Assumptions 3Icons Used in This Book 3Beyond the Book 4Where to Go from Here 4Part 1: Getting Started with Your Ocean Voyage 5Chapter 1: Brushing Up on Ocean Fundamentals 7Taking a Nickel Tour of the Ocean(s) 8Dividing the ocean into oceans or not 8Recognizing the ocean zones 9Dropping in on the different ecosystems 10Going with the Flow: The Physical Properties of the Ocean 10Getting up to speed on the water cycle 11Checking out what’s at the bottom of the ocean (and below) 13Riding waves, tides, and currents 13Recognizing the ocean’s role in climate control and weather 14Meeting the Ocean’s Inhabitants 14Recognizing strength in numbers: Marine microorganisms 15Going green with marine plants and plant-like organisms 15Grouping the ocean’s animals 16Exploring the Complex and Evolving Human-Ocean Relationship 17Chapter 2: Appreciating the Ocean’s Many Gifts 19Supplying Over Half of the World’s Oxygen 20Playing a Key Role in Regulating Climate and Weather 20Producing Protein for Billions of People 22Contributing Trillions to the Global Economy 23Serving as a Source of Mystery and Wonder 24Stimulating our imaginations 25Increasing our knowledge of the world around us 26Getting in touch with our emotional connection to the sea 27Chapter 3: Looking Back at the Ocean’s History (and Prehistory) 29Discovering How the Ocean Got Its Start 30The wet planet theory 30The water delivery truck theory 31Tracing the Evolution of Ocean Life 31Getting the evolutionary ball rolling 32Going cellular 32And now for a word about metabolism 33All together now: Multicellular organisms 34Taking evolution to the next level in the Paleozoic era 35Gaining momentum in the Mesozoic era 41Increasing sophistication in the Cenozoic era 44Taking the Earth’s Present Evolutionary Pulse 48Looking Ahead: What’s in Store for the Ocean’s Future? 51Part 2: Finding Your Way Around 55Chapter 4: Mapping the Ocean by Zones 57Dividing the Ocean into Three Horizontal Zones 58Where land meets sea: The intertidal zone 58Wading through the neritic zone 60Heading out to sea: The oceanic zone 61Exploring the Five Vertical Zones of the Water Column 62Skimming the surface: The epipelagic zone 62Dimming the lights in the mesopelagic zone 63Taking a deeper, darker dive into the bathypelagic zone 65Delving into the abyss: The abyssopelagic zone 67How low can you go? The hadalpelagic zone 69Acknowledging the Existence of Other Zones 71From light to dark: The photic and aphotic zones 71From top to bottom: The pelagic and benthic zone 72Chapter 5: Checking Out the Neighborhoods: The Ocean’s Ecosystems 73Hugging the Shore 74Digging life in the sand 74Living life on the rocks 75Mixing it up in the estuaries 77Muddling through the mudflats 78Settling down in salt marshes 80Meandering through the mangroves 81Swimming through Kelp Forests 83Swirling in Sargasso: A Sea without Borders 85Grazing in the Seagrass Meadows 87Building Their Own Communities: Reefs 88Coral reefs 88Oyster reefs 92Chilling Out at the Poles 92Living Under Extreme Conditions: Deep Ocean Ecosystems 95Hydrothermal vents 95Deep-sea coral reefs 95Cold seeps 97Whale falls 97Moving Out and About: Migratory Species 98Chapter 6: Taking a Deeper Dive: Beneath the Ocean 99Grasping the Basics of Plate Tectonics 99Tracing the Contours of the Seafloor 102Creating the first map of the seafloor 104Fine-tuning seafloor maps with better technology 105Chipping Away at Ocean Rock and Sediment 106Checking Out Deep-Sea Cores 106Part 3: Sampling the Vast Diversity of Sea Life 109Chapter 7: Getting to Know the Mighty Microbes 111Meeting the Marine Microbes 112Bacteria 112Archaea 114Viruses 114Protists 115Fungi 115Recognizing the Importance of Microbes 116Feeding the ocean’s living organisms 117Anchoring food chains and webs 118Cleaning up our messes 122Looking at the Relationship between Microbes and Plankton 123Phytoplankton 123Zooplankton 123Distinguishing lifers from juvies 124Chapter 8: Sorting Out Algae, Seaweed, and Other Aquatic Vegetation 127All You Need to Know about Algae, and Then Some 128Go big or go home: Macroalgae (a.k.a seaweed) 128Small, but just about everywhere the sun shines: Microalgae 132Understanding the threats posed by harmful algae blooms (HABs) 134Shoring Up the Shoreline with Mangroves 137Not Your Typical Lawn: Seagrass 138Checking Out What’s Growing in the Salt Marshes 139Chapter 9: Getting the Lowdown on Simple Invertebrates 141Sponges and Other Holy Creatures: The Porifera 142Calcarea 143Demospongiae 143Hexactinellida 145Homoscleromorpha 145Jellyfish, Anemones, and Other Notable Cnidarians 146Scyphozoans 147Hydrozoans 148Anthozoans 149Cubozoans 150Ctenophora (Comb Jellies) 150Starfish, Urchins, and Other Famous Echinoderms 151Asteroidea (sea stars) 151Ophiuroidea (brittle stars) 152Echinoidea (sea urchins and sand dollars) 153Crinoidea (sea lilies and feather stars) 154Holothuroidea (sea cucumbers) 155Squirmy Wormies: The Annelids 156Polychaetes 156Oligochaetes 158Hirudinea 158Chapter 10: Getting Mushy over Mollusks 159Meet the Mother of All Mollusks 160Gastropods: Putting Their One Foot Forward 161Snails 161Sea slugs and sea hares 165Bivalves: Parts One and Two 167Clams 167Oysters 168Mussels 169Scallops 169Cephalopods: Head and Tentacles Above the Rest 170Octopi 171Squid 172Cuttlefish 174Nautilus 175Chapter 11: Wearing Their Skeletons on the Outside: Crustaceans 177What Makes a Crustacean a Crustacean? 178The Shrimpy Crustaceans: Branchiopoda 178Real Softies: Malacostraca (Soft-Shell Crustaceans) 180Phyllocarida 180Hoplocarida 181Eumalacostraca 182A New Twist on Putting Your Foot in Your Mouth: Maxillopoda 190Copepods 190Barnacles 191Fish lice 191Crustacean Cave Dwellers: The Remipedia 192Ostracoda 192What about Horseshoe Crabs? 193Chapter 12: Getting Chummy with Fish: Bony and Otherwise 195Look Ma, No Jaw! Agnatha 196Lampreys 196Hagfish 197Look Pa, No Bones! Chondrichthyes 198Elasmobranchii: The fish with a PR problem 199Holocephali: Chimaera 208Check Out the Bones! Osteichthyes 209Ray-finned 211Lobe-finned 215Chapter 13: Meeting a Few Marine Reptiles 217Everybody’s Favorite: Sea Turtles 218Meet the family 219Making babies 223A seriously threatened animal 224Will the Real Sea Serpent Please Slither Forward? 225The Only Lizard to Make the Cut: Marine Iguanas 227Saltwater Crocodiles 228Chapter 14: Bird Watching in and Near the Ocean 231Knowing What Makes a Bird a Shorebird or a Seabird 232Shorebirds 232Seabirds 233Flying Way Below the Radar: Penguins 234Going Loony 236Courting Grebes 237Tubular, Dude! Albatross, Petrels, Shearwaters, and Fulmars 238Soaring with the albatross 238Skimming the surface with shearwaters 239Fluttering above the surface with petrels 240Pelicans and Other Pelecaniformes 241Pelicans 242Frigate birds 243Boobies and gannets 243Cormorants and shags 245Phaethontidae — Tropicbirds 246Sea Ducks and Geese: The Saltwater Variety 246A Curious Mix: The Charadriiformes 247Gulls, terns, skimmers, and friends 247Auks, puffins, and other Alcids 249Shorebirds and waders 251Ospreys, Herons, Flamingos, and Other Seaside Attractions 253Osprey 254Eagles 255Herons 255Flamingos 256Chapter 15: Getting Warm and Fuzzy with Marine Mammals 257What Makes Marine Mammals So Special? 258Staying toasty 258Breathing easy 259Adapting to their food source 259Adapting to salt water 263Exhibiting special sensory adaptations 263Getting Acquainted with the Cetaceans: Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises 265Sizing up baleen whales 266Sinking your teeth into the toothed whales 270Swimming with the Sirenians: Manatees and Dugongs 276Seals, Walruses, and Other Pinnipeds 277Earless (true) seals 278Eared seals 279Walruses 280Stepping Out with the Marine Fissipeds 281The ever-popular polar bears 281Otters you “oughter” know 283Part 4: Grasping Basic Ocean Physics 285Chapter 16: Following the Ocean in Motion 287Meeting the World’s Largest Wave Machine 288Plain ol’ surface waves 288Tsunamis: So-called tidal waves 289Rising and falling with the tides 291Going unnoticed: Internal waves 294Upwelling and Downwelling in the Water Column 295Riding the Currents: The Ocean’s Global Conveyor Belt 296Knowing Where the Winds Blow 298Going Round and Round with Gyres 301Following the Ups and Downs of Sea Levels 303Chapter 17: Driving Climate and Weather 307Understanding the Ocean’s Role in Climate and Weather 307Differentiating climate and weather 308Looking at how the ocean impacts climate and weather 308Letting Off Some Steam 309Hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons 309Monsoons 312El Niño and La Niña 312Understanding Climate Change and Global Warming 314Part 5: Understanding the Human-Ocean Connection 319Chapter 18: Taking a Quick Dip into the History of Underwater Exploration 321Getting to the Bottom of Things 322Diving bells 322Hard-hat diving helmets and suits 324The self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) 324Submersibles 328Setting Up Shop in Underwater Research Stations 333Conshelf 333SeaLabs 334Aquarius 335Checking Out Other Ocean Monitoring Gadgets and Technologies 335Buoys (moored and drifting) 335Coring, dredging, and trawling tools 337Water column samplers 337Sonar and lidar 338The Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) 338Chapter 19: Tapping the Ocean’s Resources: The Blue Economy 341Supplying the World’s Seafood Diet 342Harvesting plant life, too 343Growing our own supplies: Aquaculture and mariculture 344Tapping the Sea as a Source for Fresh water 344Shipping Goods ‘Round the World 345Digging Up Gold, Diamonds, and Other Valuables: Deep-Sea Mining 345Harnessing the Ocean’s Energy Resources 346Discovering New Medications 348Capitalizing on Tourism and Recreation 349Accounting for a Few Ancillary Ocean Benefits 349Carbon storage (a.k.a blue carbon) 349Coastal protection 351Cultural value 351Biodiversity 352Chapter 20: Governing the Ocean: Treaties, Laws, Agreements, and Enforcement 353Recognizing the Two Systems of Law That Govern the Seas 354Admiralty Law 354The Law of the Sea 355Establishing Sovereign and International Jurisdictions 357Understanding sovereign jurisdiction 357Ruling the high seas: International jurisdiction 359Policing the Ocean and Enforcing the Laws 360Preventing illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing 361Combating piracy on the high seas 361Chapter 21: Taking Care of the Ocean That Takes Care of Us 363Keeping Tabs on Ocean Health 364Zeroing in on the Problems 365Pollution 366Overfishing 372Acidification 373Habitat destruction 374Invasive species 374Warming sea temperatures 374Coming Up with Solutions 377Improving socio-economic conditions 377Building marine sanctuaries 378Cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 380Restoring and conserving coastal and ocean habitats 381Reducing the impact of plastics and other trash 382Preventing and recovering from overfishing 382Engaging youth 383Get involved! 384Part 6: The Part of Tens 385Chapter 22: Ten Deadly Ocean Creatures 387Saltwater Crocodiles 388Fugu Fish 388Killer Whales 389Blue-Ringed Octopus 389Sea Snake 390Stone Fish 390Sharks (But Not All of Them) 391Cone Snails 392Box Jellyfish 393Humans 393Chapter 23: Ten Ocean Myths Busted 395Melting Sea Ice Increases Sea Levels 395Sharks Must Swim Constantly to Survive 396Some Penguins Can Fly 397Salt Water Kills Bacteria 397Seawater is Just Salty Water 398Waterspouts Are Tornadoes Over Water 398The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a Solid Mat of Plastic 399All Jellies Can Sting Humans 399The Ocean is Blue Because It Reflects the Color of the Sky 400Nothing Lives in the Middle of the Ocean 400Chapter 24: Ten Ways You Can Help Preserve the Ocean 401Reduce Your Carbon Footprint 402Steer Clear of Plastics 403Make Sustainable Seafood Choices 403Use Ocean-Friendly Sunscreen 404Don’t Buy Products That Exploit Marine Life 405Vote for the Ocean with an Environmental Conscience 405Defend Your Drain: Use Natural Products 406Protect Your Local Watershed 406Make It a Family Affair 407Join and Support Ocean Conservation Organizations 408Index 411