Oceanography ›  Unit 5

Unit 5 Marine Life & Ecosystems

Every organism in the ocean is tied to every other one through what it eats and what eats it. This unit builds that web from the smallest microbe up \u2014 then drops you into a real crisis inside one.

📅 Weeks 10–12🏷️ 6 Activities🏷️ 2 Projects🏷️ 1 Problem
Oceanography Home

The Path Through Unit 5

A local estuary's keystone fish population has been in free fall for months. The water looks fine at a glance \u2014 but one number on the monitoring report doesn't match the rest. Read the full case file →
Activity — builds the skill
Project — applies it, target known
Problem — open-ended diagnostic case (do last)
AActivity5 days total
5-1-1Ocean Life's Smallest Giants — Microbes & Primary Producers
1 day→
5-1-2Classifying Ocean Life — Groups Found Only in the Sea
2 days→
5-1-3Adaptations for Survival — Pressure, Light & Predation
2 days→
PProject🕑 3 class days

5-1-4  Build the Field Guide

Design an illustrated field guide or dichotomous key for a set of marine organisms — the same tool a real field biologist would carry to identify what they've found.

Turn in: Illustrated field guide or dichotomous key covering at least 8 organismsOpen →
AActivity6 days total
5-2-1Zonation — From Intertidal to Abyssal
2 days→
5-2-2Ecosystem Case Studies — Reefs, Kelp Forests, Vents & Estuaries
2 days→
5-2-3Building & Reading a Food Web
2 days→
PProject🕑 3 class days

5-2-4  Model the Web

Build a food web for an ecosystem of your choice, then predict what actually happens — to everything connected to it — if you pull one keystone species out.

Turn in: Food web diagram + a written prediction of cascade effects if a keystone species were removedOpen →
BProblem🕑 4 class days

5-3-1  The Keystone Crash

A local estuary's keystone species just crashed — and the water quality data, food web, and population trends all have something to say about why. You diagnose the real cause and propose a restoration plan that actually fixes it.

Turn in: Diagnostic report identifying the likely cause(s) + a restoration plan that addresses the root cause, not just the symptomsOpen →