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The photic zone (or euphotic zone, epipelagic zone, or sunlight zone) is the uppermost layer of a body of water that receives sunlight, allowing phytoplankton to perform photosynthesis. It undergoes a series of physical, chemical, and biological processes that supply nutrients into the upper water column .
This is the most common form of vertical migration. Organisms migrate on a daily basis through different depths in the water column. Migration usually occurs between shallow surface waters of the epipelagic zone and deeper mesopelagic zone of the ocean or hypolimnion zone of lakes. [2] There are three recognized types of diel vertical migration:
A top-down cascade is a trophic cascade where the top consumer/predator controls the primary consumer population. In turn, the primary producer population thrives. The removal of the top predator can alter the food web dynamics. In this case, the primary consumers would overpopulate and exploit the primary producers.
The bathyal zone is the lower section of the midwater zone, and encompasses the depths of 1,000 to 4,000 metres (3,300 to 13,100 ft). [23] Light does not reach this zone, giving it its nickname "the midnight zone"; due to the lack of light, it is less densely populated than the epipelagic zone, despite being much larger. [24]
The surface waters are sunlit. The waters down to about 200 metres are said to be in the epipelagic zone. Enough sunlight enters the epipelagic zone to allow photosynthesis by phytoplankton. The epipelagic zone is usually low in nutrients. This partially because the organic debris produced in the zone, such as excrement and dead animals, sink ...
One of the most well-known surface ecoregions is the Sargasso Sea, an ecologically distinct region packed with thick, neustonic brown seaweed in the North Atlantic. Multiple ecologically and commercially important species depend on the Sargasso Sea, but neustonic life exists in every ocean basin and may serve a similar, if unrecognised, role in ...
The layers of the pelagic zone. All but the epipelagic zone make up the aphotic zone. Zones of the water column as defined by the amount of light penetration. The mesopelagic is sometimes referred to as the dysphotic zone. In the ocean, the aphotic zone is sometimes referred to as the dark ocean.
The estimated natural lifespan of a black coral colony in the epipelagic zone is 70 years. However, in March 2009 around 4,265 years old specimens of Leiopathes glaberrima were found at depths of nearly 300 to 3,000 m (984 to 9,840 ft), making them some of the oldest living organisms on earth. The researchers showed that the "individual colony ...