Category Archives: Schools

Ocean Habitats

Oceans support an immense diversity of life and ecosystems. From the warm tropical waters of the Caribbean to the freezing polar regions (and from tiny zooplankton to blue whales!), a staggering range of animals, plants and other life forms call the ocean their home. These ocean habitats (or marine habitats) provide everything needed for survival – food, shelter, water and oxygen. They need to be healthy in order to support the diversity of life within them and contribute to a healthy ocean, which provides us with many things including food, oxygen, jobs and a whole heap of fun water-based activities.

 

Watch our Habitats video

Types of Ocean Habitat

Marine habitats are divided into two main zonescoastal habitat and open ocean habitat. Within these habitats, there are numerous sub-habitats.

Coastal Habitats

Coastal HabitatsThe coastal habitat is the region from the shoreline out to the continental shelf. Most marine creatures live in coastal habitat, although it only makes up seven percent of the ocean.

Coastal habitats include intertidal zones (constantly exposed and covered by the ocean’s tides). These include:

Rocky shore, mangrove, mudflats, estuaries, kelp forest, sea grass, sandy shores/beach and coral reefs – see below for more about these.

 

Open Ocean Habitats

Open Ocean HabitatsOpen ocean habitats are found beyond the continental shelf. This is the deep ocean. Open ocean habitats are divided into layers which include: surface waters, the deep sea, and the ocean floor.

It is estimated that about 10 percent of marine species live in the open ocean. They tend to be the largest and fastest, such as whales and sharks, or fish that swim in schools. Tiny marine life such as plankton also inhabit this zone, which is often referred to as the pelagic zone – this simply means open ocean in Greek.

Food chains can be found in the open ocean: small bait fish eat plankton, bigger fish eat the bait fish, and sharks and some whales eat the bigger fish. Some whale species eat tiny plankton. In fact, the largest creature on earth, the blue whale, eats tiny plankton.

Some animals are able to travel to great depths but also spend much of their time close to the surface. The sperm whale can dive kilometers deep into the ocean, yet spends most of its time near the surface. Water temperatures vary greatly in this zone with the water being warmed by the sun near the surface and very cold deep down.

 

Coral Reef Habitat

Coral reef habitat consists of many single-living organisms (polyps) living together as one large mass. It comes in many different shapes and forms. Coral reefs are responsible for a huge proportion of the earth’s biodiversity with an estimated 25 percent of all marine species living in and around them.

Corals live with algae in a type of relationship called symbiosis. This is where two different species of organism interact or cooperate with each other. The algae, called zooxanthellae, live inside corals where they are protected by the coral’s tough outer shell. In return, the algae provide food for their host that they produce by the process of photosynthesis. Zooxanthellae is also responsible for the striking colours we often see in corals. Without these algae, corals become transparent, exposing their white skeleton. This is known as coral bleaching.

Coral reefs provide protection and are home to millions of marine creatures (as well as algae). They also act as nurseries for juvenile creatures and act as a barrier protecting land foreshores (the coastline), seagrass and other marine vegetation. So, in effect, they protect our home (habitat) too!

Coral is an essential part of the food chain and ecosystems, without it marine animals would perish – from sharks right down to the smallest algae.

Human Impact on Coral Reef Habitat

In order to thrive and support a healthy ecosystem, coral reef requires a moderate ocean temperature and clean water. Climate change is resulting in ocean temperatures rising and in many regions, the ocean is polluted. This is worrying scientists and citizens around the world. We can all play a part in helping to protect our oceans by doing simple things such as disposing of plastics carefully. Click here to find out how else you can help the ocean.

 

Mangrove Habitat

Mangroves are tough trees and shrubs that live in the coastal intertidal zone where they are able to survive in salty water. mangrove habitat They form extremely important habitats, providing protection for millions of marine animals as well as filtering and cleaning the water and the air, and protecting land from erosion.

Here are just a few of the benefits of mangrove habitat:

-Stabilize the coastline
-Protect water and air quality
-Reduce coastal flooding
-Provide habitat for fish
-Protect wildlife species
-Protect young fish from predators
-Serve as a nesting area for birds
-Protect species that humans rely on as a food source. It is estimated that 75% of commercial food caught has a direct link to mangroves!

Animals Commonly Found in Mangroves in Australia

Mud crabs, prawns, fiddler crabs, mangrove snails, molluscs and many species of fish, most common being the Mangrove Jack, Bream, Moses Perch, Whiting, Mullet & Flathead.

Wading birds: herons, pelicans, cormorants, curlews & egrets,

 

Rocky Shore Habitat

The rocky shore habitat comprises many microenvironments and ecosystems providing safe living habitat for a large diversity of rocky shore habitat animals, including:

Molluscs: Oysters, limpets, chitons, barnacles, crustaceans: crabs, prawns, lobsters, echinoderms: sea Stars, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, many species of fish and some dangerous animals such as the blue-ringed octopus and the cone shell!

The rocky shore also acts as a nursery, protecting juvenile animals and enabling them to grow before venturing out to deeper, less protective areas of the ocean.

The food chain system of rocky shore environments can be divided into three groups: the producers, the grazers and the scavengers/predators.

Producers include algae and plankton which both produce energy through photosynthesis. They are at the bottom of the food chain. The grazers feed on the producers and include creatures such as mussels, limpets and sea cucumbers. Sea cucumbers are also scavengers as they sweep the sea floor for food, picking up small particles of both producers and grazers as they go. Crabs, fish, turtles, and even some species of shark, eat sea cucumbers – these are all examples of predators.

 

Sandy Beach Habitat

There are two main types of sand:

Mineral sand – weathered mineral rock)

Carbonate sand – weathered down rocks containing calcium from parts of sandy beach animals (eg. sea stars, coral fragments, bones of dolphins, whales & dugongs, sea urchins, crustacean & mollusc shells, fish & shark teeth).

Sandy Beach is an important food zone linking the ocean to the land. Many small creatures live in this habitat, including worms and millions of microorganisms. Sandy Beach is also an important habitat for turtles to nest in and home to mammals such as rats and reptiles like snakes and lizards.

This zone provides a buffer zone, protecting land vegetation from ocean movement, wind and rain. Gentle tides may deposit sand onto beaches, while strong water movement, such as a storm, may erode sand from beaches. This means that beaches are changing all the time.

 

Seagrass Habitat

Seagrass is mainly found growing from mud or rock in bays, estuaries and coastal waters, and reaches a depth of up to 60 metres. it is the only flowering plant in the world that can live underwater. People often confuse sea grass with seaweed but seagrasses have roots, stems and leaves and produce flowers, fruits and seeds – seaweed does not!

Seagrass is an important food source for large animals like turtles and dugongs as well as smaller creatures such as sea urchins and fish. It traps food to feed on and algae grow on its surface, providing food for water birds, molluscs and other dwellers. So, seagrass is an important energy pathway, supporting the food web in many ways.

Seagrass also acts as protection for juvenile animals that seek shelter in it.

Seagrass Habitat

Copyright: Wildlife Conservation Society

Queensland’s Marine Habitats

Habitats ReefQueensland’s stunning coastline comprises a wide range of marine habitats. These include sandy and rocky shores, mangroves, and coral reefs; with the largest reef of all, The Great Barrier Reef, located just off Queensland’s coast.

For more information on Queensland’s marine habitats, check out Ocean Life Education’s NEW Habitats video presented by our owner and Senior Marine Biologist, Richard Coward. Habitats video

To book a Habitats-themed incursion at your school of centre, go to our website:

Download FREE printable HABITATS FACT SHEETS

Primary programs & resources

 

Further Reading

Coral Bleaching

‘Deep Blue’ for Science Week 2020

What an exciting opportunity we have this year with Science Week.  The theme for the yearly program is dedicated to something Ocean Life Education is extremely passionate about.

Deep Blue: innovations for the future of our oceans

In case you’re wondering what exactly that means, don’t be shy – read on.

Science Week is celebrated throughout Australia annually, this year falling upon the 15 – 23 August.  It is a way to embrace science and technology, whether you are a school student, a builder or a scientist – all are invited to jump in and get involved by taking part in over 1000 scientific events held nationally. Science Week is for everyone, and each of the activities are designed to address and excite all ages. But what is the end goal for such programs and interactive activities?

Here at Ocean Life Education, we endeavour to enhance and spark interest in scientific pursuits for the future.

Science week has delivered a powerful format this year and we are looking forward to joining the celebration by offering a program discussing advancing innovations such as aquaculture and clean energy.

The Australian Science Teachers Association has a great resource book of ideas.

Here’s a look at what this year’s theme will be covering …

Aquaculture is the controlled process of cultivating aquatic organisms, especially for human consumption. With billions of mouths to feed in our ever-populating world, the earth’s wild fish and marine life, cannot possibly sustain us, therefore it’s vital to research viable aquaculture systems.

Water is a very powerful element.  Investigating how we can harness the power of our oceans to generate electricity is a vital step to attaining clean energy as a solution for reducing our impact on climate change and eliminate carbon pollution. Although the use of water to generate electricity is not new; we are now looking to the power of seawater to do the same.

What we need is brilliant young minds to come up with engineering solutions to make this possible and affordable. Will that be you?

Get in touch

info@oceanlifeeducation.com.au

07 5443 8545

School’s in for Marine Life Lovers

Education Innovator Sir Ken Robinson recently noted: “A great teacher obviously knows their material, but the real skill is engaging them in the material, getting them excited and curious, and firing up their imaginations.”

And that’s where we come in!

Ocean Life Education delivers fun marine education incursions, where students are given the opportunity to interact with a variety of live marine creatures.

Our programs are all closely aligned with the Australian National Curriculum, delivering lessons across a broad range of topics including animal habitats, adaptations and classification.

Through carefully controlled contact, children learn why animals’ look and feel the way they do, how their bodies function, what their individual roles are in their environment and therefore why we need to look after them.

Responding to interactive learning

We understand all children are different and absorb information in different ways.

As passionate educators ourselves, the staff at Ocean Life Education value the importance of connecting students with their subject and showing them that science is a living, breathing part of their world.

Children respond extremely well to having real animals at their fingertips – this one-on-one experience provides a greater depth of understanding which leads to the desire to protect them.

Choose a program that suits current unit themes

What better way to understand Life Cycles, than to see one of our baby sharks at close quarters and observe the eggs they hatched from and note the often significant differences from their adult version?

We will tailor our programs to your classrooms’ current unit theme for all levels of school learning.

Leaders in environmental education

Ocean Life Education is proud to be involved in educating tomorrow’s leaders in environmental awareness and protection.

Our hope is to imprint in every Australian a sense of ownership and protectiveness of our marine environment, and together we will lead the world in the changes necessary for a healthy planet.

What to expect:

  • Linked to the Australian National Curriculum
  • Qualified and experienced Marine Educators
  • Live Marine Animal Interaction Blue linckia seastars, thorny seastars, black sea cucumber, tropical sea cucumber, sea urchins, fresh water turtle and baby bamboo shark 
  • Shark jaws, shells and fascinating artefacts in activity area
  • FREE colourful bookmark to take home!
  • FREE risk assessment
  • FREE coming to visit poster
  • FREE thorough supporting information, videos and blogs

What teachers think:

“ONE OF THE BEST INCURSIONS I HAVE EVER SEEN – KEEN, INTERESTING PRESENTERS WHO ARE TRULY PASSIONATE ABOUT THEIR SUBJECT!” Jasmine Molineux, Patricks Road State School, (Year 2) 2018

For more information, visit our School Programs page or Contact Us to request a program outline for your year level.

 

Ocean to Outback – Sights, Sounds and Smells of the Sea Go Bush

Considering they’re very basic creatures, sea stars have some pretty amazing abilities (like regrowing their own leg if they lose one!) but they don’t normally travel hundreds of kilometres inland… until now.

With a little assistance from Ocean Life Education, our Blue Linckia’s, along with the rest of our marine life menagerie, have temporarily migrated away from the coast to help students who rarely get to see the sea understand more about the challenges these animals face.

In a road trip lasting 3 days and covering close to 500 kilometres, Ocean Life Education is making sure children in Blackbutt, Nanango and Kingaroy don’t miss out on the chance to touch and learn about our wonderful animal ambassadors.

The Ocean to Outback initiative is supported by the State Government through its Advance Queensland Engaging Science Grant.

Why go to such extreme lengths to facilitate these encounters?  Oceans cover almost three quarters of our planet and produce more than half of the oxygen on earth while absorbing harmful carbon dioxide.

Ocean currents also move such a large body water between the equator and poles, they help to regulate the global climate which impacts all of us – even those that live well beyond the shoreline.  Keeping the oceans healthy is in everyone’s best interest.

But travelling with a crew of sea stars, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, hermit crabs and a shark is not without its challenges as water quality and oxygen levels are vital to their survival, especially in the hostile bush environment.

One thousand litres of salt water have been transported along with the animals to ensure they are stress free on their little adventure.

But all the planning, all the logistics have been worth it just to see the excitement on the faces of a whole new batch of ocean lovers, who may rarely hear the waves crash or smell the salt in the air but know the importance of caring about the underwater world – even this far from the coast.