krill

krill larvae is a type of zooplankton that lives the coral reef. krill is like a miniature shrimp that look very much alike. these small animals dont do much, they float around and hope that they can get to adulthood

Diatoms

Diatoms are the most common type of phytoplakton and make up a major part of the the algae. Most diatoms are unicellular but they can also exist in colonies that are in the form of ribbons. A feature that diatoms have is they have a cell wall that is made out of silica.

Hi my name is Andy and I am researching Phytoplakton.

Starfish

I will be focusing my research on starfish that live in coral reefs. One interesting type of starfish is the crown-of-thorns starfish. Its population has recently expanded which has harmed coral reefs throughout the Indo-Pacific. It is a very unusual organism. It grows to be about 40cm in diameter and can have from 8 to 21 arms. It is covered in poisonous spines, and its color patterns can be a wide range of possibilities. It is a threat to coral reefs because it consumes the living tissue of corals and leaves behind only the bleached skeleton. These starfish come from deeper waters and move to coral reefs in order to feed. When they are done they leave as quickly as they came leaving only the dead reef behind.

For a more extensive report on this type of starfish please visit http://www.eoearth.org/article/Crown-of-thorn_sea_star?topic=49513

References:

Sheppard, Charles, Simon K. Davy, and Graham M. Pilling. The Biology of Coral Reefs. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009. Print.

Coral Reefs are like the rainforest's of the ocean. They are homes for thousands of different marine species. More species of life occur in coral reefs than any other marine environment. Coral Reefs are not only an important aspect of marine life but also for human needs. They are a source of tourism as well as a main source of protein for millions of people in tropical countries.

Hi my name is Jay and I am extremely excited to be writing about vertebrates in the Coral Reef ecosystem.

hi my name is Jake. I am a freshman criminal justice major from Hammonton, New Jersey and I will be researching zooplankton.

2/13/2011

Hi, my name is Tom and i will be researching invertebrate that live in the coral reef ecosystem.

Norwich GL111 Term Project Introductions

As part of our Introduction to Oceanography class this Spring 2011 semester at Norwich University, our group will be researching and presenting on plants and animals that live in an ecosystem called a 'Coral Reef'.

We have four group members:
Tom, Jay, Jake, and Andy

Each member of our group will be reporting on a different marine organism that lives in the coral reef ecosystem. One will be a zooplankton, one a phytoplankton, one a marine invertebrate, and one a marine vertebrate.

As part of an integrated approach, we will be researching how our organisms interact with the other aspects of the ocean system (geological, physical, and chemical).