What Is Continental Shelf Ecosystems

The continental margin between the continental shelf and the abyssal plain comprises a steep continental slope.

What is continental shelf ecosystems.

Since 2003 the united states extended continental shelf project has been working to determine the geographical end of america s continental shelf past the 200 nautical miles outlined in the legal boundary. This site describes our current understanding of ecosystem properties of the northeast u s. Trophic cascades are most common and clearly evident in low diversity benthic marine ecosystems 8 9 whereas top down consumer driven effects in benthic food webs are widely accepted their application to large pelagic marine ecosystems is more contentious. Continental shelf ecosystem microscopic single celled algae known as phytoplankton are responsible for nearly all primary production globally primary producers generate almost half of earth s oxygen and are the base of most marine food webs.

A continental shelf extends from the coastline of a continent to a drop off point called the shelf break from the break the shelf descends toward the deep ocean floor in what is called the continental slope. In the northeast u s. This effort is being made in order acquire more knowledge on the shelf in order to not only increase the nation s economic growth but to also make more. Even though they are underwater continental shelves are.

An ecosystem can be categorized into its abiotic constituents including minerals climate soil water and sunlight and its biotic constituents consisting of all living members. This article describes the habitat of the continental shelf. Much of these shelves has been exposed during glacial periods and interglacial periods the shelf surrounding an island is known as an insular shelf. Continental margin environments including estuarine salt marsh mangrove forest coral reef continental shelf and continental slope ecosystems are the interface zone between oceanic and terrestrial realms with gateways also to the atmosphere and solid earth sediment reservoirs.

A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water known as a shelf sea. Almost all life on earth relies on photosynthetic organisms such as plants and algae. Ecosystem the complex of living organisms their physical environment and all their interrelationships in a particular unit of space. Effects of pollution and overfishing are devastating to the point of near extinction for some animals and loss of wetlands according to proceedings of the national academy of sciences pnas.

Continental shelf large marine ecosystem nes lme and their importance in developing ecosystem based fisheries management for this region. Transports between these carbon reservoirs exert critical.