Table of Contents
Basic Idea About Benthic Zone:
The bottom of the ocean where sedimentary layers form the floor and sunlight are not able to reach are known as Benthic Zone. Benthic zones start from the shore where temperature and pressure is not very much and sunlight also reaches in small amounts but in deep ocean benthic zones pressure and temperature is extreme for most of the living beings and sunlight does not reach here.
The benthic zone is useful for recycling the nutrients because organic material decays at the benthic zone by the activity of different organisms present in the benthic zone.
Benthic Zone and Its Characteristics:
Light Availability in Benthic Zone:
Intensity and availability of light decreases with the increase in deepness in ocean and due to this reason other factors which are dependent on light like temperature vary with the depth of ocean in benthic zone.
At the depth between 250 metres to 1000 metres the intensity of light decreases at a very high rate and this region is known as a disphotic zone where photosynthesis occurs in very few amounts.
But after 1000 metres it becomes impossible to reach sunlight so this region of benthic zone is not suitable for photosynthesis and difficult to survive in most of the flora and fauna.
Temperature of Benthic Zone:
Temperature in water bodies and ocean is highly dependent on the availability of sunlight and its intensity and this principle is also applicable for the benthic zone. The area of benthic zone near the shore is mild because moderate amount of sunlight reach at benthic zone of shore region but in case of deep ocean it is impossible to reach the sunlight upto the bottom of deep ocean so there the temperature is very low for sustaining better life for most of the flora and fauna.
Pressure of Benthic Zone:
Pressure in the ocean is proportional to the depth so in the shallow shore area the benthic zone does not have much pressure but in deep ocean the pressure is very high in the benthic zone.
Due to high pressure the amount of dissolved oxygen in water is much higher in the deep ocean benthic zone so the animals present in the deep ocean benthic zone are much larger in size as compared to other regions of ocean.
Who Live in Benthic Zone:
The environmental factors in the deep benthic zone is very extreme which makes this zone impossible for most of the organisms to live there because the temperature is very low and the pressure is very high and food availability is very poor.
So the organisms that live in the benthic zone need to be adapted for very high pressure, very low temperature and the organisms who live in the benthic zone are known as benthos.
Benthos are two types of epifauna who present on the floor of the benthic zone while the infauna are those benthos who live deep in the benthic zone and benthos feed on decaying organic matter because their source of food is very poor.
The benthos help to recycle the nutrients cycle in the ocean by decomposition of dead organic material present on the benthic zone and complete the aquatic food chain.
Nutrient Flow in Benthic Zone:
The detritivores present on the benthic zone are useful for nutrient flow but the organic dead matter present on the benthic zone must be bound to the floor of the benthic zone. The microalgae present in shallow shore regions help to bind the organic material at the floor of the benthic zone by releasing slime.
The microalgae present on shallow shore region can perform photosynthesis by using the sunlight and they release slime which makes a covering on the dead organic material present in benthic zone which cause stabilisation of dissolved oxygen levels and later the slime layer is removed by the detritivore present in benthic zone.
Read More: What is Bergmann’s Rule
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