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Catalyst: Waves supply nutrients to marine ecosystems

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A wave breaks in the ocean
Catalyst: Waves supply nutrients to marine ecosystems

SUBJECTS:  Science

YEARS:  7–8, 9–10


Dive through the marine kelp forests off Australia's western coast.

Discover how ocean waves help cycle nutrients to sustain the plants and kelp forests of marine ecosystems.


Things to think about

  1. 1.What do marine plants such as kelp (a type of seaweed) need in order to survive and grow? What role does kelp play in a marine ecosystem?
  2. 2.Presenter Ruben Meerman names two examples of nutrients that are vital to kelp. What are they? The video shows researchers collecting data on the dissolved nutrients. How do they do it?
  3. 3.What role do waves and currents have in sustaining marine life? Plant-eating sea snails eat kelp. What other animals feed on it? Draw a food chain or food web to show the flow of energy in a marine ecosystem. What might happen if the nutrient levels drop?
  4. 4.Find out more about nutrients dissolved in ocean waters. How do these nutrients get there? How do plants use these nutrients? What happens if there is an over-abundance of nutrients?



Date of broadcast: 25 Mar 2010


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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