Benthic: Organisms that live on the bottom of the ocean.

Biomass: total number of organism in a particular system.

Causes of ozone depletion: Ozone depleting compounds (ODCs) in the stratosphere, examples are CFCs, halons,HBFCs,CCl₄, C₂H₂Cl₃, and HCl.

Chlorophyll a and Chlorophyll b: Photosynthesis takes place in chlorophyll a. The function of chlorophyll b is to harvest light pigments and transfer energy to the reaction center in chlorophyll a. Absorption of chlorophyll a is used to estimate the phytoplankton biomass in remote sensing

DNA: Large molecules in the cells of organisms that carry genetic informatiom in living organisms.

Electromagnetic Radiation - Term used to describe the entire range of light radiation from gamma rays to radio waves. We tend to think of optical radiation as light but the rainbow of colors that make up optical or visible light is just a tiny part of a much broader range of light energy.

Environmental Issues: All external issues or conditions and influences that affect life or other specified system during its lifetime.

Food chain: . Path of energy tranfer that connects various members of an ecosystem from one organism to another.

Food web: Complex network of many interrelated food chains and feeding relationships.

Global Carbon Cycle: Carbon is essential for life. This is the building block for organic compounds necessary for life. It is found in the atmosphere as CO₂ (.036% of troposphere) for terrestrial producers and dissolved in water for the aquatic

Health Issues: Health problems caused by ozone depletion like skin cancer,cataract and damage to lung tissues.

Light Spectrum - The visible portion of the light spectrum that ranges between 750 - 400 nm.

Living System: referring to the global carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle and the phosphorus cycle.

nanometer: 10^-9 meters

Nitrogen Cycle: Nitrogen is used in production of amino acids, proteins, DNA, and RNA. It is limited in the environment. Even though it makes up 78% of the atmosphere, N2 can not be absorbed in that form. Lightning and bacteria convert N2 into compounds that can be used.

Nutrients Air, water and food necessary for the health and survival of an organism.

Ocean chemistry: The chemicals that are found in the ocean and their interactions with each other.[chemical reactions.]

Ozone depletion: Decrease in the concentration of ozone in the stratosphere.

Plankton: Microscopic, floating organisms in the aquatic systems. They may be phytoplankton or zooplankton.

Phosphorus Cycle: Phosphorus is part of the DNA that carries genetic information , can store chemical energy, and located in fats in cell membranes. In very small amounts in the atmosphere and most of it is in rock formations or in the ocean bottom. Much of the phosphorus flows to the oceans where it can remain for millions of years until a geological process affects the sea floor.

Photosynthesis: Plants( primary producers) of the food chain/web absorb only half of the light energy(photons) and reflect the remaining as chlorophyll fluroresence..Only (plants) primary producers can make their own food.Chlorophyll traps the solar energy and converts it to chemical energy.

Phytoplankton: Microscopic plants that float on surface water in the aquatic systems and are the primary producers of the food chain/web in the ocean. These include algae, diatoms and dinoflagellates.

Spectroscopy: The use of the absorption, emission and scattering electromagnetic radiation by atoms or molecules (or atomic and molecular ions) to qualitatively and quantitatively study substances or its physical properties.

Tetraselmis sp.- green algae used in the experiment.

Ultraviolet radiation (UV): The invisible portion of light spectrum of the sun, with wavelength between 100 and 400 nanometers (nm).

Upwelling: Occurs in regions when warmer surface water moves and brings the cooler benthic nutrients to the surface.

VA,UVB and UVC: Ultraviolet radiation is composed of three segments, UVA (315 - 400) nm, UVB (280 - 315 nm) and UVC (200 - 280 nm). The UVC radiation is the most energetic and most harmful of them. These are filtered by the Earth's stratospheric ozone layer.

Water Cycle: The warmer the atmosphere, the more evaporation of water that takes. The more evaporation that takes place leads to warmer weather, so it is a feedback system that will mean changes in our weather patterns and continue to cause greater temperatures and greater evaporation.

Zooplankton: Microscopic organisms in the aquatic system that feed on the phytoplankton and are part of the food chain/web of the ocean. They are consumers and do not produce their own food.

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