Animal biomass of the total biomass of the ocean. Biological resources of the world's oceans are the total biomass of the world. Mineral and natural resources

The world ocean occupies more than 2/3 of the planet's surface. Physical properties And chemical composition ocean water provides a favorable environment for life. Just as on land, in the ocean, the density of life in the equatorial zone is highest and decreases with distance from it.

Compound

IN top layer, at a depth of up to 100 m, unicellular algae that make up plankton live. The total primary productivity of phytoplankton in the World Ocean is 50 billion tons per year (about 1/3 of the entire primary productivity of the biosphere).

Almost all food chains in the ocean begin with phytoplankton, which feed on zooplankton animals (such as crustaceans). Crustaceans serve as food for many species of fish and baleen whales. Fish are eaten by birds. Large algae grow mainly in the coastal part of the oceans and seas. The highest concentration of life is in coral reefs.

The ocean is much poorer life, than land: the biomass of the world's oceans is 1000 times less. Most of the biomass formed - single-celled algae and other inhabitants of the ocean - die off , fall to the bottom and their organic matter is destroyed decomposers . Only about 0.01% of the primary productivity of the oceans comes through long chain trophic levels to humans in the form of food and chemical energy.

At the bottom of the ocean, as a result of the vital activity of organisms, sedimentary rocks are formed: chalk, limestone, diatomite and others.

Chemical functions of living matter

Vernadsky noted that earth's surface there is no chemical force more constantly active, and therefore more powerful in its final effects, than living organisms taken as a whole. Living matter performs the following chemical functions: gas, concentration, redox and biochemical.

redox

This function is expressed in the oxidation of substances in the process of vital activity of organisms. Salts and oxides are formed in the soil and hydrosphere. The activity of bacteria is associated with the formation of limestone, iron, manganese and copper ores etc.

gas function

It is carried out by green plants in the process of photosynthesis, replenishing the atmosphere with oxygen, as well as by all plants and animals that emit carbon dioxide during respiration. The nitrogen cycle is associated with the activity of bacteria.

concentration

Associated with accumulation in living matter chemical elements(carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, calcium, potassium, silicon, phosphorus, magnesium, sulfur, chlorine, sodium, aluminum, iron).

Some species are specific concentrators of certain elements: a number of seaweeds - iodine, buttercups - lithium, duckweed - radium, diatoms and cereals - silicon, molluscs and crustaceans - copper, vertebrates - iron, bacteria - manganese.

Biochemical function

This function is carried out in the process of metabolism in living organisms (nutrition, respiration, excretion), as well as the destruction, destruction of dead organisms and their metabolic products. These processes lead to the circulation of substances in nature, the biogenic migration of atoms.

These resources need to be considered comprehensively, as they include:

biological resources the oceans;

Mineral resources of the seabed;

Energy resources of the world's oceans;

sea ​​water resources.

Biological resources of the oceans - these are plants (algae) and animals (fish, mammals, crustaceans, mollusks). The total amount of biomass in the World Ocean is 35 billion tons, of which 0.5 billion tons are fish alone. Fish make up about 90% of the commercial fish caught in the ocean. Thanks to fish, mollusks and crustaceans, humanity provides itself with 20% of animal proteins. Ocean biomass is also used for energy-rich fodder meal for animal husbandry.

More than 90% of the global catch of fish and non-fish species comes from the shelf zone. The largest part of the world catch is caught in the waters of the temperate and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. Of the oceans, the Pacific Ocean provides the largest catch. Of the seas of the World Ocean, the most productive are the Norwegian, Bering, Okhotsk, and Japanese seas.

In recent years, the cultivation of certain species of organisms on artificially created marine plantations has become increasingly widespread in the world. These fisheries are called mariculture. Its development takes place in Japan and China (pearl oysters), the USA (oysters and mussels), France and Australia (oysters), the Mediterranean countries of Europe (mussels). In Russia, in the seas of the Far East, they grow seaweed (kelp) and sea scallops.

The state of stocks of aquatic biological resources, their effective management is becoming increasingly important both for providing the population with high-quality food products and for supplying raw materials for many industries and agriculture (in particular, poultry farming). Available information indicates an increasing pressure on the world's oceans. At the same time, due to severe pollution, the biological productivity of the World Ocean has sharply decreased. In 198…. gg. leading scientists predicted that by 2025 the world fisheries production will reach 230-250 million tons, including 60-70 million tons due to aquaculture. the situation has changed: forecasts of marine catches for 2025 have decreased to 125-130 million tons, while forecasts for the volume of fish production due to aquaculture have increased to 80-90 million tons. fish products. While noting the need to provide food for present and future generations, the significant contribution of fisheries to the income, welfare and food security of all nations and its particular importance for some low-income and food-deficit countries should be recognized. Realizing the responsibility of the living population for the conservation of biological resources for future generations, in December 1995, 95 states in Japan, including Russia, adopted the Kyoto Declaration and Action Plan on the sustainable contribution of fisheries to food security. It was suggested that policy, strategy and resource use for the sustainable development of the fisheries sector be based on the following main points:

Preservation of ecological systems;

Use of reliable scientific data;

Improving socio-economic well-being;

Equity in the distribution of resources within and between generations.

The Russian Federation, along with other countries, has committed itself to be guided by the following specific principles in the development of the national fisheries strategy:

Recognition and evaluation important role that marine, inland fisheries and aquaculture play in world food security, both through food security and economic well-being;

Effective implementation of the provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the UN Agreement on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks, the Agreement to Facilitate the Implementation of International Measures for the Conservation and Management of Fishing Vessels on the High Seas and the FAO Code for Responsible Fisheries, and to harmonize its national legislation with these documents

Development and strengthening scientific research as a fundamental basis for the sustainable development of fisheries and aquaculture to ensure food security, as well as providing scientific and technical assistance and support to countries with little research capacity;

Evaluate the productivity of stocks in waters under national jurisdiction, both inland and offshore, bring fishing capacity in these waters to a level comparable to the long-term productivity of stocks, and take appropriate measures in a timely manner to restore overfished stocks to a sustainable state, as well as cooperate in accordance with international law to take similar measures with respect to stocks found on the high seas;

Conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity and its components in the aquatic environment, and in particular the prevention of practices leading to irreversible changes, such as the destruction of species by genetic erosion or large-scale habitat destruction;

Promote the development of mariculture and aquaculture in coastal marine and inland waters by establishing appropriate legal mechanisms, coordinating the use of land and water with other activities, using the best and most appropriate genetic material in accordance with the requirements for the conservation and sustainable use of the environment and the conservation of biological diversity, application of assessment of the consequences of the social plan and the impact on the environment.

Mineral resources of the oceans are solid, liquid and gaseous minerals. Distinguish between the resources of the shelf zone and the resources of the deep seabed.

First place among offshore resources belongs to oil and gas. The main oil production areas are the Persian, Mexican, Guinean Gulf, the coast of Venezuela, the North Sea. There are offshore oil and gas regions in the Bering and Okhotsk Seas. The total number of oil and gas bearing basins explored in the sedimentary strata of the oceanic shelf exceeds 30. Most of them are continuations of land basins. The total oil reserves on the shelf are estimated at 120-150 billion tons.

Among the solid minerals of the shelf zone, three groups can be distinguished:

primary deposits of ores of iron, copper, nickel, tin, mercury, etc.;

coastal-marine placers;

phosphorite deposits in the deeper parts of the shelf and on the continental slope.

Primary deposits ores of metals are developed with the help of workings laid from the coast or from the islands. Sometimes such workings go under the seabed at a distance of 10-20 km from the coast. Iron ore (off the coast of Kyushu, in Hudson Bay), coal (Japan, Great Britain), and sulfur (USA) are mined from underwater bowels.

IN coastal-marine placers contains zirconium, gold, platinum, diamonds. Examples of such developments include diamond mining off the coast of Namibia; zirconium and gold off the US coast; amber - on the shores of the Baltic Sea.

Phosphorite deposits have been explored primarily in the Pacific Ocean, but so far their industrial development has not been carried out anywhere.

Main wealth deep sea ocean floor - ferromanganese nodules. It has been established that concretions are found in the upper layer of deep-sea sediments at a depth of 1 to 3 km, and at a depth of more than 4 km they often form a continuous layer. The total reserves of nodules amount to trillions of tons. In addition to iron and manganese, they contain nickel, cobalt, copper, titanium, molybdenum and other elements (more than 20). The largest number of nodules was found in the central and eastern parts Pacific Ocean. In the United States, Japan and Germany, technologies have already been developed for extracting nodules from the ocean floor.

In addition to iron-manganese nodules on the ocean floor, there are also iron-manganese crusts covering rocks in the areas of mid-ocean ridges at a depth of 1-3 km. They contain more manganese than concretions.

Energetic resources - fundamentally available mechanical and thermal energy of the World Ocean, from which it is used mainly tidal energy. Tidal power plants are available in France at the mouth of the Rane River, in Russia, the Kislogubskaya TPP at Kola Peninsula. Projects for the use of wave and current energy. France, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Argentina, USA, Russia have the greatest resources of tidal energy. The height of the tide in these countries reaches 10-15 m.

Sea water is also a resource of the oceans. It contains about 75 chemical elements. About … /… are extracted from the waters of the seas. world's mined table salt, 60% magnesium, 90% bromine and potassium. The waters of the seas in a number of countries are used for industrial desalination. The largest producers of fresh water are Kuwait, USA, Japan.

With intensive use of the resources of the World Ocean, it is polluted as a result of the discharge of industrial, agricultural, household and other waste into rivers and seas, shipping, and mining. A particular threat is oil pollution and the burial of toxic substances and radioactive waste in the deep parts of the ocean. The problems of the World Ocean are the problems of the future of human civilization. They require concerted international action to coordinate the use of its resources and prevent further pollution.

Deep-water basins and deep-sea trenches have the minimum biomass. Due to the difficult water exchange, stagnant areas arise here, and nutrients contained in minimal quantities.

From equatorial zone to polar species diversity of life is reduced by 20 - 40 times, but the total biomass increases by about 50 times. More cold-water organisms are more prolific, fatter. Two or three species account for 80 - 90% of the plankton biomass.

The tropical parts of the World Ocean are unproductive, although the species diversity in plankton and benthos is very high. On a planet scale tropical zone The World Ocean is most likely a museum, not a fodder sector.

The meridional symmetry with respect to the plane passing through the middle of the oceans is manifested in the fact that the central zones of the oceans are occupied by a special pelagic biocenosis; to the west and east towards the coast are neritic zones of thickening of life. Here, the biomass of plankton is hundreds, and benthos is thousands of times greater than in central zone. Meridional symmetry is broken by the action of currents and "upwelling".

The potential of the world's oceans

The oceans are the most extensive biotope on the planet. However, according to species diversity it is significantly inferior to land: only 180 thousand species of animals and about 20 thousand plant species. It should be remembered that out of 66 classes of free-living organisms, only four classes of vertebrates (amphibians, reptiles, birds, etc.) and four classes of arthropods (primary tracheal, arachnids, centipedes, and insects) developed outside the sea.

The total biomass of organisms in the World Ocean reaches 36 billion tons, and the primary productivity (mainly due to unicellular algae) - hundreds of billions of tons of organic matter per year.

Food shortage: food makes us turn to the oceans. In the last 20 years, the fishing fleet has increased significantly and the means of fishing have improved. Catch gains reached 1.5 million tons per year. In 2009, the catch exceeded 70 million tons. Extracted (in million tons): sea ​​fish 53.37, passing fish 3.1, freshwater fish 8.79, molluscs 3.22, crustaceans 1.68, other animals 0.12, plants 0.92.

In 2008, 13 million tons of anchovy were caught. However, in subsequent years, anchovy catches decreased to 3-4 million tons per year. The world catch in 2010 already amounted to 59.3 million tons, including 52.3 million tons of fish. Of the total production in 1975, it was caught (in million tons): out of 30.4, 25.8, 3.1. The main part of the production of 2010 - 36.5 million tons was caught from the northern seas. The catch in the Atlantic increased sharply, Japanese tuna fish appeared here. It's time to regulate the scale of fishing. The first step has already been taken - a two-hundred-mile territorial zone has been introduced.

It is believed that the increased power of technical means of fishing threatens the biological resources of the oceans. Indeed, bottom trawls spoil fish pastures. Coastal areas are also more intensively developed, accounting for 90 percent of the catch. However, the concern that the limit of the natural productivity of the World Ocean has been reached is groundless. Since the second half of the 20th century, at least 21 million tons of fish and other products have been harvested annually, which was then considered the biological limit. However, judging by the calculations, up to 100 million tons can be extracted from the oceans.

Nevertheless, it should be remembered that by 2030, even with the development of pelagic zones, the problem of the supply of marine products will not be solved. In addition, some pelagic fish (notothenia, whiting, blue whiting, grenadier, argentina, hake, zuban, icefish, sablefish) can already be included in the Red Book. Apparently, it is necessary to reorient in the field of nutrition, to more widely introduce krill biomass into products, the reserves of which are huge in Antarctic waters. There is experience of this kind: shrimp oil, Ocean paste, Coral cheese with a significant addition of krill are on sale. And, of course, we need to move more actively to the "sedentary" production of fish products, from fishing to ocean farming. In Japan, it has long been grown on marine farms fish and shellfish (over 500 thousand tons per year), and in the United States per year 350 thousand tons of shellfish. In Russia, a planned economy is being conducted on the marine farms of Primorye, the Baltic, Black and Seas of Azov. Experiments are being carried out in the Dalnie Zelentsy bay on the Barents Sea.

can be especially productive inland seas. So, in Russia, the White Sea is intended for the regulated cultivation of fish by nature itself. Here, the experience of factory breeding of salmon and pink salmon, valuable migratory fish, was set. The possibilities just aren't exhausted.

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Total biomass and ocean population production

It is known that highly productive areas in the World Ocean occupy only 20% of its water area, since here, in contrast to land, there are much more limiting factors and, accordingly, the water area of ​​unproductive zones is larger. So phytobenthos occupies only 1% of the total area of ​​the ocean floor, zoobenthos - 6-8%, and the area of ​​​​the main fishing areas occupies only about 2% of the entire water area of ​​the World Ocean.

It is very characteristic that there are significant differences in the course of the bioproduction process in the ocean and on land. The fact is that on land, the biomass of plants is more than 1000 times higher than the biomass of animals, and in the ocean, on the contrary, the zoomass is 19 times higher than the phytomass. The fact is that sea ​​water, being an excellent solvent, creates favorable conditions for the reproduction of phytoplankton, which produces several hundred generations per year.

The total biomass of the population of the pelagial of the World Ocean (without microflora - bacteria and protozoa) is estimated at 35-38 billion tons, of which 30-35% are producers (algae) and 65-70% are consumers of various levels. The total annual biological production in the World Ocean is estimated at more than 1300 billion tons, including more than 1200 billion tons from algae and 70-80 billion tons from animals.

One of the most important indicators of the intensity of the biological production process is the ratio of annual production to the average annual biomass (the so-called P/B ratio). This coefficient is the highest in phytoplankton (from 100 to 200), in zooplankton it averages 10-15, in nekton - 0.7, in benthos - 0.5. In general, it decreases from the lower links of the trophic chain to the higher ones.

In table. Table 1 shows average estimates of biomass, annual production, and P/B coefficient values ​​for the main population groups of the World Ocean.

Table 1. Some characteristics of the main populations of the oceans

Population group / Biomass, billion tons / Production, billion tons / P/B-coefficient
1. Producers (total) / 11.5-13.8 / 1240-1250 / 90-110
Including: phytoplankton / 10-12 / over 1200 / 100-200
phytobenthos / 1.5-1.8 / 0.7-0.9 / 0.5
microflora (bacteria and protozoa) - / 40-50 / -
Consumers (total) / 21-24 / 70-80 / 3-5
Zooplankton / 5-6 /60-70 /10-15
Zoobenthos / 10-12 / 5-6 / 0.5
Nekton / 6 / 4 / 0.7
Including: krill / 2.2 / 0.9 / 0.4
squid / 0.28 / 0.8-0.9 / 2.5-3.0
mesopelagic fish / 1.0 / 1.2 / 1.2
other fish / 1.5 / 0.6 / 0.4
Total / 32-38 / 1310-1330 / 34-42

The world ocean occupies a leading position in human life, it contains a large supply of raw materials, fuel, energy and food, without which a person would experience great difficulties in his life. The ocean is also a means of communication between different countries.

Mineral and natural resources

In the ocean, most of the resources are used by oil and gas, and this is 90% of the extracted resources from the world's oceans. According to scientists, the continental shelf up to 50% of the world's oil reserves are concentrated. The development of many oil and gas reserves on land, a significant increase in production costs for the production of these energy sources on land as a result of a continuous increase in well depths (4-7 km), the movement of developments to extreme areas - led to the fact that in Lately the development of oil and gas fields on the shelf has intensified. Already now the shelf zones provide more than 1/3 of the world oil production. The main offshore zones for oil and gas production are located in Persian Gulf, the North Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, in the southern part of California in the USA, the Gulf of Maracaibo in Venezuela, etc.

Huge mineral resources are also concentrated at the bottom of the World Ocean, primarily huge reserves of iron-manganese nodules. The most extensive area of ​​their distribution is at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean (16 million km2, which is equal to the area of ​​Russia). The total reserves of iron-manganese nodules are estimated at 2-3 tril. tons, of which 0.5 tril. t. are available for development now. These concretions, in addition to iron and manganese, also contain nickel, cobalt, copper, titanium, molybdenum and other metals. The first attempts to exploit iron-manganese nodules have already been made in the USA, Japan, France, etc.

biological resources

Since ancient times, the population living on sea ​​coast, used some marine products (fish, crabs, shellfish, sea kale) as food. All these gifts of the sea, along with the animals living in the ocean, constitute another important group of resources of the World Ocean - biological. The biological mass of the World Ocean includes 140 thousand species of plants and animals and is estimated at 35 billion tons. This amount of ocean biological resources can satisfy the food needs of a population of more than 30 billion people. (less than 6 billion people currently live on the planet).

From total biological resources, the share of fish accounts for 0.2 - 0.5 billion tons, which currently accounts for 85% of biological resources used by humans. The rest is crabs, shellfish, some marine animals and algae. Every year, 70-75 million tons of fish, mollusks, crabs, algae are extracted from the ocean, which provide 20% of the consumption of animal proteins by the Earth's population.

In the World Ocean, as well as on land, there are areas or zones with high productivity of biological mass and areas with low productivity or completely devoid of biological resources.

90% fishing and algae collection takes place in a more illuminated and warmer shelf zone, where the main part of organic world ocean. About 2/3 of the surface of the ocean floor is occupied by "deserts", where living organisms are distributed in limited numbers. Due to the intensification of fishing and the use of the most modern fishing gear, the possibility of reproduction of many species of fish, marine animals, mollusks and crabs is threatened. As a result, the productivity of many areas of the World Ocean, which until recently were distinguished by the richness and diversity of biological resources, is declining. This led to a change in the relationship of man to the ocean and to the regulation of fisheries on a global scale.

In recent decades, in many countries of the world, mariculture has become widespread ( artificial breeding fish, shellfish). In some of them, for example, in Japan, this craft was practiced long before our era. Currently, there are oyster plantations and fish farms in Japan, the USA, China, Holland, France, Russia, Australia, etc.

Sea water is a great wealth of the oceans. Russian scientist A.E. Fersman called sea water the most important mineral on Earth. The total volume of the World Ocean is 1370 million km3, which is 94% of the volume of the hydrosphere. Salt sea water contains 70 chemical elements. In the longer term, sea water will serve not only as a source of many industrial raw materials, but also for irrigation and supply of the population drinking water, as a result of the construction of water desalination facilities. Sea water is already being used for these purposes, but on a modest scale.

The oceans also have huge energy resources. First, we are talking about the energy of the ebb and flow, the use of which has achieved some success already in the twentieth century. The global potential for such energy is estimated at 26 trillion annually. kw. h., which is twice the current level of electricity production in the world. However, only a small part of this amount can be mastered, based on modern technical capabilities. But even this amount is equal to the annual electricity generation in France. Rich experience in mastering the energy of ebbs and flows has been accumulated in France, where, in the ninth century, mills were built on the Brittany peninsula that worked on this energy source. France also built the world's first and largest tidal power plant at the mouth of the Rance River on the Brittany Peninsula, with a capacity of 240,000 kW. Experimental tidal power plants of a more modest capacity have been built in Russia on the Kola Peninsula, in China, North Korea, Canada, etc.

The prospects for the development of tidal energy are very high, and grandiose projects in this area are being developed in many countries. For example, in France it is planned to build a tidal power plant with a capacity of 12 million kW. Similar projects have been developed in Great Britain, Argentina, Brazil, USA, India, etc.