Hypotheses for the Marine Insects Question:

Why are there so few insects in the ocean?

Hopefully, you have learned about several of the many insects that are exposed to ocean water (if you haven't, go back and take a look at insects and water). Now, we will look at four hypotheses that may explain the scarcity of insects in the ocean. Each hypothesis will explain a potential limiting factor. These aren't the only hypotheses, and you may think of some of your own after looking at those we came up with. Anyway, after visiting each of the four hypotheses, you can look at our conclusions.

Hypotheses
1. The ocean is too salty for insects to tolerate.
2. The ocean is too deep for the larvae to complete their life-cycle.
3. The ocean water contains too little oxygen for insect development.
4. Flowering plants which insects co-evolved with on land have seldom made it back to the ocean.
5. Nutrients needed by insects are limited in the ocean.
6. Insects face competition from crustaceans that have had a 200 million year head start.

 

Conclusions
What we think the answer is!


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