Andrew Koenig

Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Toro-Farmer, Gerardo

Area of Concentration

Marine Biology with Deep Sea Biology

Abstract

The deep sea is the largest ecosystem on Earth. The deep-seafloor covers about 60% of the Earth’s solid surface. The size alone is enough to emphasize its importance to the ocean and the entire Earth. This thesis aims to explore and showcase the deep sea and all it has to offer from the physical environment, the animals that survive there, and the processes in which they thrive. Though this is covering many topics related to deep-sea biology, it is not entirely comprehensive, as that is out of the realistic scope of this thesis. The reader is encouraged to use this as a base for understanding the deep sea and its processes. Many of the topics regarding deep-sea biology are intertwined. Thus, it becomes difficult to organize them all into one coherent document. Therefore, this is broken down into different chapters, the first chapter covers the physical environment. This includes major habitats and energy sources in the deep sea. The second chapter focuses on physical and biochemical processes that happen both in the water and in the animals themselves. Chapter three focuses much more on the animal's morphologies, physiologies, and behaviors. With the foundational information in each chapter, it becomes possible to understand the mode of life in the deep sea and how it interconnects with the surrounding ecosystems, and even the whole Earth.

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