Transcript Red Tides
Plankton Ocean wonders • • • • Drift or swim weakly Go where ocean current goes Can NOT move against waves or currents Common feature: Can NOT move laterally but can and do move vertically Phytoplankton • Autotrophic plankton that generates glucose from photosynthesis • Found in euphotic zone (sunlit surface layer) • Very critical – Great contribution to food web and involvement in photosynthesis (at least 40% of the food made by photosynthesis on entire Earth) • Very small Types of Phytoplankton- Diatoms • Most productive photosynthetic and dominant organisms • More than 5,600 species exist • The larger are barely visible to unaided eye • Most are round Diatoms Types of PhytoplanktonDinoflagallates • • • • Single celled autotrophs Most have 2 flagella Bioluminescent “Red tides” “Harmful algal bloom” Dinoflagellates Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB) • High concentrations of phytoplankton adversely affect nearby organisms • Factors: warm water temperatures, reduced salinity, gently onshore winds • Potent toxins • http://video.foxnews.com/v/1189513732001/ red-tide-illuminates-california-coastline Types of PhytoplanktonCoccolithophores • Small, single celled autotrophs • Covered in calcium carbonate disks • Live near the surface Factors that limit productivity • Availability of nutrients • Availability of light Compensation Depth • Depth where respiration equals photosynthesis Distribution • Tropics- deficient in nutrients – Away from land- devoid – Reefs- productive, prevalent • Polar- limited productivity • Temperate and subpolar- greatest Zooplankton • Heterotrophic plankton that eat primary producers • Most numerous primary consumers of ocean • Types – Holoplankton- spend whole lives as plankton – Meroplankton- visitors as juevenilles Examples • Copepods- tiny shrimp-like – Most abundant and widely distributed in world • Krill-thumb- sized shrimp like crustacean – Important in Antarctic ecosystem Seaweeds • • • • Blades- resemble leaves Stipes- stemlike structure Holdfast- root- shaped jumble at the base Gas Bladder- assist in reaching the surface Classification of seaweeds • Chlorophyta- green algae • Phaeophyta- brown algae • Rhodophyta- Red algae Chlorophyta • Live at or near the surface • Land plants are thought to have derived from these • 10% of 7000 species are marine Phaeophyta • • • • Nearly all 1500 species are marine Include kelp and some of largest algae Some are annuals some live up to 7 years Most are found in temperate or polar habitats Rhodophyta • Most of the worlds seaweed • Smaller and more complex • Excel in dim light (record depth found at 879 feet) • The deepest grow slowly and live tens or hundred of years old Marine angiosperms • Sea grasses – 45 species – Pollen distributed by moving water • Mangroves – Low muddy coasts – Large flowering plants – Ex Florida Underwater in Mexico • How is this important? • What issues does this posess?