Transcript Marine plants

Marine
Producers
What do Producers “Do for a Living”
Primary Productivity…production
of organic matter by:
1. chemosynthesis- make sugars using H2S
(hydrogen Sulfide) or CH4 (methane)
2. photosynthesis- make sugars using light
Why is this so important?
• Sun’s energy is transformed and available to
other organisms 
• Other organisms need energy for:
– Reproduction
– Feeding
– Metabolism
By-products of Primary Productivity
• Oxygen
–More than ½ of the oxygen we
breathe comes from marine
producers
• Organic material
primary productivity animation
Where does primary productivity
happen?
http://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi/image_archive.cgi?c=CHLOROPHYLL
Requirements for Photosynthesis
• Pigments (chlorophyll),
light, nutrients, and
trace metals
– Light is found in upper
several hundred meters
– Nutrients are found in
deeper waters
– Trace metals are
limiting (not found in
high amounts)
Types of Marine Producers
• Bacteria- Responsible for 30-50 %
of marine primary productivity
• Algae – (protists) groups of
relatively simple living aquatic
organisms that photosynthesize
• Marine plants- ex. sea grasses and
mangroves
Marine Bacteria
• Most abundant orgs on our planet
• 1st photosynthetic orgs may have been
cyanobacteria
• Roles of bacteria
– Photosynthetic *
*Primary
– Chemosynthetic *
productivity
– Decomposer
www.fas.org/irp/imint/docs/rst/Sect20/A12.html
http://www.noc.soton.ac.uk/chess/education/Images/Riftia_Lutz.jpg
www.icm.csic.es/bio/images/mol3.jpg
Types of Algae
•unicellular algae “phytoplankton”
•Single celled
•macroalgae- “seaweed”
•Multicellular
Classification of Phytoplankton
Kingdom…Protista
3 Groups we will focus on…
Diatoms
Dinoflagellates
Coccolithophores
Diatoms- Golden Algae
•Frustule (cell wall) made of silica
•Inhabit cold waters
•Spines and oil droplets
to stay buoyant
Diatoms
•When diatoms die their shell
falls to the ocean bottom
•fossil deposits are
mined and used for
filters and abrasives
(beer, pools& pesticides)
Diatomaceious earth
Dinoflagellates- Fire Algae
•Not all are
autotrophic, some
are heterotrophic
•Flagella for mobility
•crude eye
•some are
bioluminescent
Eye spots for
concentrating
light
Importance of Bioluminescence
in plankton:
•defense
mechanism in
some animals
•Communication
•Attract prey/mates
Coccolithophores
•covered in scales
called coccoliths
•Coccoliths are made
of calcium carbonate
•Important tropical
phytoplankton- they
like areas with low
nutrient content
Coccolithophores- cont
• When these orgs die and settle they
create deposits of chalk
• Role in Carbon cycle- Use carbon
in photosynthesis and to make
coccoliths
• Produce chemical that
triggers cloud formation
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/Coccoliths/bering_sea.html
staffwww.fullcoll.edu/.../coccolithophore.jpg
http://www-ocean.tamu.edu/Quarterdeck/QD5.2/s.apsteinii.html
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/GeolSci/micropal/images/calc/calc038.gif
White Cliffs of Dover
cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=74594&rendTypeId=4
Harmful Algae Blooms
• When nutrients are available or some
physical conditions of the water are good
algae can bloom out of control!!!! (you can
see the blooms from space)
• Eventually nutrients are used up and the
algae die …decomposition uses up
oxygen…can suffocate organisms in that
habitat
http://epod.usra.edu/archive/epodviewer.php3?oid=35104
Example: Red Tides
• Rapid increases of dinoflagellates
• Some produce deadly neurotoxins
• Neurotoxins build up in food chain and
can cause illness/ death when animals eat
contaminated flesh
In February 2002, the massive die-off and decay of algae from a
nearshore harmful algal bloom (a "red tide") caused a rapid reduction in
the water's dissolved oxygen concentration, driving tens of
thousands of rock lobsters to "walk out of the sea" near the coastal town
of Elands Bay in South Africa's Western Cape province. The lobsters in
search of oxygen moved toward the breaking surf,
but were stranded when the tide went out. Government and military staff
attempted to save some of the lobsters, but others were collected for food.
A similar stranding from a massive red-tide event
occurred at Elands Bay in 1997.
MACROALGAE
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/chromista/phaeophyta.html
Green Algae
(Chlorophyta)
http://seaweed.ucg.ie/Algae/chlorophyta.html
• Largest group of algae
• Among the oldest of all organisms
• Relatives of green land plants
–Based on chlorophyll and starch
storage
• Wide variety of habitats: soil, ice,
marine and freshwater
NJ examples…
Ulva lactuca Sea lettuce
Brown Algae
(Phaeophyta)
Structure
• Most complex
seaweed
• Can grow up to 180
feet
• Color varies from dark
brown to olive green
• More found in cold
water
• Leathery and can
withstand
exposure to air
• Gas-filled floats
• Cell wall made of
algin and pectin
(useful in foods)
• Blade: absorbs
sunlight
• Stipe: carries
sugars from the
blades to the rest of
the plant
• Holdfast: anchors
the plant to rocks
Examples
• Rockweeds
• Kelps
Red Algae- Rhodophyta
About Red Algae
• One group makes skeletons composed of
CaCO3.
• Most grow as filaments, or sheets of cells.
• Can be parasites of other algae
• Chlorophyll masked by red pigment
• Important food source: used to make nori
Marine Plants Overview
• Few species can live in salt water
• More can take partial submergence
• Evolved on land 1st , then adapted to
living in saltwater
• Not major players in the marine
environment
Halophytes- plants that thrive in salt water
• 2 ways of dealing
with salt:
–Excluders- secreting
excess salt
–Includers- absorb
water within large
vacuole to reduce
salinity
(succulents)
Importance to Marine Life
•Primary Production
•Shelter and nursery habitat
•Food
•Filtration of Water
•Soil stability
Types of Marine Plants
• Angiosperms (flowering plants)
• Due to the difficulty of
removing salt from water
entering its roots
• Three main communities
–Salt marshes
–Mangroves
–Sea grasses
Salt Marsh Vegetation
• Mostly grasses- Spartina, Salicornia
and Juncus
• Tolerate periodic submergence
• Upper parts of the beach
• Underground root systems
• Minimized leaf structure to reduce
water loss
• Temperate and higher latitudes
Spartina (cordgrass)
Juncus (rush)
Salicornia (glasswort)
Mangroves
• Upper part of high tide areas in
tropics
• Group of trees that can tolerate
roots being submerged for part of a
tidal cycle
• Over 100 species
• Thick waxy leaves to min. water
loss
Mangroves
MANGROVES
Areas that have mangroves
include parts of the United States,
Singapore and China - most areas
that are ‘tropical’ and have warm,
rainy conditions.
Prop root: supports the stem
Pneumatophores: grow up into air
and absorb gases when tide
recedes;
Buttresses: stem support that adds
stability in soft sediments
Sea grasses
• Live completely under water (shallow
depths)
• 40 species
• Zostera (eel grass), Thalassia (turtle
grass), Syringodium (manatee grass)
--Adapted to live under water surface
--Related to flowering plants
--Produce tiny flowers
--Strap-like oval leaves
--Form meadows in estuaries & shallow
waters with muddy bottoms