Bell Ringer

Define angiosperm

Marine Angiosperms

Angiosperms

• Reproduce with flowering & seeds• Few live in the water• Descended from land ancestors• Live at surface• Most conspicuous: sea grasses & mangroves

Sea Grasses

• Superficially similar to seaweeds• Not true grasses• Found off coasts of North America, Atlantic

coast of Europe, Eastern Asia, temperate Australia, South Africa

Sea Grasses

• Form broad gray or green meadows• Support rich communities of heterotrophs• Life cycle is similar to other angiosperms• 45 species known

Sea Grasses

• Eelgrass - Zostera – Most common sea grass– Muddy shallows of calm bays and estuaries of US

Atlantic & Pacific coasts• Turtle grass (Thalassia) & manatee grass

(Syringodium)– Named after animals that once shared their

habitat

Sea Grasses

• Emerald-green surf grass (Phyllospadix) – possibly most beautiful of all– Seasonal flowers & fuzzy fruit– Survive in turbulent, wave-swept intertidal &

subtidal zones of temperate East Asia & western North America

Mangroves

• Tangled masses of trees in low, muddy coasts in tropical & some subtropical areas

• Large, flowering plants• Never completely submerged

Mangroves

• Thrive in sediment-rich lagoons, bays, & estuaries of the Indo-Pacific, tropical Africa, and the tropical Americas.

• Distribution depends on temperature, currents, & rainfall

Mangroves

• The sediment must be covered with brackish or salt water for part of the day

• Prop roots required for supports– Mud doesn’t provide support

Mangroves

• Mangroves in south Florida are among the world’s most widespread and consist primarily of red mangroves (Rhizophora)

Mangroves

• Seeds germinate on trees.• If tide is out, the seed will drop into thick mud

& growth will begin• If tide is in, the seed will drop in the water and

be carried off until it finds a new place to grow

Mangroves

• Mature in 20-30 years• Grow to be 26-33 ft tall