Ocean Life“Producers”

G.Burgess

2009.

Plankton

• Types:– Zooplankton– Phytoplankon

Plankton, http://askville.amazon.com/microbes-glow-night-surface-ocean-waters-bioluminescent-plankton/AnswerDetails.do?requestId=7468874&responseId=7469029, accessed Dec.1, 2009.

Zooplankton

• Animal-like single celled creatures• Plankton is classified by size, and

life cycle• Single celled for life: holoplankton• Single celled for larvae:

meroplankton• Smallest are protozoans• Larvae (egg size) are microplankton• Larger are macroplankton• Largest (jelly fish) are

megaplankton

Comb jellyfish, http://i.livescience.com/images/ig46_sea_Comb_Jelly_02.jpg, accessed Dec.1, 2009

Copepoda. http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/open-ocean, accessed Dec.1, 2009.

Phytoplankton

• Single celled algae– Diatoms: yellow-green with

intricate shell• Elongated: pleurosigma• Wheel shaped: coscinodiscus

– Dinoflagellates: have two flagella for moving

• Chaetocerus: have setae for joining other chaetocera to form chains or sheets of colonies

• These are the major producers of the ocean– They perform photosynthesis to

convert the sun’s energy to simple sugars

Phytoplankton, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phytoplankton_Lake_Chuzenji.jpg, accessed Ddec.1, 2009.

Algae

• Present along the coastlines/ inshore regions

• Not found in open ocean

• Multicellular Producer: base organism on food chain.

• Types: green/red/brown

Green algae

• Have lots of chlorophyll: photosynthesis

• Most abundant in freshwater but some salt water

• Found in intertidal zone where light is plentiful

• adaptations for surviving with out water when tide is out;– Sea lettuce: dries out during low

tide, yet stays alive– Cladophora: grow filaments to trap

sand and water during low tide

Sea Lettuce. Sea Weeds of Alaska, http://www.seaweedsofalaska.com/species.asp?SeaweedID=, accessed Dec.1, 2009.

Red Algae

• are algae that are able to grow at slightly greater depths

• all contain phycoerythrin, a pigment that absorbs blue light and is what alows the greater depth

• adaptations:– Coraline red algae: calcified

sections that give protection from pounding waves in surf.

– Pepper dulce: makes chemicals so that it is bitter to herbivores

Coraline red algae, monterey bay aquarium, http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/AnimalDetails.aspx?id=780025, accessed Dec.1, 2009.

Brown algae

• all brown algae contain fucoxanthin (brown pigment)

• adaptations:– Rock weed: tolerates

drying out and has air bladders for keeping it afloat

– Kelp: holdfast for holding onto rocks in waves

Rockweed, Taxonomy, http://www.williamsclass.com/SixthScienceWork/Classification/ClassificationNotes/ClassificationNotes.htm, accessed Dec.1, 2009.

Flowering Plants

• Flowering plants were once terrestrial (on land)• All flowering plants have roots, stem/ trunk,

leaves, flowers• All require near direct sunlight• Adaptations:

– Mangrove trees: • specialized cells that regulate the flow of water and salt into

the plant• Prop roots keep the tree up right in soft muddy bottoms

– Sea grasses:• Cells are able to excrete excess salt