Ocean Life “Producers”

1. Ocean Life“Producers” G.Burgess 2009.

2. 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.

3. 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 Copepoda. http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/open-ocean, accessed Dec.1, 2009. Comb jellyfish, http://i.livescience.com/images/ig46_sea_Comb_Jelly_02.jpg, accessed Dec.1, 2009

4. 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.

5. Algae • Present along the coastlines/ inshore regions • Not found in open ocean • Multicellular Producer: base organism on food chain. • Types: green/red/brown

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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