Download Obj. 8: Describe characteristics of marine plant and algae divisions

Obj. 8: Describe characteristics
of marine plant and algae
divisions
Marine Flowering Plants
I. Marine Plants
1. Have a vascular system for transporting
food, nutrients, and water through out the
plant
2. All are flowering plants
3. 3 types
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Seagrasses
Salt marsh plants
mangroves
II. Seagrasses
1.
2.
3.
4.
Aren’t really grasses
Related to lillies
All submerged (completely underwater)
Structure
1. Horizontal stems (rhizomes) that grow
beneath the sediment
2. Roots and stems grow from the rhizomes
3. Leaves are called blades
5. Reproduction
a. Separate male and female plants and
flowers
b. Very small flowers (not used to attract
pollinators)
c. Pollen is carried on the water currents
d. Produce seed some with small fruit that are
transported on the water currents
6. Not a major producer in the oceans because
they are hard for most marine organisms to
digest
• Eaten by manatees, green sea turtles,
and some fish and sea urchins
7. Important Habitat - acts as protection for many
small animals.
8. Genera common to the gulf coast are Zostera
(eelgrass) and Thallasia (turtle grass)
III. Salt Marsh Plants
1. Are halophytes (salt-tolerant, terrestrial
plants)
2. Members of the grass familiy
3. Must be exposed to air at low tide so
they are restricted to the intertidal zone
(zone that is uncovered at low tide)
4. Structure
a. Have rhizomes and short vertical stems
b. Leaves are called blades
c. have salt glands to excrete excess salt
5. Important Habitat
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Know as the “nurseries of the oceans”
Feed and protect many of the commercially important
species at some point in their life
6. Common species in S. Alabama
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Spartina alterniflora (cordgrass)
Juncus (blackneedle rush)
IV. Mangroves
1. Along tropical
coastal areas with
little wave action
2. Trees and shrubs
3. Structure
a. Simple, oval, leathery, thick leaves are
adapted to reduce water loss
•
Leaves never under water
b. Complex root systems that are adapted to
grow in loose, shallow, low oxygen, saline
sediments
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Many have roots that descend from the trunk or
branches of the tree to the sediment
Most salt is prevented to entering the tree at the
roots
4. Reproduction
a. Flowers are pollinated by the wind or bees
b. Mangroves along the shore develop the
embryo attached to the parent plant
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The embryo is called a propagule
It grows an enlongated, cigar-shaped stem
before it separates from the parent plant and
floats away