Download Producers

Ocean Life
“Producers”
G.Burgess
2009.
Plankton
• Types:
– Zooplankton
– Phytoplankon
Plankton, http://askville.amazon.com/microbes-glow-night-surface-oceanwaters-bioluminescentplankton/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
Copepoda. http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/openocean, accessed Dec.1, 2009.
Comb jellyfish,
http://i.livescience.com/images/ig46_sea_Comb
_Jelly_02.jpg, 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.as
px?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/Classificatio
n/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