Is Kelp A Weird Plant?

      The general characteristics of the plants in these bodies of water have strong and steady roots, or roots that are bendable, depending on how fast the current of the water is. These traits help the plants mainly so they do not get swept away. Plants that

Coral reefs exist all over the world and are generally known as being one of the most diverse, intricate and beautiful of all existing marine habitats. They have many varying structures which are developed by algae and are symbiotic with various reef building corals which are referred to as, zooxanthellae (algae). There are many other factors such as, coralline algae, sponges and other various organisms that are combined with a number of cementation processes which also contribute to reef growth, (CORAL REEFS, 2015).

Coral reefs are the most biodiverse ecosystem on the planet. There are more than 25,000 known species of organisms and countless others that have yet to be identified (Helvarg, 2000). Reefs thrive on the shallow edge of tropical seas, most often on the eastern edge of continents along warm water currents that brush the coasts. Reefs cannot live in cold waters and are limited by ocean depth and available sunlight. Coral is the foundation of the reef community, providing a three-dimensional structure where thousands of species of vertebrates and invertebrates live and feed. Some species of coral are hard, while others soft. Some are branched, yet others are compact and rounded. Coral is made up of large

But as trying to untie and successfully unravel it, but as soon as he escapes those “threads”, something unfortunate was bound to happen.

Clumps together, ability to keep water in its shell and release it as needed to stay moist

Kelp forests are seen as the ultimate ecological engineer in coastal areas. They exist in marine environments spanning in southern California, Aleutian Islands, and the western north Atlantic. Light, latitude, and water temperature and nutrients all play a role in facilitating the growth of kelp forests all around the world, (Bolton). Kelp specifically dominates the shallow rocky coasts of the world‘s cold water marine habitats. Although they look as a free-growing plant, they are in fact primarily of brown algae. These structures provide food and shelter to a huge mix of biota, including crabs, sea urchins, mollusks, and other marine organisms (Steneck). The fronds, or large leaves of the kelp are the distinctive feature that can represent where a specific kelp may be found. The sizes of these organisms can range from the smallest found near California and Alaska at 5m to giant kelp up to 45m in length found on the west coasts of North and South America (Hamilton).

Kalo, considered by some, is the world's oldest cultivated crop. The first Kalo plant produced was from the child of Papa and Wakea, Hāloanaka. Hālonaka did not survive, and was buried. From the child’s body grew the first Kalo plant. Some believe that the Kalo plant, arising from the child’s body, is superior and more sacred than man. Taro plays an important role in Hawaiian culture. Growing Kalo was not an activity to the Hawaiians, but it bounded them to their culture and their beliefs about creation. Kalo is very nutritious for our health and bodies. According to Joy, Yamakawa, and Hollyer, from the University of Hawaii, “Kalo corm provides a good source of calcium and iron.” The Kalo leaves can also be “eaten

In your mind, imagine you are a fish, surrounded by kelp forests and other organisms.

Planktons! You can find them in several places on the Earth. In oceans, seas, and lakes! These organisms are those that drift, and are incapable or have little or no ability to swim. Due to that, they are moved and taken wherever by the currents of water based environments. (http://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/plankton.htm) Not to mention, they are also an important food source to many large aquatic organisms. For instance, fish and whales. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plankton) In this lab experiment, “Battle of the Plankton”, groups of students are to make their own planktonic organism out of household items that will (hopefully) have the characteristic of sinking slowly when placed in a large tank filled with fresh water. They will have

For millennia, terrestrial plant matter, seeds, and driftwood have travelled across the open oceans with the help of surface currents. Even floating islands, also known as tussocks, floatons, or sudds are common in many Florida lakes and across the world (Mallison, C.T., 2001). These islands have been known to carry exotic plants and vertebrate animals. Floating islands promote trans-ocean dispersal of marine and terrestrial organisms. This increases biodiversity and helps new barren islands thrive. However, in the last five decades, with the growing number of plastics in the marine environment, the dispersal and occurrence of these organisms has increased exceedingly (Gregory, R.M., 2009). This paves the way for invasions by alien and even aggressive invasive species to establish themselves in new ecosystems beyond their native range. A survey done in 2009 reported that over 150 marine species have established themselves due to marine debris stranded on the shores of northern New Zealand. Most of these organisms were identified as crustaceans. Four of those organisms discovered are featured in figure 3. Specimen A shows various crustaceans on unknown plastic, specimen B depicts warm water Indo-Pacific oysters growing on nylon rope, specimen C depicts crustaceans growing on a plastic pellet, and specimen D depicts a bryozoan colony attached

The Leafy Sea Dragon is an interesting, thin, marine animal that I will be sharing information about to you. I hope you enjoy!

living in their bodies. These plants help feed the corals, soak up their wastes and

Floras and microbes are additional main biotic mechanisms of many oceanic ecosystems. Microbes act as decomposers for oceanic ecosystems, and they break defunct living matter and transforms it into vitality that is used by other existing organisms in the oceanic ecosystem. Detrivores, which are a type of animal, also eat deceased or putrefying plants and animal matter. Algae, which are autotrophs, appear as the head herbal vivacity and primary producers in oceanic ecosystems. The sunlight transforms the light into energy for nourishment for marine plants. Heat and light are focal abiotic factors discovered in essentially all oceanic ecosystems, consequently oceanic ecosystems has some broaden abiotic mechanisms, comprising viscosity and many more. The power that the bulk of an organism is called buoyancy. The durability of the drive of seawater is called viscosity. These abiotic factors source to the drive of all organisms in oceanic systems. Sunlight pierces the sea exterior only about 65 feet. As there is more salt in the Great Barrier Reef than in other oceanic ecosystems the marine holds less oxygen than the

Kelp forests are “a source of food and habitat for dozens of other coastal species” (qtd. in Soulé et al 1240). Therefore, to maintain the diversity and richness of the coastal marine ecology, kelp forests should be preserved.

Cnidarians (or coelenterates), including sea anemones, jellyfish, and corals, are built mostly of sheets of cells, and they exploit the large surface area of the