Kelps
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Kelps
Kelps are large brown algae seaweeds that make up the order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genera. Despite its appearance, kelp is not a plant - it is a heterokont, a completely unrelated group of organisms. Kelp grows in "underwater forests" ( kelp forests) in shallow oceans, and is thought to have appeared in the Miocene, 5 to 23 million years ago. The organisms require nutrient-rich water with temperatures between . They are known for their high growth rate—the genera '' Macrocystis'' and ''Nereocystis'' can grow as fast as half a metre a day, ultimately reaching .Thomas, D. 2002. ''Seaweeds.'' The Natural History Museum, London, p. 15. Through the 19th century, the word "kelp" was closely associated with seaweeds that could be burned to obtain soda ash (primarily sodium carbonate). The seaweeds used included species from both the orders Laminariales and Fucales. The word "kelp" was also used directly to refer to these processed ashes. Description In mo ...
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Kelp Forest
Kelp forests are underwater areas with a high density of kelp, which covers a large part of the world's coastlines. Smaller areas of anchored kelp are called kelp beds. They are recognized as one of the most productive and dynamic ecosystems on Earth.Mann, K.H. 1973. Seaweeds: their productivity and strategy for growth. Science 182: 975-981. Although algal kelp forest combined with coral reefs only cover 0.1% of Earth's total surface, they account for 0.9% of global Primary production, primary productivity. Kelp forests occur worldwide throughout temperate and polar region, polar coastal oceans. In 2007, kelp forests were also discovered in tropical waters near Ecuador.Graham, M.H., B.P. Kinlan, L.D. Druehl, L.E. Garske, and S. Banks. 2007. Deep-water kelp refugia as potential hotspots of tropical marine diversity and productivity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104: 16576-16580. Physically formed by brown macroalgae, kelp forests provide a unique habitat for m ...
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Brown Algae
Brown algae (singular: alga), comprising the class Phaeophyceae, are a large group of multicellular algae, including many seaweeds located in colder waters within the Northern Hemisphere. Brown algae are the major seaweeds of the temperate and polar regions. They are dominant on rocky shores throughout cooler areas of the world. Most brown algae live in marine environments, where they play an important role both as food and as a potential habitat. For instance, ''Macrocystis'', a kelp of the order Laminariales, may reach in length and forms prominent underwater kelp forests. Kelp forests like these contain a high level of biodiversity. Another example is ''Sargassum'', which creates unique floating mats of seaweed in the tropical waters of the Sargasso Sea that serve as the habitats for many species. Many brown algae, such as members of the order Fucales, commonly grow along rocky seashores. Some members of the class, such as kelps, are used by humans as food. Between 1,500 and ...
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Kelp By Gustavo Gerdel
Kelps are large brown algae seaweeds that make up the Order (biology), order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genus, genera. Despite its appearance, kelp is not a plant - it is a heterokont, a completely unrelated group of organisms. Kelp grows in "underwater forests" (kelp forests) in shallow oceans, and is thought to have appeared in the Miocene, 5 to 23 million years ago. The organisms require nutrient-rich water with temperatures between . They are known for their high growth rate—the genera ''Macrocystis'' and ''Nereocystis'' can grow as fast as half a metre a day, ultimately reaching .Thomas, D. 2002. ''Seaweeds.'' The Natural History Museum, London, p. 15. Through the 19th century, the word "kelp" was closely associated with seaweeds that could be burned to obtain soda ash (primarily sodium carbonate). The seaweeds used included species from both the orders Laminariales and Fucales. The word "kelp" was also used directly to refer to these processed ashes. De ...
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Nereocystis
''Nereocystis'' (Greek, 'mermaid's bladder') is a monotypic genus of subtidal kelp containing the species ''Nereocystis luetkeana''. Some English names include edible kelp, bull kelp, bullwhip kelp, ribbon kelp, bladder wrack, and variations of these names. Due to the English name, bull kelp can be confused with southern bull kelps, which are found in the Southern Hemisphere. ''Nereocystis luetkeana'' forms thick beds on subtidal rocks, and is an important part of kelp forests. Etymology The species ''Nereocystis luetkeana'' was named (as ''Fucus luetkeanus'') after the German-Russian explorer Fyodor Petrovich Litke (also spelled Lütke) by Mertens. The species was renamed in a description by Postels and Ruprecht. Description Individuals can grow to a maximum of . ''Nereocystis'' has a holdfast of about , and a single stipe, topped with a pneumatocyst containing carbon monoxide, from which sprout the numerous (about 30-64) blades. The blades may be up to long, and up ...
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Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern marine invertebrates than the Pliocene has. The Miocene is preceded by the Oligocene and is followed by the Pliocene. As Earth went from the Oligocene through the Miocene and into the Pliocene, the climate slowly cooled towards a series of ice ages. The Miocene boundaries are not marked by a single distinct global event but consist rather of regionally defined boundaries between the warmer Oligocene and the cooler Pliocene Epoch. During the Early Miocene, the Arabian Peninsula collided with Eurasia, severing the connection between the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean, and allowing a faunal interchange to occur between Eurasia and Africa, including the dispersal of proboscideans into Eurasia. During the ...
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Sporophyte
A sporophyte () is the diploid multicellular stage in the life cycle of a plant or alga which produces asexual spores. This stage alternates with a multicellular haploid gametophyte phase. Life cycle The sporophyte develops from the zygote produced when a haploid egg cell is fertilized by a haploid sperm and each sporophyte cell therefore has a double set of chromosomes, one set from each parent. All land plants, and most multicellular algae, have life cycles in which a multicellular diploid sporophyte phase alternates with a multicellular haploid gametophyte phase. In the seed plants, the largest groups of which are the gymnosperms and flowering plants (angiosperms), the sporophyte phase is more prominent than the gametophyte, and is the familiar green plant with its roots, stem, leaves and cones or flowers. In flowering plants the gametophytes are very reduced in size, and are represented by the germinated pollen and the embryo sac. The sporophyte produces spores (hence t ...
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Ploidy
Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell (biology), cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for Autosome, autosomal and Pseudoautosomal region, pseudoautosomal genes. Sets of chromosomes refer to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, respectively, in each homologous chromosome pair, which chromosomes naturally exist as. Somatic cells, Tissue (biology), tissues, and Individual#Biology, individual organisms can be described according to the number of sets of chromosomes present (the "ploidy level"): monoploid (1 set), diploid (2 sets), triploid (3 sets), tetraploid (4 sets), pentaploid (5 sets), hexaploid (6 sets), heptaploid or septaploid (7 sets), etc. The generic term polyploidy, polyploid is often used to describe cells with three or more chromosome sets. Virtually all sexual reproduction, sexually reproducing organisms are made up of somatic cells that are diploid or greater, but ploidy level may vary widely between different or ...
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Estuarine, Coastal And Shelf Science
''Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal on ocean sciences, with a focus on coastal regions ranging from estuaries up to the edge of the continental shelf. It's published by Elsevier on behalf of the Estuarine Coastal Sciences Association and edited by T.S. Bianchi, M. Elliott, I. Valiela, and E. Wolanski. The journal began in 1973 as ''Estuarine and Coastal Marine Science'' before the name was changed in 1981. The journal is abstracted and indexed in the Science Citation Index, Scopus, PASCAL, Biosis, INSPEC, GEOBASE, and Academic Search Premier. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the journal has a 2020 impact factor The impact factor (IF) or journal impact factor (JIF) of an academic journal is a scientometric index calculated by Clarivate that reflects the yearly mean number of citations of articles published in the last two years in a given journal, as i ... of 2.929. References External links * Estuarine Coastal S ...
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Urchin Barrens
An urchin barren is an area of the shallow part of the ocean where the population growth of sea urchins has gone unchecked, causing destructive grazing of kelp forests. Process Sea urchins eat kelp holdfasts. This can be caused by a lack of sea otters or other predators in the area, which makes it extremely important to protect the ecological balance in a kelp forest. Keystone species such as the sea otter help maintain healthy kelp communities; however, likely because of increased killer whale predation, their numbers are in decline in areas of Western Alaska. Off the California coast, storm runoff, erosion and polluted water allow less light to penetrate, weakening the kelp. Sea urchins then can move in and settle. Despite their name, urchin barrens are usually abundant with marine invertebrate life, echinoderms in particular. Species such as the sunflower starfishes, brittle stars, and the purple sea urchin are common. Although macrofauna such as these are aplenty, there is l ...
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Sea Urchins
Sea urchins () are spiny, globular echinoderms in the class Echinoidea. About 950 species of sea urchin live on the seabed of every ocean and inhabit every depth zone from the intertidal seashore down to . The spherical, hard shells (tests) of sea urchins are round and spiny, ranging in diameter from . Sea urchins move slowly, crawling with tube feet, and also propel themselves with their spines. Although algae are the primary diet, sea urchins also eat slow-moving (sessile) animals. Predators that eat sea urchins include a wide variety of fish, starfish, crabs, marine mammals. Sea urchins are also used as food especially in Japan. Adult sea urchins have fivefold symmetry, but their pluteus larvae feature bilateral (mirror) symmetry, indicating that the sea urchin belongs to the Bilateria group of animal phyla, which also comprises the chordates and the arthropods, the annelids and the molluscs, and are found in every ocean and in every climate, from the tropics to the polar ...
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Meristem
The meristem is a type of tissue found in plants. It consists of undifferentiated cells (meristematic cells) capable of cell division. Cells in the meristem can develop into all the other tissues and organs that occur in plants. These cells continue to divide until a time when they get differentiated and then lose the ability to divide. Differentiated plant cells generally cannot divide or produce cells of a different type. Meristematic cells are undifferentiated or incompletely differentiated. They are totipotent and capable of continued cell division. Division of meristematic cells provides new cells for expansion and differentiation of tissues and the initiation of new organs, providing the basic structure of the plant body. The cells are small, with no or small vacuoles and protoplasm fills the cell completely. The plastids (chloroplasts or chromoplasts), are undifferentiated, but are present in rudimentary form (proplastids). Meristematic cells are packed closely together wi ...
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Pneumatocyst
In phycology, a pneumatocyst is a floating structure that contains gas found on brown seaweed. A seaweed's thallus may have more than one. They provide buoyancy to lift the blades toward the surface, allowing them to receive more sunlight for photosynthesis Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored i .... The proportion of gases in the pneumatocysts varies depending on the physiological status of the alga and the partial pressure of gases in the surrounding air or water. The pneumatocyst can hold O2, CO2, N2, and CO. References Further reading Brown algae {{Phaeophyceae-stub ...
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