MARINE FLOWERING PLANTS

Angiosperms• Flowering plants• Flowers for sexual reproduction• Produce pollen and seeds• Kingdom Plantae• Mostly on land – very few species in

ocean• Those in the water evolved from land

plants

Flowering Plants vs. Seaweeds

• Flowering plants have true roots (absorb water and nutrients), stems (hold up plants) and leaves (photosynthesis)

• Seaweeds do not – have blade, stipe and holdfast

Three main groups of marine flowering plants:

• Seagrasses• Mangroves• Marsh grasses

Seagrasses• Not true grasses• Forms meadows underwater

(subtidal)• Found in shallow, calm, clear bays

Seagrasses

• About 60 species• Zostera marina – eelgrass - found on Long

Island

Seagrasses

• Important habitat for many species• Many organisms live in seagrass beds

Seagrasses

• Can reproduce sexually• Life cycle like land flowering plants• Stringy pollen spread by currents

Seagrasses

• Can reproduce asexually• Use rhizome under sea floor

Mangroves• Woody trees• Found in tropical and subtropical coastal

waters• Intertidal – not completely submerged

Mangroves

• Often big roots sticking out of water

Mangroves

• Important habitat for many species• Many organisms live in mangrove stands

Mangroves• Reproduce sexually - flowers• “pencil seed” germinates which still attached

to parent plant• If low tide – seed sticks in mud• If high tide – seed floats elsewhere

Salt Marsh Grasses• Found in calm, sheltered bays along East and

Gulf coasts of U.S.• Intertidal

Salt Marsh Grasses• Several types of floweringplants

Spartina patens – salt marsh hay

Spartina alterniflora – salt marsh cordgrass

Salt Marsh Grasses• Important habitat for many species that live,

feed or reproduce here