Basics of Ocean Plants

1. • Seaweed is one of the most common ocean plants, providing food and shelter for marine animals. seaweed image by green308 from Fotolia.com

     Oceans cover three quarters of Earth's surface and are a rich biodiversity of animal and plant life. Oceans are a self-contained ecosystem, with all plant and animal life fulfilling an important role in the food chain. Plants decompose on the bottom of the ocean, providing nutrients for all aquatic organisms, replenishing the oceans food supply. Much like dry-land vegetation, oceans have underwater forests comprising different plants, such as kelp, coral, phytoplankton and algae.

   Conditions of Growth

   • Ocean plants are very particular about the conditions they grow in. Temperate sea temperatures are an important factor contributing to their growth. Increased sea temperatures hinder the growth of the plant life such as phytoplankton, a tiny ocean plant, that is a foundational ocean food source for other plants. Increased ocean temperatures create layers of water, limiting the mixing of deep nutrient-rich cold water and warmer surface water. Without water mixing, the foundational plant phytoplankton does reproduce, limiting the conditions for other plants that use the nutrients from the tiny ocean plant to grow.

   Plant Food Sources

   • Like plants on land, ocean plants use photosynthesis to transfer carbon dioxide from the environment into plant cells, which are then consumed by other plant life. This means that most ocean plants tend to live relatively close to the surface of the water and in range of sunlight. Some examples of these plants are diatoms, coccolithophores, cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates, which all float near the surface of the water and are types of phytoplankton. As they die, they sink to the ocean floor, fertilizing other plants such as kelp, algae and seaweed.

   Ocean Plants as a Food Source

   • Ocean plants are the foundational food source for all animal life. Single-celled phytoplankton are one of the most important food sources for both plant and animal life. Zooplankton, shellfish and larger fish rely on phytoplankton as a primary nourishing food source. They are the stabilizing element within oceans, protecting the delicate biodiversity. Any factors limiting their growth directly affect the feeding patterns of larger marine animals, commercial fisheries and plants that grow on the ocean floor. Larger ocean plants such as kelp, seaweed and coral provide food and habitats for marine life and are a rich feeding ground attracting different types of marine animals. Without them, the ocean food chain cannot function.

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