A.  most of the world is marine (71%)
B.  The biodiversity is rich in marine waters, but threatened by anthropogenic impacts:

1.  eutrophication:  nutrient loading from the land
2.  global climate change due to increasing CO2
3.  UV increase due to ozone depletion
4.  over harvesting
5.  invasive species

C.  Primary producers are the base of the food chain

1.  All life depends upon carbon for biomolecule backbones.
2.  Only autotrophs (primarily photosynthesizers) can take atmospheric carbon (CO2) and fix it (turn it into complex organic molecules).

A.  photosynthetic pigments

1.  chlorophyll type = 1o photosynthetic pigment
2.  Accessory pigments:  phycobilin, carotenoid

B.  cell covering: one or more of the following

1.  bacterial:  peptidoglycan
2.  carbohydrate:  cellulose
3.  protein
4.  glass:  silicate frustule or plates
5.  CaCO3:scales or calcification
6.  none:  naked

C.  storage reserves

a.  glycogen
b.  starch
c.  paramylon
d.  lipids

D.  DNA sequence relatedness

3.  Classification of algae: Margulis & Schwartz, 1998; Graham & Wilcox, 2000.

A.  Kingdom Eubacteria (old Monera):

1.   prokaryotic cell structure with no membrane bound organelles, DNA in centralized ìnucleoidsî
2.  Photoautotrophs

a. Phylum:  Cyanobacteria - use light to split H2O for electrons and fix CO2 to biomolecules
b.  Phylum: Chlorobia (anoxygenic green sulfur bacteria)
c.  Phylum:  Proteobacteria (purple bacteria)

1. Chromatium  , the purple sulfur phototroph,  use light to split H2S for electrons.
2. Rhodospirillum  use H2 for electrons

B.  Kingdom Protista (Protoctista)

1.  Description

a.  nucleated microorganisms and their descendants, exclusive of fungi, animals and plants
b.  evolved by integration of former microbial symbionts

1.  mitochondria
2.  plastids (chloroplasts, leucoplasts, chromoplasts).

2.  Selected members of the Kingdom considered "algae"
a.  Ochrophyta (or chromophytes)

1.  members

a.  diatoms
b.  chrysophyceans
c.  silicoflagellates
d.  phaeophyceans (brown algae)

2.  characteristics

a. size:  micro to giant kelps
b.  pigments:  chla, chlc, fucoxanthin
c.  food reserves:  lipid, chrysolaminaran or laminaran
d.  flagella:  2, heteromorphic
e.  cell covering varied:  silica, cellulose

b.  Rhodophyta (red algae)

1.  member examples:
 Gracillaria, Grinnellea,
 Callithamnion
2.  characteristics

a.  size:  micro to large branched
b.  pigments:  chla, phycobilins, carotenoids
c.  food reserves:  granular floridean starch
d.  no flagellated forms
e.  cell covering:  walls of cellulose + sulfated polygalactans, some calcified

c. Chlorophyta (green algae)
Note: some have moved this to Plantae
1.  member examples:  Ulva, Enteromorpha, Codium.
2.  characteristics

a.  size:  micro to large branched
b.  pigments:  chla, chlb, b-carotene
c.  food reserves:  starch
d.  cell covering:  cellulose, some calcified

C.  Kingdom Plantae

1.  Description

a.  haploid organisms (gametophytes)  of complementary sexes grow from spores produced by meiosis (sporogenic meiosis) that takes place in the adult diploid (sporophyte).
b.  fertilization by sperm or pollen nucleus leads to diploid embryo retained by the female haploid during early development.

2.  Members  primarily of the phylum Anthophyta (=flowering plants)

a.  seagrasses (Zostera, Ruppia)
b.  mangroves (Rhizophora,  Avicennia)
c.  salt marsh (Spartina)
d.  dune (Solidago, Ammophila)

• Magnioliophyta
• Ruppiaceae (ditch-grass family)
• Ruppia maritima Linnaeus
• Cymodoceaceae (manatee-grass family)
• Halodule wrightii Ascherson
• Syringodium filiforme Kützing
• Zosteraceae (eel-grass family)
• Phyllospadix serrulatus Ruprecht ex Ascherson
• P. torreyi S. Watson
•  P. scouleri Hooker
• Zostera marina Linnaeus
• Z. japonica Ascherson & Graebner
• Hydrocharitaceae (Frog-bit family)
• Thalassia testudinum Banks ex König
• Halophila johnsonii Eiseman
• H. decipiens Ostenfeld
• H. engelmannii Ascherson

7.  Herbarium labels: vouchering
8.  Marine Plant Environments

A.  Coastal - euphotic zone (vertical divisions) (Fig. 1-4)

1.  maritime - terrestrial but marine influenced
2.  spray - depends upon wave activity
3.  intertidal- between high and low

a.  upper limit of species distribution - usually controlled by abiotic factors
b.  lower limit- usually controlled by biotic factors such as competition, grazing (predation)

4.  subtidal fringe - rarely exposed
5.  subtidal - never exposed

10.  Marine Plant Environments continued

B.  compensation point ?
C.  planktonic => phytoplankton
D.  benthic => phytobenthos
E.  estuarine vs. oceanic

1.  What is an estuary?
2.  Are open oceans biotic deserts?

• Submerged
• Seagrass meadows
• Algal flats
• Coral reefs
• Marine margins
• Dunes
• Intertidal: sandy & rocky
• Mangroves (subtropical to tropical)
• Saltmarsh (primarily subarctic to temperate)