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Multi-cellular Primary Producers: The Plants. Worldwide, there are 5,000-6,000 species of seaweed and only 55 species of seagrass! Seagrasses are flowering plants belonging to the kingdom Plantae Not actually a grass
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Multi-cellular Primary Producers: The Plants • Worldwide, there are 5,000-6,000 species of seaweed and only 55 species of seagrass! • Seagrasses are flowering plants belonging to the kingdom Plantae • Not actually a grass • Related to lilies; evolved from land plants! • True leaves, stems, and roots
Seagrasses • Underground roots and rhizomes (horizontal stems) extract nutrients from the sediment and hold the plant in its place • Seagrasses have cell walls made out of cellulose (a characteristic of all plants) which provide support for the plant and keep the plant vertical in the water column
Seagrasses • Seagrass provides important shelter and food for many marine inhabitants • Because of the protection they provide, seagrass communities serve as important nursery grounds for developing fish & shellfish http://www.flickr.com/photos/19727876@N00/415368318/
Common seagrass of Long Island Zostera marina (“Eel grass”) http://www.ceoe.udel.edu/cms/jgallagher/tigani/kt_index.html