Seagrass Photosynthesis

The depth at which seagrass are found is limited by water clarity which determines the amount of light reaching the plant.

Seagrass photosynthesis.

The name seagrass stems from the many species with long and narrow leaves which grow by rhizome extension and often spread across large meadows resembling grassland. The highest rates of transport were in shoots possessing the greatest biomass and leaf area. Like land plants seagrass produce oxygen. The relationships between light regime photosynthesis growth and depth distribution of a temperate seagrass zostera marina l.

O 2 was transported rapidly 10 15 minutes from the shoots to the root rhizome tissues upon shoot illumination. Seagrasses are known as the lungs of the sea because one square meter of seagrass can generate 10 liters of oxygen every day through photosynthesis. The seasonal light patterns in which the quantum irradiance exceeded the light compensation point h comp and light saturation point h sat for eelgrass photosynthesis were determined. Footage captured at a sea grass bed in the bahamas june 2012.

Light is required for the plants to make food through photosynthesis. Seagrass leaves also absorb nutrients and slow the flow of water capturing sand dirt and silt particles. However they cannot produce enough to support the living cells in roots and rhizomes so seagrasses absorb additional oxygen from the surrounding water. Greater than 95 of the variation of the photosynthetic data could be accommodated by the photosythesis irradiance pi model presented here.

The rates of photosynthesis of the seagrass syringodium isoetifolium aschers dandy were measured by a gas release technique with whole shoots incubated in the field. Of the 60 species of seagrass found worldwide seven grow in florida waters. Eelgrass were investigated in a subtidal eelgrass meadow near woods hole ma. Applications advantages and disadvantages of the most common methods used in seagrass photosynthesis and community metabolism studies aquat biol 7.

The role of shoot photosynthesis as a means of supporting aerobic respiration in the roots of the seagrass zostera marina was examined. O 2 was transported rapidly 10 15 minutes from the shoots. Many species superficially resemble terrestrial grasses of the family poaceae. Like all autotrophic plants seagrasses photosynthesize in the submerged photic zone and most occur in shallow and sheltered coastal waters.