Marine Plant Resources

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Introduction In the sea, as on land, the plants are the real producers—that is, the organisms that are capable of elaborating complex organic substances from the simple inorganic compounds dissolved in the water. Without marine plants as synthesizers of primary food, development of marine animal life would be impossible beyond a negligible quantity that might be supported alongshore and in estuaries where particulate organic material of terrestrial origin would find its way into the sea. Light is of prime importance to all photosynthetic plants, and the possibility for attachment to the substratum is of secondary importance. According to attachment to the substratum marine algae can be classified in to three groups. They are; * Lithophytic - algae grow attached to the surface of a rock * Epiphytic - attached to the surface of an aquatic plant * Epizoic - attached to the surface of an (marine) animal Basically marine algae can be classified in to four groups according to their vegetative diversity. They are ; * Chlorophyta – Green Algae * Rhodophyta – Red Algae * Phaeophyta – Brown Algae * Bacillariophyta – Golden brown Algae Green Algae As the name indicates, the algae of this class are green in color. The pigments of the chloroplasts include the two types of chlorophyll, a and b, and the various carotinoids. The yellow and orange of the latter pigments are masked by the abundance of the green chlorophyll. In contrast to the chitinous cell wall of the blue-greens, these plants produce walls that are largely cellulose—a carbohydrate as opposed to the nitrogenous product, chitin. Some green algae of the sea—for example, Halimeda of the Siphonales—become incrusted with calcium carbonate, and thus may contribute materially in some places to the formation of lime deposits in warmer seas. The joints of the plant remain

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