Green Group discussion

I doubt there are very many people that would think of forests when talking about seaweeds, however, coastal waters around the globe are the habitats of forests of giant kelp.

If you stand in a kelp forest, on the ocean floor gazing up to the surface, you are reminded of the towering canopy of a forest of trees. Giant kelp are almost tree-like with a branching stem and bundles of leaf-like fronds that reach from an anchoring holdfast up to 45 meters long. Just as trees are home and shelter to land species, kelp forests are richly diverse ecosystems that provide habitat for a broad range of marine species including algae, plankton, invertebrates, fishes, and vertebrate predators.

Kelp are a seaweed that are part of a special group of brown algae. They are not actually plants, although they do photosynthesize light into energy. Surprisingly, the giant kelp are more closely related to the tiny diatoms than they are to plants.

this makes me want to go swimming! i used to love playing with kelp in Maine in the summers...that is so interesting that they are more closely related to diatoms. how can a non-plant photosynthesize? forgive my ignorance! :D

I'm not about to find fault with your so-called "ignorance" Marieke! I just happened to study plants, so in this topic I have an advantage, that's all :)

There are actually a lot of species that are photosynthetic that aren't plants. Photosynthesis occurs when a pigment captures the energy of light and that pigment of usually some form of chlorophyll. Brown algae, including kelp, do photosynthesize, but using a different type of chlorophyll than the true plants. The metabolic pathway is different and the metabolites are different as well. The brown algae are now considered by most scientists to be members of the Chromista, a kingdom that includes diatoms and water molds.

So kelp are related to diatoms, which are microscopic, generally one-celled organisms that are part of the vast communities of phytoplankton.

wow...and to think i thought only plants used photosynthesis. i honestly thought that photosynthesis is what made a plant a plant. i also thought chlorphyll was just chlorophyll...wow.

am i the only dummy here??

:D

i am amazed that a non-plant the size of that kelp is related to a microscopic diatom. it's like thinking about a chihuahua next to my great dane...(they're the same species??)

I love biology :)

I love biology too. And Kelp. Visiting the kelp forest was a definite highlight of school...right next to the redwood forest.

i really want to see redwoods someday. the only redwood i have ever seen is a bonsai redwood at the National Arboretum. pretty cool, though...a bonsai redwood...the oxymoron tree!