Waterways in vegetable kingdom

I.E.S. de Foz Workshop 1

SEAWEEDSSEAWEEDS

Aqua Project

The estuary of Foz is a result of the mouths of the rivers Masma and Centiño, and divides the boroughs of Foz and Barreiros.

It was an important whale port and shipyard.

An estuary is the tidal mouth of a river, causing a coastal valley which is flooded

by the sea, and consequently is subject to the effect of high and low tides.

Seaweeds are tallophyte plants, that`s to say they don`t posses well differiantiated body.They have a relatively undifferentiated mass of cells called “thallus”...

...instead of having an organized plant body (stem, root and leaf)

Even though thalli don´t have organized ans distint parts as do the vascular plants they have analogous structures that resembre their vascular “equivalents”In a kelp we can see:

• Holdfast = Rhizoide (anchoir)

• Stipe= Cauloid (suppors the blades)

• Blades = Phylloids (photosynthesis)

•Some of the more common seaweeds in our shores ….

Ulva lactuca

Codium tomentosus

Ecfocarpus silicolosus

Laminaria digitata

Laminaria saccharinna

Chorda filum

Himanthalia elonga

Fucus vesiculosus

Plant cells

The movement of molecules, specifically water and any solutes, is vital to plants. Vascular plants need special tissues as xilema and floema to transport water and minerals.

In the picture we can see the xilema colored in yellow.

Here we can see the phloem colored in

pink.

Seaweeds have all their cells in contact with water, so that they don’t need any transport system. They

take all they need, straight from the sea.These molecules can enter by diffusion: they go

from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration.

Water pass trough “osmosis”, that means that it flows from a region of lower solute

concentration to another of higher solute concentration, through a semipermeable

membrane.

• We can say that water works as a “water skeleton” in cells.It helps to keep their size and shape

• This is specially important in seaweeds given that they don’t have any tissues with that funtcion(vascular plants have colenquime and esclerenquime)

1.USES:They have a variety of purposes:

._Food (specially in countries live Japan, China…).

_Extraction of alginate or agar (=hydrocolloids with comercial significance as food additives).

_Production of dental molds (alginates).

_Microbiology agar as culture medium.

_Source of iodine necessary for thyroid function.

_May be used as fertilized.

_In industrial products: adhesive, textile printing.

2. HABITAT:

•They most commonly inhabit the littoral zone and within that zone more frequently on rocky shores tan on sand.

The limiting factor is sunlight availability.

•The deepest living seaweeds are some species of red algaeThe highest ones are green

algae