Sargassum
Sargassum
Introduction
Sargassum is a type of brown algae [1] which often serves as a macroalgal (link to coral digest article) bed in oceans. Sargassum algae serves several benefits to marine life, providing food, refuge, and breeding grounds to much fishlife. Due to impacts of climate change, in recent years sargassum has grown at an uncontrollable rate and beginning to threaten reefs.
Habitats/Locations
Generally sargassum are found in tidal splash zones, rocky marine pools, the intertidal zone, coral reefs and moderately deep coastal zonewaters.
Sargassum generally inhabits the Gulf of Mexico and North Atlantic, where it forms the nearly 2 million-square-mile Sargasso Sea. The seaweed often washes up on beaches in the Gulf, the southern
U.S. Atlantic coast and the northern Caribbean in spring and summer.
The seaweed has begun to spread to the Atlantic Coast of Europe
Biology
Sargassum is a type of Brown Algae
Asexual Reproduction and by Meiosis Reproduces both sexually and via floating fragments. Fertilization usually takes place on the surfaces of the reproductive bodies (receptacles) and thousands of "germlings" are released.
There are over 2800 estimated species Main on is sargassum muticum
Relatively small, innocuous seaweed (1-2 m in length) can grow at up to 10 cm each day
Life-span of 3-4 years
The biological composition of sargassum has changed over time due to more sexual reproduction species are increasing variety is increasing a decline in pH, increase in summer temperatures, and changes in the abundance and distribution of Sargassum seaweed in the area might have contributed to these observations The variety is what allows it to keep growing
Ecology
Sargassum beds serve critical ecosystem functions to a variety of marine species.
Ecological Roles
Sargassum beds can form floating rafts that extend for miles across the ocean. The majority of sargassum is found in the Sargasso Sea, known as the "golden floating rainforest" because of its rich biodiversity. <ref>http://www.onecaribbean.org/wp-content/uploads/SargassumResourceGuideFinal.pdf
Nurseries
Food
Shelter
Environmental Impacts
Coral Reefs
Climate Change Effects
Human Influence
Notes
- http://www.newsweek.com/2015/07/10/sargassum-ruining-beaches-texas-tobago-347735.html
- http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/150791/
- http://www.seaweed.ie/sargassum/
- http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/03edge/background/sargassum/sargassum.html
- http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=8007c464-0fa8-4236-810f-b99b20326db8%40sessionmgr4001&vid=0&hid=4106 “Pelagic Sargassum community change over a 40‑year period: temporal and spatial variability C. L. Huffard · S. von Thun · A. D. Sherman · K. Sealey · K. L. Smith Jr.”
- http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14772000.2014.972478