Research from Witty's Lagoon, BC today

I went on a field trip to Witty's Lagoon with my marine science class and made some good discoveries about seaweeds and Bull Kelp.

First, it is important to understand that bull kelp is not a plant, meaning it does not belong in the kingdom Plantae. It is in the kingdom Protoctista, which is kind of just the miscellaneous kingdom.

here are the main differences between Plants and Seaweeds.

Plants:

roots- absorb water and nutrients

stem- brings water and nutrients from roots to other parts of the plant. It also keeps the plant upright

leaves-absorbs light to photosynthesize.

Seaweeds:

holdfast- the seaweeds' method of anchoring itself to a solid structure.

stipe- supports the structure and keeps it upright. (not all seaweeds have stipes)

blades- absorbs light to photosynthesize

nutrients: interestingly, seaweeds can absorb nutrients through any part of their bodies, not just the holdfast.

Bull kelp has the longest stipe of any type of seaweed, and it is quite strong. It's holdfast, too, is incredibly strong, made of many finger-like projections that grip a rock or the bottom. The blades protrude from a bladder at the top that holds air, keeping the head near the surface so the blades can perform maximum photosynthesis.

Now, bull kelp is actually in a very specific category that is in other categories. Kelp is a seaweed, and seaweed is a macroscopic algae. Algae are photosynthetic organisms in the kingdom Protoctista. Kelp are big brown seaweeds.

There are 3 classifications of seaweed: red, brown, and green. This is based on their pigments. All 3 contain chlorophyll, which allow them to absorb red light to perform photosynthesis. Green seaweeds only have chlorophyll as a pigment.

Red seaweeds have two more pigments: phycoerythrin (red pigment), and phycocyanin (blue pigment). This allows them to absorb red and blue light.

Brown seaweeds have the pigment fucoxanthan, which allow them to absorb yellow light. Brown algae, in this case seaweeds, are scientifically known as phaeophyta.

Whereas red seaweeds are quite elastic and will stretch when pulled, brown seaweeds will simply break apart.

If we wanted to compare bull kelp to other types of kelp or other types of brown seaweed, here is a list of other species:

Rockweed (fucus)

Sea Cabbage (hedophyllum) -Kelp

Walking Stick Kelp

Bull Kelp (nerocystis)

Feather Boa Kelp (egregia)

Winged Kelp

Stringy Acid Hair

I hope this provided you guys with a little more information on bull kelp and seaweeds in general.