3 ms·

just curious, how do underwater plants pollinate in general, while Ive never thought about it - I guess it would be currents?

tomrod 4y ago
PBS Eons has a few related videos iirc
- samstave 4y ago
  But do they pollinate through their roots? because - then a whole realm of hydroponic polination for anything that can be pollinated through a root, would be really interesting. Think of real Wasabi - which thrives in very shallow, consistently flowing steams... -- Nevermind, I find the answers... Wasabi, still uses flowering insect polination in the wild, but is farmed via vegatative cloning. Seaweed is really interesting, male and female plants release cells that fuse to create the zygote --- Thanks for the min rabbit hole by posting this to HN ---- Sexual reproduction in seaweed typically involves the production of male and female gametes, which are released into the water column. The gametes then fuse to form zygotes, which develop into a new seaweed plant. Asexual reproduction in seaweed involves the fragmentation of the plant, where pieces of the seaweed break off and develop into new individuals. In commercial seaweed farming, propagation is typically done through vegetative propagation or by seeding. Vegetative propagation involves taking cuttings from mature seaweed plants and growing them in a suitable environment until they form new plants. Seeding involves the placement of young spores or young plants onto lines or ropes, which are then suspended in the water and allowed to grow.
  - cubefox 4y ago
    Note that seaweeds are algues, not (flowering) plants. These are called seagrasses.
pvaldes 4y ago
Most underwater "plants" are algae, too primitive to produce flowers. Their life cycles are complicated and the fecundation happens in special short lived individuals called gametophytes that are generated from spores and produce gametes that fuse into other spores. They don't produce pollen, so can't be pollinated. To speak crudely, pollen is like a vase that hosts inside a crew of "spermatozoan like" gametes and then injects them directly in the right place. Algae just release the gametes without the "mothership". Some have "smart" gametes that act basically like tiny animals. This was a headache for a lot of time until a new kingdom was created for "neither exactly a plant nor an animal". The upper aquatic plants normally just raise the flowers over the surface to use the old reliable insects (Lotus). Only a few remain totally submerged at all times (Posidonia) and those probably use crustaceans and sea currents as pollinators.
- cubefox 4y ago
  I couldn't find any evidence of Posidonia using crustaceans for pollination, so it seems they just use the sea current, similar to wind pollination over water. However, underwater animal pollination does exist in some seagrasses, namely by help of marine worms: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1130235892 https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1130235892 Another bit about Posidonia: > The Posidonia herbarium has a very high life expectancy. According to some scientists, this species can live several centuries. Some specimens aged over 80,000 years have been found in the Balearic Islands. https://www.spotmydive.com/en/ecology/posidonia-oceanica-marine-flowering-plant-endemic-to-the-mediterranean-sea https://www.spotmydive.com/en/ecology/posidonia-oceanica-mar...

tomrod 4y ago

PBS Eons has a few related videos iirc

samstave 4y ago
But do they pollinate through their roots? because - then a whole realm of hydroponic polination for anything that can be pollinated through a root, would be really interesting. Think of real Wasabi - which thrives in very shallow, consistently flowing steams... -- Nevermind, I find the answers... Wasabi, still uses flowering insect polination in the wild, but is farmed via vegatative cloning. Seaweed is really interesting, male and female plants release cells that fuse to create the zygote --- Thanks for the min rabbit hole by posting this to HN ---- Sexual reproduction in seaweed typically involves the production of male and female gametes, which are released into the water column. The gametes then fuse to form zygotes, which develop into a new seaweed plant. Asexual reproduction in seaweed involves the fragmentation of the plant, where pieces of the seaweed break off and develop into new individuals. In commercial seaweed farming, propagation is typically done through vegetative propagation or by seeding. Vegetative propagation involves taking cuttings from mature seaweed plants and growing them in a suitable environment until they form new plants. Seeding involves the placement of young spores or young plants onto lines or ropes, which are then suspended in the water and allowed to grow.
- cubefox 4y ago
  Note that seaweeds are algues, not (flowering) plants. These are called seagrasses.

pvaldes 4y ago

Most underwater "plants" are algae, too primitive to produce flowers. Their life cycles are complicated and the fecundation happens in special short lived individuals called gametophytes that are generated from spores and produce gametes that fuse into other spores. They don't produce pollen, so can't be pollinated. To speak crudely, pollen is like a vase that hosts inside a crew of "spermatozoan like" gametes and then injects them directly in the right place. Algae just release the gametes without the "mothership". Some have "smart" gametes that act basically like tiny animals. This was a headache for a lot of time until a new kingdom was created for "neither exactly a plant nor an animal". The upper aquatic plants normally just raise the flowers over the surface to use the old reliable insects (Lotus). Only a few remain totally submerged at all times (Posidonia) and those probably use crustaceans and sea currents as pollinators.

cubefox 4y ago
I couldn't find any evidence of Posidonia using crustaceans for pollination, so it seems they just use the sea current, similar to wind pollination over water. However, underwater animal pollination does exist in some seagrasses, namely by help of marine worms: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1130235892 https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1130235892 Another bit about Posidonia: > The Posidonia herbarium has a very high life expectancy. According to some scientists, this species can live several centuries. Some specimens aged over 80,000 years have been found in the Balearic Islands. https://www.spotmydive.com/en/ecology/posidonia-oceanica-marine-flowering-plant-endemic-to-the-mediterranean-sea https://www.spotmydive.com/en/ecology/posidonia-oceanica-mar...