• Question: how do kelps produce oxygen? and when they do how does it rise to the surface?

    Asked by 888furk22 to Kathryn on 10 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Kathryn Schoenrock

      Kathryn Schoenrock answered on 10 Nov 2017:


      Kelps are very similar to land plants so they use light to make their energy in photosynthesis. They do this with a very unique part of their cells called the chloroplast- light is trapped there, and with some water, transformed into sugars in a ‘metabolic reaction’. This kind of reaction also produces waste, one waste product in actually oxygen which leaves the algae and stays in the water itself where other animals or even the kelp itself can use the oxygen. Animals use it to breath and seaweeds use it to break sugar down into energy for growing, making ‘seeds’ and more.

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