Plants, underwater?

Happy Thanksgiving week everyone, this is my first newsletter on this platform, so feel free to give me any feedback!

Plants are all around us, literally. Whether you keep them at home or see them outside. All though they don’t seem like much, plants actually are vital to our survival. I’m probably boring you because you may know how plants contribute to every living thing on earth. While it is true that all the botany on earth takes in carbon, and releases that sweet, sweet oxygen, these stems with leaves are much more than that. From trees to small bushes, they provide cover, food, and even homes for many living things. Ok, I’ve said enough, let’s dive into today’s topic.

You might be confused by the title, but I assure you it will make sense after you read this newsletter, so keep reading! People might think of underwater plants like seaweed or coral that all live in saltwater environments. In this newsletter, I will be focusing on freshwater plants. In these underwater worlds, plants are vital to sea animals, like they are vital to us land mammals. They provide food, cover, and homes for fish, and other creatures. Sound familiar, right? Underwater plants also take in oxygen and release carbon. There are three types of underwater plants, or let’s just call them aquatic plants. More types of plants do exist, but I am focusing on the main three. They are (drumroll please) submerged, emerged, and free-floating.

Submerged plants are plants that live, well fully underwater. This includes plants like Anubias, Java fern, Amazon Waterweed, Amazon Sword, or dwarf hair grass (feel free to do more research on these plants they are really cool). Another key factor is that submerged plants are rooted in the foreground. Well, not all of them. You see there is a rule-breaker to this. A certain plant group called epiphytes doesn’t attach to the foreground but attaches to driftwood, stones, or pebbles. These plants can’t survive in the ground, because they take in nutrients from the water, not from the ground.

Emerged plants are aquatic plants that are rooted to the ground of the water, but their leaves or vegetation grows out of it. Plants like these need more exposure to sunlight, so they grow toward the sun. You may find these plants at a river bed. Examples of emerged plants are knotweed or redroot.

Floating plants are probably the aquatic plants you are most familiar with. Their roots are submerged underwater (which helps these plants absorb nutrients), but their vegetation stays firm and flat, so they can absorb more sunlight. Floating plants can be in freshwater or saltwater environments. Examples of floating plants are duckweed, water lettuce, water lilies.

Well then, aquatic plants are cool. They have such a similar effect that terrestrial plants have on us land mammals. To summarize, plants are everywhere, and it is better for us to keep them that way. Today I showed you how vital plants are to every living being underwater or not. I hope you all learned something new today, goodbye!