Aquatic photosynthesis is the occurrence of

photosynthesis Photosynthesis ( ) is a system of biological processes by which photosynthetic organisms, such as most plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, convert light energy, typically from sunlight, into the chemical energy necessary to fuel their metabo ...

in the aquatic environment, which includes the freshwater environment and the marine (saltwater) environment. Organisms that perform photosynthesis in the aquatic environment include but are not limited to

plants Plants are the eukaryotes that form the kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria to produce sugars f ...

algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...

cyanobacteria Cyanobacteria ( ) are a group of autotrophic gram-negative bacteria that can obtain biological energy via oxygenic photosynthesis. The name "cyanobacteria" () refers to their bluish green (cyan) color, which forms the basis of cyanobacteri ...

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

phytoplankton Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater Aquatic ecosystem, ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek language, Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), mea ...

(also known as micro algae).

Primary producers

Most life on Earth is supported by photosynthesis. Photosynthesis creates the

glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecular formula , which is often abbreviated as Glc. It is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. It is mainly made by plants and most algae d ...

that is consumed by

herbivores A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat ...

, which are then consumed by carnivores. In this way, photosynthesis is often the beginning of the

food web A food web is the natural interconnection of food chains and a graphical representation of what-eats-what in an ecological community. Position in the food web, or trophic level, is used in ecology to broadly classify organisms as autotrophs or he ...

. Because these organisms that photosynthesize are producing the primary ingredients for our food webs, we call them 'primary producers'.

Carbon capture

The action of photosynthesizing takes gaseous

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

, and locks it into the solid form of glucose, that contributes to

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. Photosynthesis reduces carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, thus reducing the

greenhouse gas Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are the gases in the atmosphere that raise the surface temperature of planets such as the Earth. Unlike other gases, greenhouse gases absorb the radiations that a planet emits, resulting in the greenhouse effect. T ...

effect via

carbon capture Carbon capture may refer to: * Carbon capture and storage Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a process by which carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial installations is separated before it is released into the atmosphere, then transported to a l ...

Oxygen production

Photosynthesis produces oxygen. Most of us think of trees when we think of photosynthesis. However, over half of the photosynthesis on Earth is occurring in the oceans, which means that over half of the oxygen we breathe is coming from the photosynthesis that occurs in the oceans.

Obstacles to aquatic photosynthesis

The biggest obstacle to photosynthesis in the aquatic setting is that light is needed for photosynthesis, and water itself will absorb light. By the time light reaches 10 meters deep, about half or more of the light has already been absorbed by the water. Very little light reaches any deeper than 200 meters, and thus the top 200 meters of the oceans is called the "

euphotic zone The photic zone (or euphotic zone, epipelagic zone, or sunlight zone) is the uppermost layer of a body of water that receives sunlight, allowing phytoplankton to perform photosynthesis. It undergoes a series of physical, chemical, and biological ...

" or the "sunlight zone". The addition of any debris in the water or clouds in the sky will greatly reduce the penetration of light in the water.

References

{{reflist Photosynthesis Aquatic plants