EEB382H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Guitarfish, Triggerfish, Beta-Carotene
16 Sep 2016
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Document Summary
As humans we have trouble envisioning what it"s like to be a fish. Light is the flow of photons through a medium: photons acts as a particle (so can move from place to place, photon can also act as a wave (a transfer of energy through particles) Particle doesn"t move a lot but energy passed through: photons act as particles and waves, when we talk about photons, we talk about wavelengths of light, we will only be dealing with the detectable light. Energy packed into photon is important in terms of how photopigments work. Living in an aquatic environment is very different from terrestrial system. When light particles hit water: some get absorbed. Water molecules selectively absorbs reds, orange, and yellows. Organic particles selectively absorbs short wavelengths (blues and violets) Plants and algae selectively absorb photons depending on what they are. Plant chlorophyll selectively absorbs blues and reds, reflecting green.
