By Dr. Jack Hall
On a recent fossil collect
ing trip a friend asked, %26quot;What do you think is the most important organism on the Earth?%26quot; She knew full well I would answer, %26quot;Humans!%26quot; since we are the masters of our domain and w
ithout rival in the animal world (are we good or what?).
She was a bit surprised, and gave me the %26quot;Are you nuts?%26quot; look, when, without hesitation, I answered, %26quot;No doubt about it... hands down the most important organism on this pla
net is marine algae.%26quot;
%26quot;Algae?!?,%26quot; she said.
%26quot;Algae?!?,%26quot; she said.
Phytoplankton are tiny microscopic plants - algae - that form the base of the marine food chain. Phytoplankton is most abundant in colder waters where there is an abundance of nutrients.
%26quot;Yes, Algae,%26quot; I answered. %26quot;Do you want an e
xplanation or are you going to take my word on this?%26quot; I asked.
%26quot;Let me think about it and I'll get back to you on that one,%26quot; she said. As we continued our hunt for shark's teeth, whale bones, and anything else we could find, she finally broke down. %26quot;I don't get it. We can change the world in so many ways鈥?.what has algae done?
%26quot;Very simple,%26quot; I said. %26quot;Algae allows us and almost every other organism you can think of, living or dead, to be here.%26quot;
Suddenly, she got that look. You know, the one you get when that light bulb in your head clicks on鈥?bing, there it is! %26quot;Ah, oxygen, right?%26quot;
%26quot;Correctomundo!%26quot; was my very scientific reply.
Seaweed are not plants, but are algae. Not only does algae provide much of the Earth's oxygen, they also are the base for almost all marine life. Green algae (pictured) gets its color from chlorophyll and exists on or near the surface where there is plenty of sunlight. Green algae is not as common in the ocean as brown and red seaweed. It is also more closely related to land plants than any other type of algae.
It is estimated that between 70% and 80% of the oxygen in the atmosphere is produced by marine plants . Nearly all marine plants are single celled, photosynthetic algae. Yup, that's right, good ol' scum on the pond鈥reen gak鈥?.slip slimein' away. Even marine seaweed is many times colonial algae. They are a bunch of single cells trying to look like a big plant (see seaweed photo), but they are really individuals.
We need marine algae a whole lot more than they need us. Think about it鈥?70% to 80% of all the oxygen we breathe comes from algae! Without them we would really be sucking wind, but not for long! At this point you may be saying, %26quot;Yo! What about the trees and other land plants?%26quot; Well, trees and other land plants are very important, no doubt about it. But for pure survival, we couldn't make it without algae.
Why does so much of our oxygen come from algae? Well, first of all, remember that the oceans cover about 71% of this planet and land is only about 29%. If we assume that every square mile of the ocean produces as much oxygen as every square mile of land, then this makes sense. The oceans would produce about 71% and the land 29% of the oxygen we breathe. Looks like we are in the ballpark don't you think?
Now the question is, %26quot;Are the oceans, indeed, as productive as the land?%26quot; At first you might not think so, after all when you look at the land there are trees and bushes and grass and all kinds of plants growing. They must crank out oxygen to beat the band! They do, but also remember that there are many places on land that don't have much in the way of plants. How about Antarctica or the Sahara Desert along with many others? These are pretty good sized chunks of real estate where plants are few and far between. How much oxygen is being pumped out in these areas?
I would venture to say there's not enough to keep a pack of wild ha
msters (ever seen wild hamsters?) going for very long. So, some areas on land have an abundance of plants and produce a large quantity of oxygen while others have very few plants and produce very little.
The same can be said for the oceans. There are some areas that have an abundance of algae living in the waters and other areas that don't. In the ocean there are areas of upwelling where cold, nutrient rich bottom water moves toward the surface. These upwelling waters mix with the surface water and produce an area that is like liquid fertilizer for plants. They go ballistic and there are billions of the little critters in the water just pumping out oxygen left and right. Other areas of the oceans don't have much in the way of nutrients in the water and they are like the deserts on land with very few plants.
Not All Are Green: Count Your Algae!
There are three types of algae: red, green and brown. Some algae in the ocean are very small and drift in the ocean water. Those algae are phytoplankton. The most abundant type of algae is brown algae, with over 5,000 species (not all are totally brown). Red algae has over 2,000 species, and lives where light is dim, in deeper waters, mostly in temperate and tropical waters. Green algae is more common on land and in fresh water systems, but is theWhat is the summary of this article, please?I don't want to be mean but all you have to do is read it and write a summary
%26quot;A summary or recap is a shortened version of the original. The main purpose of such a simplification is to highlight the major points from the genuine (much longer) subject, e.g. a text, a film or an event. The target is to help the audience get the gist in a short period of time.%26quot; (http ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summary)
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