Algae is a one-celled plant that can grow in your pool if conditions are favorable.
There are over 400,000 known varieties of algae.
Algae are mainly found in marine or freshwater environments.
Algae produce oxygen which other aquatic life uses.
Algae are important to humans in the form of food and medicine.
Algae are vital in many food chains acting as the primary producer of organic matter.
In some areas of the Indian ocean the sea surface lights up at night. It is so bright that one can read a newspaper. This light is caused by tiny sea algae, the Dino-flagellata. Sometimes the lightened surface has a diameter of more than 1.5 km.
Algae are used in many wastewater treatment facilities, reducing the need for harmful chemicals, and are used in some power plants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Red algae are important members of coral reefs. Red algae are unusual among the algae because they can include in their cell walls calcium carbonate which makes the plants hard and resistant to wear.
Brown algae are found mainly in the tidal zones of temperate to polar seas, but some exist in the deep ocean. Among the brown algae are the largest and most complex of the algae; well-known forms include the giant kelp and the free-floating sargassum weed.
Algae have chlorophyll and can manufacture their own food through the process of photosynthesis.
Kelps are the largest algaes. They can be more than 200 feet.
It is the major food for fishes.
The oceans cover about 71% of the Earth’s surface, yet algae produce more than 71% of the Earth’s oxygen; in fact, some scientists believe that algae produce 87% of the world’s oxygen.
They also help remove huge amounts of Carbon Dioxide.
Oxygen was poisonous to the organisms that populated the early Earth. By producing oxygen, the first algae may have created the greatest toxic waste crisis in history.
