The Importance of Algae to Life on the Earth

Algae come in mostly red and green. Most freshwater algae are green. This is the stuff that makes water turn green when it is becoming stagnant. Algae tend to be long filaments of plant material although some can exist as single cells. The filaments are strands of cells connected end to end.

Green algae are aquatic producers. They catch the sunlight that penetrates the water while they absorb nutrients from the water and produce sugar and oxygen just the way their larger land loving cousins do. The food is stored in each cell until the cell grows large enough to reproduce. Algae can become so dense that they can clog pipes and can be scooped up almost like seaweed. Water will look the color of the algae that live in it when they become concentrated enough.

Most fish eat algae as at least part of their diet. Other single cell and simple organisms depend on algae for protection and food. A thick growth of algae can even have snails crawling through it. The oxygen produced by algae supplements the oxygen absorbed at the surface of the water to keep a steady supply for water-breathing creatures. Algae blooms near the coastlines create ideal conditions for many creatures to move in for prime feeding. Some feed on the algae. Some feed on the creatures that eat the algae.

Excess oxygen produced by the huge quantities of algae and other aquatic flora finds its way into the atmosphere to help maintain the 20% or so of atmospheric oxygen that land creatures, including humans, need to live. It is thought that the enormous quantities of algae living in the oceans is a valuable at helping filter out excess carbon dioxide and release oxygen as the tropical rain forests.

Some blue-green algae team up in a symbiotic relationship with a fungus to make lichen. Lichen is an important food source for some smaller animals and insects. It also helps to erode rock by secreting a weak carbonic acid. This makes a small quantity of soil to allow moss to grow. Eventually, the process leads to forest or prairie.

Algae is found over the entire planet. It serves as a food source and oxygen producer where ever it is found. The abundance of algae is critical to all life from those of the deep oceans to farm ponds. Their rapid growth and production make them important to nearly every ecosystem that exists on earth.