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References:
- http://www.audubon.org/magazine/january-february-2012/ten-fun-facts-about-algae
- http://ecflora.cavehill.uwi.edu/bio_courses/bl14apl/algal_evolution.htm
Fun Facts
- Percent of oxygen produced by algae: 30-50
- Times more productive algae is than traditional crops as a biofuel: 50
- Number of cells in the most basic algae: 1
- maximum length, in feet, that kelp, the largest algae, can grow: 200
Human Impact
- Food
- Medicine
- Biofuel
- Beauty products
- Pollution control
- Fertilizer
Morphology
- Colonial: small, regular groups of motile cells
- Capsoid: individual non-motile cells embedded in mucilage
- Coccoid: individual non-motile cells with cell walls
- Palmelloid: non-motile cells embedded in mucilage
- Filamentous: a string of non-motile cells connected together, sometimes branching
- Parenchymatous: cells forming a thallus with partial differentiation of tissues
Evolution
The first plants on earth probably evolved from shallow freshwater charophyte algae much like Chara almost 500 million years ago. These probably had an isomorphic alternation of generations and were probably filamentous. Fossils of isolated land plant spores suggest land plants may have been around as long as 475 million years ago
Ecology
Algae are prominent in bodies of water, common in terrestrial environments and are found in unusual environments, such as on snow and on ice. Seaweeds grow mostly in shallow marine waters, under 100 meters (330 ft);
some have been recorded to a depth of 360 metres (1,180 ft).[