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In a reversal of the pattern on land, in the oceans, almost all photosynthesis is performed by algae and cyanobacteria, with a small fraction contributed by vascular plants and other groups. Algae encompass a diverse range of organisms, ranging from single floating cells to attached seaweeds. They include photoautotrophs from a variety of groups.
Algae can be used to capture fertilizers in runoff from farms. When subsequently harvested, the enriched algae can be used as fertilizer. Aquaria and ponds can be filtered using algae, which absorb nutrients from the water in a device called an algae scrubber, also known as an algae turf scrubber. [130] [131]
Algae is an alternative for gelatin and can also be a much more natural/healthier source for creating low carb, gluten and fat-free foods. [4] Algae presents a distinct advantage over traditional food and feed sources, as it does not compete with them and does not require changes in land use.
Tillandsia bourgaei growing on an oak tree in Mexico. An epiphyte is a plant or plant-like organism that grows on the surface of another plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it.
The pelagic food web, showing the central involvement of marine microorganisms in how the ocean imports nutrients from and then exports them back to the atmosphere and ocean floor. A marine food web is a food web of marine life. At the base of the ocean food web are single-celled algae and other plant-like organisms known as phytoplankton.
Algae also use chlorophyll, but various other pigments are present, such as phycocyanin, carotenes, and xanthophylls in green algae, phycoerythrin in red algae (rhodophytes) and fucoxanthin in brown algae and diatoms resulting in a wide variety of colors. These pigments are embedded in plants and algae in complexes called antenna proteins.
Garton said one the endemic algae species died, which required him and Van Kley to collect more. The two also had difficulty taking the mass of the chlorella algae, partly because it was so small.
Trentepohlia is a filamentous green alga that can live independently on humid soil, rocks or tree bark or form the photosymbiont in lichens of the family Graphidaceae. Also the macroalga Prasiola calophylla (Trebouxiophyceae) is terrestrial, [ 10 ] and Prasiola crispa , which live in the supralittoral zone , is terrestrial and can in the ...