About Algae

Nature gave us oil from algae; perhaps we should try Nature’s way again

Algae (singular alga) is a term that encompasses many different groups of living organisms. Algae have been traditionally regarded as simple plants, and some are closely related to the higher plants.

Algae are a large and diverse paraphyletic group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms. The largest and most complex marine forms are called seaweeds. They are photosynthetic, like plants, and "simple" because they lack the many distinct organs found in land plants. For that reason they are currently excluded from being considered plants.

Though the prokaryotic Cyanobacteria (commonly referred to as Blue-green Algae) were traditionally included as "Algae" in older textbooks, many modern sources regard this as outdated and restrict the term Algae to eukaryotic organisms. All true algae therefore have a nucleus enclosed within a membrane and chloroplasts bound in one or more membranes. Algae constitute a paraphyletic and polyphyletic group, as they do not all descend from a common algal ancestor, although their chloroplasts seem to have a single origin.

Algae lack the various structures that characterize land plants, such as phyllids and rhizoids in nonvascular plants, or leaves, roots, and other organs that are found in tracheophytes. Many are photoautotrophic, although some groups contain members that are mixotrophic, deriving energy both from photosynthesis and uptake of organic carbon either by osmotrophy, myzotrophy, or phagotrophy. Some unicellular species rely entirely on external energy sources and have limited or no photosynthetic apparatus.

All algae have photosynthetic machinery ultimately derived from the Cyanobacteria and so produce oxygen as a by-product of Photosynthesis unlike other photosynthetic bacteria such as purple and green sulfur bacteria.

Algae are an extremely important species. For one, they produce more oxygen than all the plants in the world, put together! For another, they form an important food source for many animals such as little shrimps and huge whales. Thus, they are at the bottom of the food chain with many living things depending upon them.

With the recent research and interest into using algae for producing biodiesel, they have the potential to become even more important.

Oilgae Digest - If you are keen to know more about the algae fuels industry, have you checked out the Oilgae Digest? It provides precise status information on the algae energy industry and will help you quickly understand the most important aspects of this exciting industry.

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