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Algae:Nature’s Smallest GiftbyLen Bloch

Algae:The most important organisms on Earth?Humans are not the most important life forms onthe planet. If all six billion of us were to suddenlydisappear, the Earth would barely notice; life wouldcontinue. But if the algae died, the Earth wouldsoon become a barren, almost lifeless rock. Strangely,most people don’t even know what algae are.The word “algae” embraces a huge variety of lifeforms, and scientists don’t alway agree on whichorganisms are algae, and which ones aren’t. You maythink of algae as plants that float in the water, butthat’s not exactly correct. Like plants, algae maketheir own food by photosynthesis. But algae aren’tplanted in the ground, so they aren’t really plants.Furthermore, some algae don’t live in the water, theymight live in the soil or in the snow, and some algaehave even been found floating in clouds. So we candefine algae as photosynthetic life forms that usuallyfloat in the water.Water Lilies are plants that live in the water,but they are not algae because they have roots,leaves, and stems.There are huge numbers of algae. Everything fromthe tiniest photosynthetic bacterium to a giant kelpthat grows 200 feet tall are considered algae. Butwhat makes algae so important?The oceans cover about 71% of the Earth’s surface,yet algae produce more than 71% of the Earth’soxygen; in fact, some scientists believe that algaeproduce 87% of the world’s Oxygen. They also helpremove huge amounts of Carbon Dioxide from the air.Carbon Dioxide causes global warming, so algae areone of our most important allies in the fight againstclimate change. Algae have always been important,but, because of global warming, they are becomingmore important every day.Kelp are algae, but most algae are microscopicRemember, the giant kelp that you can see with youreyes aren’t nearly as important as the trillions andtrillions of microscopic algae that float in the water.Algae truly are nature’s smallest gift. To understandhow huge a tiny gift can be, it helps to imagine aworld without algae.The green color in this satellite image comes from trillions and trillionsof microscopic algae floating in the Bering Sea between Alaskaand Russia. They are making oxygen and helping protect us fromglobal warming.-->

Life before algae.If we had a time machine to take us to the most important event in life’s history, we would not goback to the building of the pyramids or witness the first human beings learning to tame fire. Wewould not watch an asteroid kill off the dinosaurs, or even the first fish start to crawl on land.We would witness an event that happened 3 billion years ago. Yet, even with the best scientifictools in the world, we could not see the event take place. To witness the most important event inthe history of the earth, even with a time machine, we would have no choice but to stand besidethe blue-green ocean and imagine the silent movement of molecules through a living cell and intothe air.We would step out on a seemingly lifeless landscape, wearing space suits to protect ourselvesfrom the battery acid that rains from the sky and the sun’s burning rays. We would carry oxygentanks to breathe. Our eyes would think they stared out on a lifeless landscape. And evenwith a microscope, we wouldn’t see anything as complex as a paramecium or an amoeba. All ourmicroscope would reveal are little round, seemingly lifeless, dots and dashes-- bacteria. Many ofthe bacteria ate food particles floating in the water. But hundreds of millions of years before ourarrival, some of them developed the amazing ability to make food for themselves by using energyfrom the sun along with two gasses Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and Hydrogen (H2) which were abundanton the ancient earth. They did this through a series of complex chemical reactions, but youcould simplify the reactions to look like this:CO2 + H2 +Sunlight --> FoodThen, about 3.5 billion years ago, the bacteria started to run out of Hydrogen gas, and it seemedthat, they wouldn’t be able to make food anymore. Luckily, the early Earth stank like rotten eggs.You see, the rotten egg smell is Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S). When the earth ran out of large quantitiesof pure Hydrogen gas, some bacteria started to use Hydrogen Sulfide as a source of Hydrogen.This new reaction was almost like the old one:CO2 + H2S +Sunlight --> Food + S

The First AlgaeLuckily, the early life forms were floating in a sea of hydrogen. Water is often called “H2O;” thismeans that every molecule of water contains one atom of oxygen and two atoms of hydrogen. Ifthe bacteria could figure out how to separate the hydrogen atoms from the oxygen atom in water,then they would have an almost endless supply of hydrogen, and it would be possible for them tokeep making food.Every water molecule contains one oxygen atom (Orange) and two hydrogenatoms (White).But separating oxygen and hydrogen was not easy. Water is incredibly stable. It is as thoughOxygen and Hydrogen form a loving family that do not want to separate. It was almost impossiblefor the early bacteria to force the hydrogen atoms to let go of their beloved oxygen atom. Luckily,the bacteria had an incredibly powerful ally-- the sun. Once the bacteria figured out howto use the sun’s energy to separate Hydrogen from Oxygen, they uncovered an almost unlimitedsupply of Hydrogen. These early bacteria became the first algae, for they developed a new wayto make food out of water. This new technique is called photosynthesis. If you write it out as achemical reaction, it looks like this:CO2 + H2O + Sunlight --> Food + O2Water-based photosynthesis had solved the food crisis, but it created an even bigger crisis. Oxygenmisses hydrogen, and it will take hydrogen from anywhere it can, tearing apart molecules tomake water. By creating water-based photosynthesis, the first algae had created the greatesttoxic waste problem in the history of the planet. Oxygen’s desire to combine with Hydrogen is asource of great power. Life had not yet learned how to tame that power, and oxygen untamedbecame the greatest threat in the history of life. Oxygen can tear through living tissues, destroyingmembranes, protein, and even DNA. Bacteria would die in massive numbers. Some scientistscall this event the Great Oxidation; others call it the Oxygen Catastrophe; most call it theOxygen Holocaust.

Oxygen: Threat or Opportunity“Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting.”-- R. Buckminster FullerAt first, oxygen didn’t threaten the primitive life forms. The oceans were filled with trillions oftons of iron. The iron absorbed the oxygen by rusting, thereby postponing a toxic waste crisis.After around 500 Million years, most of the world’s iron had already turned to rust, and oxygenstarted to build up in the atmosphere. Life was faced with its greatest crisis. Oxygen was incrediblypoisonous, and many life forms were forced to retreat to the depths of the oceans. Ifoxygen levels continued to rise, life would not have been able to survive on the surface of theearth. Once again, our ancestors were saved by the algae.Some algae started to run the machinery of photosynthesis backwards and began to remove oxygenfrom the environment. Here is the formula for Photosynthesis, which creates oxygen:CO2 + H2O + Sunlight --> Food + O2By simply reversing the process of photosynthesis, you use up oxygen:Food + O2 --> CO2 + H2O + Chemical EnergyThis new reaction, photosynthesis in reverse, is called respiration. It is not exactly the oppositeof photosynthesis. Photosynthesis uses light energy, but respiration releases chemical energy.These new oxygen-loving bacteria (they can no longer be called algae, because, by running thephotosynthetic machinery backwards, they lost the ability to convert sunlight into food) were ableto turn food into chemical energy. The bacteria could use this chemical energy in a thousand differentways. Oxygen had become, not a threat, but the greatest energy source on the planet.These descendents of the first algae didn’t just learn how to use oxygen for energy. They savedall life on Earth from the oxygen holocaust. In fact they are right now this very minute, helpingto save your cells from dying of oxygen poisoning. How they do this is one of the most amazingtales in the history of life on Earth.

Algae R UsSome descendents of the first algae survived theoxygen holocaust by using oxygen rather than lettingit poison them. But what of the other life forms?How did they survive the oxygen holocaust?Some learned to tolerate oxygen; others hid from oxygendeep in the ocean or in the bottoms of swamps.Our ancestors developed a brilliant solution to theoxygen problem.It started by accident, when a single-celled organismate some aerobic bacteria. Then, instead of digestingits dinner, it let the bacteria continue to live inside ofitself, so they could clean up the poisonous oxygen.The bacteria found a new home. They liked living insideanother cell. They no longer had to find food, ordefend themselves from predators. They had nothingto do but reproduce and break down food for energy.Soon, they were generating more energy than theycould use, so they let their host cell use the extrachemical energy.The descendents of the first oxygen-breathing bacterialive in our cells today; we call them mitochondria.Mitochondria provide us with most of the energywe need to live, but they still have their own DNAand reproduce like single-celled organisms. Algaedid more than create the air that we breathe, thedescendents of the first algae make up part of ourflesh. We breathe so they can breathe; we eat sothey can eat.Next, the algae were ready to do something evenmore amazing. They were about to help create anew life form-- an almost perfect organism.Some bacteria that are poisoned by oxygenlive in the intestines of cows and producemethane, which leaves the cow when it burpsor farts. Methane contributes to globalwarming, thus farting cows are an environmentalhazard.Mitochondria, like these two from a humanlung, are descendents of the first algae. Theylive inside human cells, but they have theirown DNA, which is completely different frommost of the DNA in human cells.

A Perfect Life-formNow, imagine a super-organism, a living cell that uses mitochondria to get energy from food, andalso has a photosynthetic bacteria living in it. It would be a super-organism; it could create foodand oxygen, and then it could use the oxygen to burn the food for energy.This is such a brilliant solution to life’s problems that nature uses this trick over and over. Infact, these super-organisms now rule the earth. Some of them represent an entirely new formof algae, but there are lots of other examples.Some cells that already had mitochondriaate a second photosynthetic bacteria.These bacteria still live inside the largercells, and we call them chloroplasts.Plants, including these trees, are descended from greenalgae. The ancestors of green algae became algae byeating a smaller species of algae.Giant Clams get theircolor from blue-greenalgae that live withintheir tissues. They cangrow so huge becausethey can eat, and theycan make their ownfood with the help ofthe algae. -->Even modern microbes can eat algae to becomephotosynthetic. Paramecium bursaria can eithereat food, like animals, or live with algae insidetheir cells, like plants.

“Is Euglena a plant or an animal?”Euglena are some of the oddest organisms on Earth.They’re so strange that, almost by themselves, theychanged how scientists think about life on Earth.For hundreds of years, scientists thought that everyliving thing was either an animal or a plant. Itseemed pretty easy to tell plants from animals. Mostplants are green and stay still; most animals eatfood and move. There are microscopic differencestoo. Plant cells have structures that you don’t find inanimals; two of the most important are chloroplasts,which are used for photosynthesis, and a cell wall,which surrounds and protects plant cells.It was very hard to tell if Euglena were plants oranimals. They can photosynthesize, like plants, butthey also eat food, like animals. Like animals, theycan move and they have no cell wall, but like plants,they have chloroplasts. Euglena were so confusingthat for more than one hundred years after theirdiscovery, scientists debated whether Euglena wereplants or animals.The debate was resolved, and in the process, biologywas completely transformed. For thousands of years,biologists divided all living things into two groups--plants and animals. In 1979, a scientist named RobertWhittaker proposed that instead of there being 2kingdoms of life, there are, in fact, five kingdoms:1) Monerans: simple single-celled organisms, like bacteria.2) Protists: complex colonial or single-celled organismslike Euglena.3) Animals: Multicellular organisms with no cell wall,that need to ingest food, like elephants.4) Fungi: Generally multicellular organisms with a cellwall that absorb food from their environment, likebread mold.5) Plants: Multicellular organisms with a cell wall thatdo photosynthesis, like oak trees.So if anyone ever asks you, “Are Euglena plants oranimals?” you should give them a surprising one-wordanswer:“Neither.”In this picture of a typical plant cell, the chloroplastsand cell wall are clearly visible.This is a picture of human blood, which showsboth red blood cells, and a single white blood cellin the middle. There are no chloroplasts or cellwalls surrounding these animal cells.Euglena have green chloroplasts and a tail-likeflagellum which it uses to swim. Is this a plantor an animal?

Five KingdomsSince 1979, most scientists have used five kingdoms tounderstand the variety of life on Earth. So all animals,from jellyfish to whales, are considered animalsbecause they all share certain characteristics. Theyall eat food, they all move at some point during theirlife, and no animals have cell walls protecting theircells.So which of the five kingdoms contain the algae? Algaecan’t be animals, because animals can’t do photosynthesis.Fungi can’t do photosynthesis either, so noalgae can be found in the Fungus Kingdom. But thealgae are so diverse, so varied, so different from eachother, that the algae can fit in all three of the otherkingdoms. There are simple photosynthetic bacteria,called Cyanobacteria, that are considered algae.There are also more complex single-celled organismslike Euglena, which are members of the protistkingdom. Finally, some large algae, like kelp, are inthe plant kingdom. So this simple word, “Algae” hideshuge diversity. In fact, in terms of genetics andevolution, you are closer to a Euglena than a Euglenais to a cyanobacteria, even though both Euglena andCyanobactera are considered algae.Seaweeds, such as kelp and red algae, are consideredalgae, but they are more closely related to plantslike tulips or redwood trees than they are to eithercyanobacteria or Euglena. The rest of this book willfocus on single-celled algae, but Seaweeds are animportant part of the story of life on Earth.Cyanobacteria are the simplest form of algae.Still, they can live in an amazing variety of environments.Some can even survive in the desert.Most Paramecia are considered animal-like protists.But Paramecium bursia will eat blue-greenalgae, and then let the algae live inside of it.Does this mean that paramecia can be algae?A seahorse’s strange body allows it to camoflageitself while living in floating mats of Sargassumseaweed.Without knowing it, you have probably eatenIrish Moss. It produces a substance called “carrageenan”which is used in a lot of foods, includingice cream.

CyanobacteriaCyanobacteria are much smaller and have a much simpler structure than other algae. Their smallsize hides an amazing ability to adapt and live in a huge variety of habitats. Of course, you canfind Cyanobacteria in ponds, lakes and oceans, but some species live in boiling hot water, in ice,and even inside of rocks!The red and yellow colors in this boiling hot watercome from live cyanobacteria. Although most algaeare green, species of cyanobacteria can be red,golden yellow, or even blue.The pink snow is made by live cyanobacteria. Somecyanobacteria even live in the glaciers of antarctica.

Joining forces in space.If you have ever gone hiking in the country, you have probably seen one of nature’s most enduringpartnerships. A lichen unites a fungus (which is very good at getting nutrients from its environment)with an algae (which is very good at photosynthesis). When they join forces, they cangrow by extracting nutrients from bare rock while getting energy from the sun. A lichen is like aplant that doesn’t even need soil to grow!It has taken decades for these lichens tocover this rock. But eventually, they willbreak down the rock into soil, and allow aforest to grow.When NASA scientists saw the round structurein the middle of this picture from the surface ofMars, they were struck by how much it resembled alichen. Still, more study is needed to conclude thatthere is life on Mars.Liichens can do more than grow on bare rock. Lichens can survive in Space. Astronauts from theEuropean Space Agency took some lichens into orbit, and then let them float outside the spaceship,exposing them to the radiation and cold of empty space for two weeks. When the astronautsbrought them back into the spaceship, the Lichens were still alive!Since lichens can survive space, it might be possible for them to travel between the planets byhitching a ride on meteorites. Maybe lichens can live on other planets. Strange as it sounds,lichens may have already been discovered on Mars! If so, humanity’s first encounter with a spacealien was with a lichen.After spending 2 weeks in space, this lichenstill looks healthy.It’s cells look undamaged.

Cyanobacteria and HumansAlthough most people have never heard of them, Cyanobacteria have huge impacts on humans.You already know that the oxygen in theair was first created by ancient cyanobacteria.These fossilized stromatalites arethe remains of ancient colonies of cyanobacteriathat helped make it possiblefor plants, animals and humans to inhabitthe planet earth. Cyanobacteria still contributeoxygen to the atmosphere.Petroleum is fossilized algae, and the oldestoil reserves in the world are fossilized cyanobacteria.The world may be running outof petroleum, and its burning contributes toglobal warming and to war. If we need tofind a substitute for petroleum, cyanobacteriamay be able to help.A huge number of people depend on riceto live. Rice plants, in turn, depend oncyanobacteria that live in the soil andprovide the plant with fertilizer.Cyanobacteria have supported migratingdesert nomads for thousands of years. Thehard crust in this dry sandy desert is madeby mats of cyanobacteria.

DiatomsDiatoms outnumber all other forms of algae. Humansuse dead diatoms for many things, includingdynamite. Some day, live diatoms may becomeone of our greatest allies in the fight againstglobal warming.No one knows how many different kinds of diatomsthere are, but most scientists think thatthere may be one hundred thousand(!) speciesof diatoms in the world. Diatoms can live in theocean, in ponds, in rivers, in the soil, and even ondamp surfaces. There are probably some diatomsliving in the drain of your sink at home.Almost all diatoms live within two glassy shellsfor protection. This protection has a drawback.It makes the diatoms sink, and if they sink intothe dark depths of the ocean, they will die. Mostdiatoms either live in shallow water, or rely onthe wind to stir the water and keep them afloat.Some diatoms stay afloat by producing droplets ofoil which are lighter than water. When they die,some of them sink to the bottom of the ocean,and, over millions of years, can turn into petroleum.A lot of people think crude oil is fossilizeddinosaurs. They’re wrong, crude oil is largely fossilizeddiatoms.Their fossilized shells can produce a soft whiterock called Diatomaceous Earth. DiatomaceousEarth has many uses, from cleaning oil spills tokilling bugs. When mixed with nitroglycerin, it isused to make dynamite!Diatoms’ glassy shells are among some of themost beautiful structures in nature. Since the1800’s, people have been creating art out of diatoms.These pieces of art are so small that youneed a microscope just to see them.Under an electron microscope, you can see that a diatom’sglassy shell highly elaborate.Fossilized diatoms sometimes form largeformations called “diatomite.”Fossil Diatoms are very useful. They are one ofthe main ingredients in dynamite.

Diatom ArtDiatoms are literally microscopic, so creating diatom art is incredibly difficult. You start by coatinga microscope slide with sticky resin. Then, each diatom is carefully put in place while the artistlooks at their creation through a microscope. Because the diatoms are so small, the artist uses asingle human hair to move them into place.The diatom art below was created by Klaus Kemp of England. Amazingly, all of these art piecesare smaller than the period at the end of this sentence.If you want to see more of his art, or even purchase slides with his art, then visit his web-site:http://www.diatoms.co.uk/.

Poisonous DiatomsDeadly DiatomsDiatoms in the MoviesSometimes a glassy shell doesn’t provide enoughdefense against predators, so some diatoms haveto use deadlier means to protect themselves.Some produce poisons to kill (or sicken) anythingthat might try to eat it. This is rarely a problemfor humans, unless these deadly diatomsovertake a part of the ocean where we getfood. Then the toxins can build up and poisonthe seafood that we eat.If you eat toxic shellfish, you can get amnesia.You could forget your name, who your motheris, and where you go to school.Even deadly diatoms can be good sometimes. Inone village in Japan, the locals use Domoic Acid,the main poison made by diatoms, to treat intestinalworms. In small doses, the poison doesn’tharm humans, but it will kill parasitic wormsliving in a person’s stomach.On August 18, 1961, the residents of SantaCruz, California were awakened at 3 AM byloud thuds on the sides of their homes. Manygrabbed their flashlights, and went out to investigate,only to flee back to safety as flocksof crazed sea birds dashed towards the lights.The next morning, they found their lawns andstreets covered with sick birds, many of whomhad thrown up leaving a foul fishy stench allover town. Why would all these birds invade atown just to throw up and die?Three days later, the local newspaper received aphone call from the world-famous movie director,Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock was researchinga movie about a coastal town in Englandthat gets attacked by flocks of crazed seabirds.He was also trying to understand why the birdsmight behave so strangely. He never found out,but “The Birds” has become a classic horrormovie.Since then, scientists think they have figuredout what caused the birds in Santa Cruz to gocrazy. They were poisoned by algae!Intestinal Worms are pretty gross, but an extractfrom a poisonous Diatom can be used to get rid ofthem.A poisonous diatom helped inspirea famous horror movie. --->

DinoflagellatesThere were dinoflagellates swimming in the oceanlong before the first dinosaur walked the Earth, andthe dinoflagellates will probably outlive humanity.They are amazing creatures who prove that Algae arenot plants. Dinoflagellates can swim, they can see(or at least sense light and dark), and some can evenhunt.No one sees at a sperm swimming with its beatingflagellum think it looks like a plant, and Dinoflagellateshave two flagella. One is behind the dinoflagellateand is used to go forward, just like with asperm. The other lets it go backwards.Many dinoflagellates have little eye-spots, so theycan swim towards the light or tell when a predatoris approaching. When they sense a predator, theycan use their two flagella to swim away. They haveother ways to protect themselves; most live insidearmored plates designed for flexibility and protection.Some dinoflagellates have more than two hundredsub-microscopic plates covering their tiny bodies. Althoughmost people don’t think dinoflagellates are asbeautiful as diatoms, sometimes, their plates of armorcan look really cool.Like Samurai, Dinoflagellates have armor plates thatprotect them while still allowing them to move.If swimming away doesn’t work, and having armordoesn’t provide enough protection, some dinoflagellatescan defeat predators by stabbing them! Manyspecies of dinoflagellate have hundreds of knife-liketrichocysts lining their cell membrane ready to flyout at the slightest hint of danger.In this picture of dinoflagellate armor taken withan electron microscope you can clearly see thegroove that holds the second flagellum. Eachlittle piece is a separate armor plate.Dinoflagellates are one of nature’s super-survivors.They survived the asteroid impact that killed off thedinosaurs. But the dinoflagellates felt the impact.When T. Rex walked the earth, Dinoflagellates werethe most common form of algae in the world. Sincethe asteroid impact, they are only the second mostcommon form of algae, just behind the diatoms.Even though they seem well-suited to life in the openwater, some dinoflagellates have developed anotherway to survive.This dinoflagellate has released it’s trichocysts,probably in response to danger.

Cooperative DinoflagellatesHave you ever wondered how a giant clam can get sobig? They live in clear tropical waters that don’t havea lot of plankton, so they can’t grow large by eatingplankton. So what do they eat?Surprisingly, giant clams eat very little. Instead theyhave formed a partnership with some Dinoflagellates.The clams provide the algae with a safe home, and inexchange, the algae provide the clams with the foodthey use to grow so big. The dinoflagellates also givethe clams their bright colors.These cooperative dinoflagellates are called “zooxanthellae.”Zooxanthellae can live inside of jellyfish orsea anemones. If a sea anemone is eaten by a seaslug, the dinoflagellates can make a new home insidethe sea slug.The bright colors found in this giant clam comefrom colorful dinoflagellates that live its tissues.Zooxanthellae are crucial for the survival of coralreefs. Coral reefs are like undersea jungles withthousands of weird and wonderful animals living intheir nooks and crannies. Each coral is built by thousandsof tiny animals called coral polyps. Most ofthe polyps have zooxanthellae living inside their cells.So coral is an animal, but, like a plant, it gets food byphotosynthesis.Global warming is destroying the partnership betweencoral and zooxanthellae. As the ocean warms,dinoflagellates flee their home in the coral polyps.The coral turns white and can’t do photosynthesis.This can kill the coral, and if enough coral die,the whole reef can die. Global warming is killing offsome of the most beautiful ecosystems on Earth.This sea slug ate a sea anemone that had dinoflagellatesliving inside of it.The bright colors in coral come from dinoflagellates that liveinside the coral. If it becomes too warm, the dinoflagellatesswim away, and the coral turns white and dies.

Deadly Dinoflagellates: Algal BloomsIt’s one of the most famous stories in human history. More than 3000 years ago in Egypt, ayoung Jewish man with a stutter stood before the Pharaoh and demanded, “Let my people go.”Pharaoh refused, and a series of plagues visited the Egyptians; in the first of these, the Nile Riverturned blood red. What could have caused this? Many scientists think it could have been an explosionin the population of killer dinoflagellates-- red tide.Even today, red tide plagues humanity. In fact, we may be creating red tides of biblical proportions.Every time a farmer fertilizes their fields or someone does their laundry, some of thefertilizer or detergent will get washed away by the rain and end up in rivers, lakes, ponds, or theocean. When this happens, the population of algae can explode, turning the water red and killingthe living things within it.Algal blooms can be especially harmful if the bloom is made up of toxic algae, like the ones thatcause red tide. Sometimes, people get sick without even going near the water. Every time a wavecrashes against the shore, thousands of microscopic water droplets are thrown into the air. Duringa red tide these water droplets contain millions of poisonous algae that float through the air,sometimes for more than a mile, and into people’s lungs.But algal blooms can be harmful even when there isn’t a bloom of killer algae. If the populationof algae grows too quickly, then they can die off just as quickly. Millions of dead algae in the waterstart to rot, causing the water to foul, as bacteria eat the dead algae and suck all the oxygenout of the water. Ironically, the growth in the population of algae can lead to the death of anecosystem.Many scientists believe that the first of the tenplagues visited on the Egyptians may have beencaused by dinoflagellates.The red color in this lake is caused by millions ofdinoflagellates. Humans have caused the populationof dinoflagellates to bloom by adding too muchfertilizer to the environment.

Bioluminescent DinoflagellatesGlowing AlgaeMany people have witnessed beautiful and mysteriousflashes of light while watching the oceanat night. Kayakers have watched swirling specksof light following in the wake of their paddles asthey’ve floated on the night-time sea. Others havestood on the beach staring in amazement as glowingblue waves crashed against shore. Fishermen havestudied the water, watching for streaks of blue toalert them to the presence of fish.These beautiful sparkles are caused by algae. Manydinoflagellates can light up like fireflies when theysense motion in the ocean. If a predator approachesthe dinoflagellate, it will sense the movement inthe water and flash. This could protect the dinoflagellatein three ways.1) The bright flash may simply startle the predator.2) Since many of the bioluminescent algae are toxic,like the ones that cause red tide, the bright flashesmay warn predators that they are poisonous andshouldn’t be eaten, in the same way a rattlesnake’srattle warms you stay away.3) If a small predator starts grazing on a mass ofalgae, the mass of glowing algae will alert otherlarger animals to the grazer’s presence. A glowingmass of algae is not a safe place for a small animal,so the small grazer will feed elsewhere.Copepods like this one eat algae. Dinoflagellatesprotect themselves at night from small predatorslike Copepods with bright flashes of light.Mike Latz is a scientist in San Diego who studieshow moving water stimulates algae to start glowing.This wave is glowing because of the action of millions of bioluminescent algae. Also notice the red color fromthe dinoflagellates in the calm water in front of the wave.

Swarms of Killer AlgaeIn 1997, scientists up and down the Eastern Coastof the United States were mystified as millionsof dead fish washed up on the shore. Curiousityabout what was killing the fish led scientists todiscover one of the weirdest organisms on Earthand has provided the inspiration for a major Hollywoodmovie.The fish were being killed and eaten by swarmsof algae, called Pfiesteria piscicida (P. piscicida).If algae are like plants, then this would be likehay eating the horse. Why would they do this?Although P. piscicida can get all of the energy itnormally needs by photosynthesis, it needs extraenergy for sex.These fish have been killed by an algae.If you looked in a microscope, you wouldsee masses of algae in the sores on theirbodies.Pfiesteria can reproduce two ways. Like all singlecelledorganisms, it can divide in half to producetwo new cells. But in order to make sperm oreggs for sexual reproduction, it needs an extrasource of energy, so it eats freshly-killed sushi.The details of P. piscicida’s life cycle are complexand controversial, but here’s a highly simplifiedsummary. It starts with masses of P. piscicidaswimming peacefully in the water, soaking in thesun’s rays. When they smell high levels of fishwaste in the water, that signals them to entera new stage in their lives. The swarms of algaerelease poison into the water to paralyze the fish.As the fish fall ill, the algae lose their swimmingtails and wrap themselves into a hard shell toprotect themselves from the fish’s immune defenses.Having lost the ability to swim, the algaesettle on the dying fish and release more poisondirectly into the fish’s body.The free swimming alga looks harmless,but if it detects food in the water, it turnsinto a killer.Soon, the fish are dead. The algae break outof their protective shells and transform into acrawling eating machine. They slither over thefish, eating and getting stronger until they havedevoured enough food to produce millions andmillions of sperm and eggs. The sex cells are releasedback into the water, where they fuse andcreate a new generation of killer algae.P. piscicida is a true shape-shifter. Theseare just four of its 24 body shapes.

Looking for AlgaeAlgae are all around us, but one of the best places to look for them is in a drop of pond water.If you have access to a microsope, look for these algae.Experiment to find water with the most algae. Try to get water from edge of the pond wherethere seems to be a lot of living things. Collect some mud from the bottom, or collect some deadleaves and twigs. In addition to algae, pond water contains animal-like organisms, so you can lookfor those too.Diatoms are very common in pond water. They don’tswim, so you can get a good look at them.Volvox are rare and very beautiful.You will be very lucky to find some inpond water, but you can buy a culturefor less than $10.Green algae are very common, butyou would need to buy a cultureto see this many.Euglenoids are fun to watch because they swim around.

The Greatest Revolution in Human HistoryIf the evolution of water-based photosynthesis wasthe greatest revolution in the history of life onEarth, then the greatest revolution in human historywas the development of agriculture about 10,000years ago.For millions of years, people lived as hunter-gathererswandering in search of good food to eat whileavoiding predators. No one owned more than theycould carry as they walked.About 10,000 years ago, people started to growplants and domesticate animals. This allowed ourancestors to produce food for themselves, and theysoon settled down, first in small villages, and later incities numbering millions of people. Once our ancestorsstopped wandering in search of fresh food andnew hunting grounds, they could start to save things.They realized they could even save their thoughtsby recording them on clay tablets. And, because asingle farmer could produce more food than he orshe needed to live, some people could do things besidessearch for food. This led to the formation ofcomplex societies with artists, business people, politicians,teachers, priests, and soldiers. Since then,society has been constantly changing, and humanityhas become more and more powerful in shaping theplanet we live on.Most historians don’t realize it, but our ancestorsdidn’t just domesticate plants and animals, they domesticatedmicrobes too. Yeast were used to makebread, wine, and beer. Bacteria were used to turnmilk into yogurt, and a mix of microbes were usedto make cheese. The first agriculturalists didn’t haverefrigerators. By encouraging certain microbes toferment the crops, our ancestors prevented other,less healthy, microbes from spoiling their food.But the agricultural revolution isn’t complete. 10,000years ago, our ancestors learned to domesticateplants, animals, and microbes, but we have not yetfigured out how to create large farms for the mostimportant organisms on Earth-- algae.But we’re close-- very close.All able-bodied hunter-gatherers searchfor food. In agricultural societies, farmersand ranchers produce food, allowingothers to focus on other jobs.Ancient Egyptians did some amazingthings including building the Pyramids,but if they didn’t know how to farm,none of their other accomplishmentswould have been possible.

Replacing PetroleumAlgae farms could help solve two of humanity’s biggest problems-- shrinking petroleum suppliesand global warming.Everyday, we pump oil out of the ground, shrinking our supply. Yet every day, we want more oilthan we needed the day before. This means oil gets more expensive, and may lead to deadlywars, as people fight to control the remaining oil supplies.Petroleum is fossilized algae. We already know how to turn plant oils into fuel, yet most plantsdon’t produce much oil. In experimental ponds, algae have been able to produce 200X more oilper acre than the oilest plant crops. If estimates are correct, then it may be possible to buildenough farms to replace all of the US liquid fuel consumption for $300 Billion. That’s a lot ofmoney, but investors would be happy to pay the money if they get to sell the oil afterwards.Even if we weren’t running out, petroleum would still create big problems. CO2 in the air is heatingthe planet, which contributes to hurricanes and droughts. As algae grow, they take CO2 outof the air. When the fuel is burned, the CO2 returns to the atmosphere. So rather than contributingto global warming, algae recycle CO2. If we simply buried what was left over after removingthe oil from the algae, they could even help remove CO2 from the air and reverse globalwarming!Annual Oil Production per acre:Soybean: 40 to 50 gallonsCanola: 110 to 145 gallonsPalm oil: 650 gallonsAlgae: 10,000-20,000 gallons

The Future of AlgaeThe lives of humans and algae are deeply connected; without algae, humanity would not exist.By working more closely, humans and algae can achieve great things. Solving the twin crises ofenergy and global warming may be the next step in a deep and ancient friendship. Algae canhelp us clean water, restock the world’s ocean with fish, create new materials, and become asource of new medicines. But this is only the beginning.Ten thousand years ago, when the first farmers planted seeds in the ground, and then stuckaround to take care of the plants as they grew, they never imagined that this simple act wouldlead to the emergence of writing, the development of churches and government, or the rise ofgreat cities like New York, London, and Tokyo.Now we have the opportunity to complete what they started. They learned to farm plants, tocare for animals, and to control the growth of invisible microbes. But we have only just begun tolearn how to farm algae. We cannot imagine what may come of this growing relationship.In the last fifty years, people have walked on the moon, and built spacecraft to fly to the planetsand beyond. But we’ve yet to undertake long voyages in space or tried to live on another planet.One reason we haven’t done so is that we can’t produce enough oxygen or renewable sources offood and fresh water to allow for long space voyages. We can’t even come close to producingenough oxygen to allow us to breathe the air on another planet.But algae can.They have already produced the oxygen that enables human life on Earth. Working together, humansand algae may be able to reach the stars.

Meeting the Challenges: How you can helpIf you want to help solve the twin problems of energy can global warming, you may want to workwith algae.There are huge opportunities if humans can learn to cultivate algae on a large scale, and thereare great challenges too. Some problems may be solved in the next few years, and others maytake decades to solve.One way to contribute would be to become a phycologist, a scientist who studies algae. Phycologyis a growing field, and there is plenty of work that needs to be done. First, we need to discoverwhich species of algae would be the best ones for us to grow. There are hundreds of thousandsof plant species in the world, but we only cultivate a few hundred, like tomatoes, tulips, rice andcorn. There are probably more species of algae in the world than there are plants, so there couldbe thousands of useful species of algae, but we don’t know which ones will be the most useful.There are two ways to identify useful species. You can discover new species, or you can studyspecies that have already been discovered, and try to figure out which of these would be thebest ones to grow for oil or other useful products. These are both challenging and fun jobs for atrained phycologist, and we need a lot of people to work on this.You could become an inventor too. A lot of people think the best way to grow algae is in an openpond, but in ponds, the algae can get eaten, or other algae might contaminate the ponds. Othersare creating closed vessels, called photobioreactors for growing algae. Unfortunately, most of theclosed systems are pretty expensive, so if you could invent a low-cost photobioreactor that wouldprotect the growing algae from weeds and preditors, that would be a big help, and it could makeyou incredibly rich. If you can’t figure out how to make a low-cost home for growing algae, youcan figure out how to separate the microscopic droplets of oil from the algae. A lot of approacheshave been developed, but most of them are expensive, and unless we can make algae oil for lessthan the cost of petroleum, few people will buy it. If you like chemistry, it would be great if youcould help figure out how to convert algae oil into a fuel that will run in most automobiles. Wealready know how to turn algae oil into a diesel fuel, jet fuel, and home heating oil, but a substitutefor gasoline still hasn’t been developed.Even if you don’t like science and don’t want to be an inventor, you can help. We need businesspeople and politicians to run businesses and help support the growth of a brand new algae industry.We need teachers to teach about algae, painters to paint pictures of algae, baseball playersto endorse algae-based food products, and Hollywood actresses to star in movies about algae.There are a lot of ways that you can help to solve some of the biggest problems facing humanity.You have unique gifts to offer the world. Decide what you are good at, and what you enjoy doing,and then figure out how you can help.

GlossaryAlgae: A photosynthetic life form that usually floats in the water. Algae include all photosyntheticorganisms other than plants. Plants have specialized reproductive organs that allow spermand eggs to come in contact with each other without meeting in the water. Algae either don’treproduce sexually, or, if they make sperm and eggs, the sperm, and often the eggs, are releaseddirectly into the water.Aerobic: Needing oxygen to live.Anaerobic: Not needing oxygen to live. Many anaerobic bacteria are poisoned by oxygen.Bacterium (pl. bacteria): A single-celled organism that lacks a nucleus or mitochondria. Bacteriaare the most common organisms on Earth.Chloroplasts: A structure found inside the cells of green plants and algae, that is used for photosynthesis.Like mitochondria, chloroplasts have their own DNA and are believed to have evolvedfrom bacteria that moved inside of other cells.cyanobacterium (pl. cyanobacteria): A photosynthetic bacterium. Many can also convert nitrogenin the air into substances that help plants grow. Sometimes called “blue green algae.”Euglenum (pl. euglena): Any member of a family of fresh-water protists that swim using a singleflagellum, photosynthesize, and have a single eyespot near the base of their flagellum.Diatom: A member of a class of marine or fresh-water algae that have two shells made of silicathat overlap each other like a pill box or petri dish.Dinoflagellate: A member of a class of protists that have two flagella, and usually have a coat ofarmor made of cellulose. (The same compound found in plant cell walls.)Endosymbiosis: A relationship between two organisms in which one organism lives inside the other.Fungus: A member of a very large and diverse group of organisms that includes yeasts, molds,mushrooms, and mildews. They all have a nucleus and a cell wall, but lack chloroplasts. Most liveby secreting digestive juices into their environment and then absorbing the digested nutrients.Holocaust: An act of complete destruction. Examples include the attempted destruction of theJews during World War II, or near destruction of life on Earth by the rise of oxygen in the atmosphere.Hydrogen: The first element on the periodic table. When two atoms of hydrogen combine, theyform a colorless, odorless gas that reacts very strongly with oxygen. Though it is rare now, Hydrogengas is believed to have been a major constituent of the early atmosphere. When twoatoms of hydrogen combine with an atom of oxygen, it forms water.

GlossaryLichen: A symbiotic union of a fungus and an algae.Mitochondria: A structure found inside of the cells of protists, plants, and animals that convertsfood and oxygen into usable energy. Like chloroplasts, mitochondria have their own DNA and arebelieved to have evolved from bacteria that moved inside of other cells.Organism: An individual living thing.Oxygen: The eighth element on the periodic chart. When two oxygen atoms combine, they forma colorless, odorless gas that makes up around 20% of the Earth’s atmosphere. This gas is highlytoxic, yet many organisms need it to live. When a single oxygen atom combines with two hydrogenatoms, it forms water.Photobioreactor: A device that is used to grow living things in the presence of light, primarilyused to grow algae.Photosynthesis: The process by which plants and algae use energy from the sun, water, and carbondioxide to make complex chemicals needed by all living things.Phycology: The branch of science that studies algae.Protist: Any member of a group of single-celled or colonial organisms that have nuclei. Individualprotist cells are often much more complex than the cells of multicellular organisms, but protistsare not able to form cells that differentiate into tissues such as blood, muscle or nervous tissue.Respiration: The process by which many organisms use oxygen to derive energy from complexbiological compounds.Symbiosis: When two species live together in very close contact.Zooxanthella (pl. zooxanthellae): A member of a group of algae that usually live inside the cellsof another organism.

Photo and Illustration CreditsThis book includes the work of a number of photographers and artists whose work is either availablein the public domain, or has been licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License orunder a variety of Creative Commons licenses. I would like to offer my thanks the artists, to theFree Software Foundation, to the Creative Commons Organization, and to the US Congress forprotecting a large poll of images to be freely used by the public.COVER:Original illustration made using two photos: Duck: BY-YOUR-*, Used under the Creative CommonsAttribution 2.0. (CC 2.0); Green Algae: djpmapleferryman (CC 2.0).Page 1:Water lily: Doug Wood, (CC 2.0)Kelp: Ed Bierman (CC 2.0)Bering sea: From the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) Project. (Public Domain)Page 2:Volcano: Mila Zinkova. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlikelicense versions 3.0, 2.5, 2.0, and 1.0 as well as the GNU Free Documentation License, Version1.2(GNU FDL).Page 3:Water Molecule: Artist Unknown, (Public domain)Banded Iron Formations: Andre Karwath (aka Aka). Licensed under Creative Commons AttributionShareAlike 2.5 License. (CC 2.5)Cyanobacteria: Image by Mike Kruger. (GNU FDL)Page 4:Carbon Cycle: Artist Unknown, (Public domain)Page 5:Cow: Meneer Zjeroen. (CC 2.0)Mitochondria: Louisa Howard. (Public Domain)Diagram of symbiotic theory of the cell: Original Artwork, I release this image under CC 2.0.Page 6:Paramecium bursia: (Public domain)Giant Clam: Janderk. (Public Domain)Trees: 5k1nnyt1g3r, (CC 2.0).Diagram of symbiotic theory of the cell: Original artwork. Parrot photo by kaibara87 (CC 2.0).Rose photo by Yellow.Cat. (CC 2.0). I release this image under CC 2.0.

Page 7:Chloroplasts: Thomas Dreps, CC Attribution Sharealike 2.0 Germany.Blood: Department of Histology, Jagiellonian University Medical College (GNU FDL)Euglena: Alexei Kouprianov. (GNU FDL)Page 8Cyanobacteria: nttrbx, (CC 2.0)Paramecium bursia: Artist Unknown, (Public Domain)Seahorse: Steven G. Johnson (GNU FDL and cc-by-sa)Irish Moss: Photographer unknown, (GNU GPL, and Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike, 3.0,2.5, 2.0, and 1.0)Page 9Comparison of Eukaryotes and Prokaryotes: Original illustration, based on work released intothe Public Domain by its author, LadyofHats. I release this derived image under CC 2.0.Hotspring: The Udall Legacy Bus Tour: Views from the Road, (CC 2.0)Cyanobacteria in Snow: Travis.Vachon (CC 2.0)Page 10Lichens on Rock: brewbrooks (CC 2.0)Space Lichen: European Space Agency, (Assertion of Fair Use. Rational:1) The European Space Agency has provided these images to the media in press releases, and theyhave appeared in many publications and web-sites.2) The images are unique in that they are of an organism which has survived in space for twoweeks, and it would be impossible to reproduce the images.3) Use of the image does not impinge upon the ability of the European Space Agency to do theirbusiness.4) The published version of the image is quite small, making piracy difficult.)Martian “Lichen”: Nasa, (Public Domain).Page 11Stomatolites: robertpaulyoung, (CC 2.0)Oil Field: Ncreature, (CC 2.0)Rice: Oliver Spalt (GNU FDL and CC 2.0)Desert: Flydime (CC 2.0)Page 12Diatom art images: Courtesy of Klaus Kemp. To see more of his art, visit his website:http://www.diatoms.co.uk/ Thank you, Klaus!

Page 13Diatom Shell: Mary Tiffany, used by permission. Thank you, Mary!Diatomite: USGS, (Public Domain)Dynamite: frostnova, (CC 2.0)Page 14Hookworm: US CDC, (Public Domain)“The Birds” Movie Poster. (Assertion of Fair Use, Rationale:1) No free equivalent exists.2) Use of the image doesn’t impinge on the ability of the copyright owner to sell or market theirproduct, and may, in fact, help promote it.3) The published version of the image is quite small, making “piracy” difficult.4) The image has been published by others.)Page 15:Samurai: Felice Beato, (Public Domain)Dinoflagellate electron micrograph: Mary Tiffany, used by permission.Dinoflagellate (showing trichocysts): Dr. Ralf Wagner (GNU FDL)Page 16:Giant Clam: Ewa Barska (GNU GPL)Sea Slug: Bill Rowland, (Assertion of Fair Use. Rationale:1) The Author posted a message on his website saying he is on vacation for three months, andwouldn’t respond to emails.2) I was unable to find other images that clearly show the Zooxanthallae in Sea Slugs.3) The published version of the image is quite small, making “piracy” difficult.4) The image has been published by others.5) The artist does not seem to have any intention of selling his work. Use of the image doesn’timpinge on his business interests, and may attract traffic to his website. (Image originally publishedat http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=solarpow)Coral Bleaching: NOAA (Public Domain).Page 17Moses: Original image, modified from an image that has been widely published on the internet,and for which I cannot trace the original source.Red Tide: Marufish (CC 2.0)Page 18Copepod: Nttbrx (CC 2.0)Bioluminescent Wave: Msauder (CC 2.0)

Page 19:Three images of P. piscicida: Images originally published by Dr. Joann Burkholder as part of herscientific work. (Assertion of Fair Use, Rationale:1) No similar images exist.2) The use of the images doesn’t impinge on the ability of the copyright holder to conduct theirbusiness of scientific research.3) The published version of the image is quite small, making “piracy” difficult.4) I have repeatedly tried to contact Dr. Burkholder to get, but she has not responded to myemails.)Page 20:Volvox: Dr. Ralf Wagner (GNU FDL)Diatoms: Image from US NOAA, (Public Domain)Euglena: Image from US EPA, (Public Domain)Green Algae: djpmapleferryman (CC 2.0)Page 21:Bushman: Lbeatty (CC 2.0)Egyptian Tomb: Artist unknown, (Public Domain)Page 22:Photobioreactor: Image used courtesy of IGV GmbH (a German company that produces Photobioreactors).Thank you!Page 23:Greenhouse on Mars: Original image derived from two other images. Mars Scene: Nasa (PublicDomain); Photobioreactors, courtesy of IGV GmbH.As this image is partially derived from copyrighted work, I urge you to respect the rights of thecopyright holder, and refrain from using the image.