Cool Algae Series Part 1. What These Microscopic Alien 👽 Looking Creature Can Do

💥One of earths first living creatures still thriving today and what they can do for us. I trust they are a big part of our sustainable future since they are such huge part of our past 2.5 billion years.💥

As some of you may know I’m fascinated by the stuff in all of its glory. I’m an aspiring algae cultivator with plans in the works to build a 6,000 liter Photo Bioreactor to grow Spirulina. It’s a big project but the team is coming together and I continue to throw myself head first into learning as much as I can. Then I like to share it with you fine fellows on Steemit.

They all look so cool an unworldly. Like monsters or creatures from sci-fi movies on distant planets.

Science word alert, please put on safety hat
“Phycology (from Greek φῦκος, phykos, "seaweed"; and -λογία, -logia) is the scientific study of algae. Also known as algology, phycology is a branch of life science and often is regarded as a subdiscipline of botany. Algae are important as primary producers in aquatic ecosystems.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phycology (sounds like -> figh-ka-low-gee)

Algae = plural Alga / algal = singular, such as one type or a single cell.
Please see my previous algae articles linked at the end of this post.

I often refer to 'our world' or 'our planet' because i truly believe life exists on other planets and if the do without a doubt algae is also there feeding it.

There are over 20,000 species of unique algae across the world. Algae in the ocean are credited with creating over 70% of the air we breathe. There is literally a species that can survive pretty much type of water conditions. From boiling to near freezing and in snow, high Ph (acidic) or low Ph, Salty or fresh and let’s not forget the light spectrum they prefer which usually depends where on earth they evolved in. All that and any combination of the above you will find a species happy to live there.

Scientists are creating new strains that can do and produce a variety of useful things. Bio-Fuel (just like crude oil but from plants), cosmetics, medicine, health food, biodegradable plastics and more, to get you thinking. Most alga have yet to be found useful to us as a commercial product but worry not, many scientists around the world are working on it.

Most algae are cultivated small scale used primarily for research purposes. Mass scale algae cultivation is still very expensive, energy consuming and technically difficult to grow without experts monitoring their growth constantly. Some algae, aside from those used as nutrition, have proven to be great discoveries to advance our future in a sustainable manner. Algae as food is cheaper to grow and easier to sell making them popular and profitable at large scale facilities, much bigger than the one I plan to build actually.

Let’s take a close look at a couple unique strains and what they can do.

Cyanobacteria

or blue-green algae became the first microbes to produce oxygen by photosynthesis, perhaps as long ago as 3.5 billion years ago and certainly by 2.7 billion years ago. Producing the oxygen allowed for all other life we know today to evolve and prosper on earth.

The original strain of this species is extra special because it’s also the first species on earth to live its life in such a manner that many scientist believe, it eventually brought about its own extinction. Unlike other creatures at the time it not only inhaled CO2 (carbon dioxide what animals exhale) but it exhaled Oxygen, lots of pure clean O2. Other types were born out of evolution. The earth was a CO2 paradise for this alga and they thrived and populated the earth for more than hundreds of millions of years. They had no competition for food resources which were primarily sunshine and CO2. Eventually pumping out so much O2 (oxygen) that they suffocated themselves out of existence. The only reminisce we have, and there is plenty of it, are fossils found telling the tale of the birth of life on this planet.

It's fossils may look familiar.

As more oxygen covered the world and the CO2 breathing algae populations dwindled and adapted to the new environment more O2 breathers evolved exhaling the very stuff algae need to live, CO2, helping it to continue in its rightful place in our ecosystems. Algae today are still a vital part of earths breathable air filtration systems.

When you hear about toxic algae (not this particular type) blooms killing countless fish and devastating coastlines remember its nature fighting back the best it can at all the pollution. Algae eat our pollution, smog, toxic waste and spit out clean precious oxygenated air. It’s trying desperately to balance nature but greed in human culture is fighting the wrong problems.

It is a tell tale sign that any living creature could bring about its own extinction by irreparably altering their ecosystems and environment.

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

This one is really cool and unlike any other plant or algae that we know of. It has cannibalistic tendencies.

“Normally, the algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii uses the sun to turn carbon dioxide and water into the simple sugar glucose, via the process of photosynthesis. But when researchers deprived the tiny cell of carbon dioxide, it cannibalized other plants' materials, said Lutz Wobbe, a researcher at Germany's University of Bielefeld and co-author of the study describing the finding, and published recently in the journal Nature Communications.”
http://www.livescience.com/24974-algae-eats-other-plants.html

Like any other photosynthesizing plants it produces oxygen. Considering it can basically eat self when it’s hungry makes it a pretty bad ass species set to survive our worst darkened apocalypse scenario. Should the sun ever be blocked from our view at least this guy will go on to evolve a whole new breed of life.

And there you have two incredible earth altering species you couldn’t even see if they were right under your nose.

If there was a Garden of Eden it was probably full of algae.

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And on the side let’s play a game.

Tell me what species/family of alga is in the picture below
💵 💸 💰 Win $5.00 Steem Bucks. See rules below for details. 💸 💵 💰

Name That Alga

Rules of the Game

1- Must vote for this post. Must have the correct Name of Species for answer.
2- Leave answer in the comment section below and vote for it.
3- The correct comment with the most votes at time of post closing wins the prize. Minimum 2 votes per comment for consideration. Any ties will result in spitting the prize evenly. So get you friends to vote.

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Other References and Photo Credits
https://www.pinterest.com/biology4u/plant-science-4-u/
http://algix.com/why-algae/
http://www.spaceengineerswiki.com/Planet/Alien
http://jovenscientistas7.blogspot.hk/2013_11_01_archive.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanobacteria
http://inhabitat.com/self-destructing-bacteria-could-be-the-key-to-better-biofuels/cyanobacteria
http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/640920/view
All other images please click or see the watermark on the image

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I hope you found this article interesting and unique..
100% Steem Power FTW!!

任何时候来投票都行 我所有的票数是100％ 倡导可持续发展的未来

Other posts from my Sustainable Future Series.
https://steemit.com/life/@solarguy/prickly-pears-they-ain-t-just-for-eating
https://steemit.com/science/@solarguy/growing-organic-spirulina-at-home
https://steemit.com/science/@solarguy/bio-fuels-for-carbon-capture-using-algae

Please see other posts of my Life in China 请参阅我在中国生活的其他邮件
https://steemit.com/cn/@solarguy/a-truly-haunted-place-i-discovered-in-the-hillside-of-dalian
https://steemit.com/cn/@solarguy/my-trip-into-an-abandoned-defunct-chinese-bomb-shelter
https://steemit.com/life/@solarguy/dalian-china-summer-s-end-canadian-style-bbq-bbq
https://steemit.com/cn/@solarguy/go-topless-and-support-international-women-s-rights-day