When I was researching ocean circulation, I often came across phytoplankton, which is a type of algae. Apparently, areas formed by the growth of seaweed and seagrass are called seaweed beds, but they are also called sea forests, since they are forests in the sea. Just like forests, they photosynthesize, purify the water, and are a home for many living things.
https://umito.maruha-nichiro.co.jp/article160
Just as forests store organic matter such as fallen leaves on the ground’s surface, marine forests also store organic matter such as dead algae on the seabed. They are called blue carbon because they retain the carbon contained in organic matter. The algae that make up marine forests are mainly wakame, kombu, nori, euglena, and chlorella. We’ve all heard of these seaweeds, but euglena in particular is famous for its incredible properties. It is an organism that combines plant and animal qualities, capable of moving while photosynthesizing, and is said to have high nutritional value, similar to that of an energy drink. The EPA and DHA contained in blue fish are said to be originally produced by euglena, which the fish eat and take in.
https://www.muji.net/lab/living/141217.html
Some species of algae live not in the sea but in hot springs. A type of algae called Galdieria can live in a sulfuric acid, 100% carbon dioxide environment where other organisms cannot live, and for some reason, it seems to collect metals. Attempts are being made to use this characteristic to collect gold and rare metals.
https://cbs.biol.tsukuba.ac.jp/update/341
Algae are amazing, but why does they have the role of collecting metals in the first place? It seems that moss is a similar organism, and it also collects metals. Is it so that algae and moss can collect metals (minerals) and recycle them to other organisms, or is it to remove metals and purify the water? I feel like there must be some meaning behind the fact that they adsorb substances that are not used for their own life activities.
There is also a type of algae called Aurantiochytrium that produces bio-crude oil, a petroleum-like oil. It can grow without photosynthesis and produces oil by absorbing the organic matter around it.
https://ykpartners.jp/biomass-column/
And in the recent news, it seems that an algae that can absorb nitrogen, which normally cannot be absorbed directly, has been discovered. The ability to fix nitrogen, which was thought to be only possible with rhizobia and methane bacteria that live symbiotically in the roots of legumes, was discovered in an algae called Acanthurus bigeroi. It seems that it was difficult to cultivate, but it was only after they used tokoroten made from the same algae, Agarwood, for cultivation that they were successful.
https://sciencejournal.livedoor.biz/archives/5881047.html
The role of algae and its potential are amazing. Ecosystems are amazing. The Earth is amazing.
