Microbial Groups And Extremophiles Codexery

Seaweed

Macroalgae vital to ocean ecology and human industry.

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Seaweed refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae, including red, brown, and green macroalgae.[1] Kelp species, a type of seaweed, are crucial nursery habitats for fish and other marine life, while planktonic algae, not seaweed, are responsible for producing at least 50% of Earth's oxygen.[1][2]

Quick Facts

Field
  • Marine biology
  • ecology
  • agriculture
Known for
  • Providing habitat
  • producing oxygen
  • carbon sequestration
  • human food and industrial uses
Species count
Several thousand species
Common types
  • Rhodophyta (red)
  • Phaeophyta (brown)
  • Chlorophyta (green)

Facts from the source article.

Key facts and history

Seaweed includes both flowering plants like eelgrass and larger marine algae, forming a polyphyletic group.[3] Seaweeds are used as animal feeds, though their protein content is low and heavy metal content high.[4] No formal definition exists for "seaweed," but the term commonly describes marine algae that are large enough to be seen without a microscope.[3] For many centuries, people have grown seaweeds for their practical applications.[5]

Global seaweed production in 2019 reached 35,818,961 tonnes, with Asian nations accounting for 97.38% of that total.[6] Countries in East Asia (like Japan, China, and Korea) and Southeast Asia (such as Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam) are major consumers of seaweed.[7] Hydrogen sulfide, a gas that is extremely poisonous, is produced in large quantities by decomposing seaweed.[8] The bacterial infection known as ice-ice turns the branches of Kappaphycus red seaweed white and has resulted in significant crop losses in the Philippines, Tanzania, and Mozambique.[9][10]

What the cited sources add

A 2017 paper noted that China's seaweed industry removes 75,000 tons of nitrogen and 9,500 tons of phosphorus from coastal waters annually.[10] Seaweed cultivation can clean up agricultural pollution.[10] The Biology LibreTexts source states that seaweeds do not have true tissues or organs like plants and lack a waxy cuticle.[11] Brown algae are multicellular marine seaweeds.[11]

Algae are important for producing agar, used as a solidifying agent in microbiological media.[11] AlgiKnit creates a bioyarn from alginate extracted from kelp or seaweed.[12]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Seaweed" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "How much oxygen comes from the ocean?", National Ocean Service (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. "How much oxygen comes from the ocean?", National Ocean Service. facts only, no text reused. oceanservice.noaa.gov
  3. Wikipedia, "Seaweed" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "5.4: Algae", Biology LibreTexts, 2019-06-15 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Seaweed" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Makkar, "Seaweeds for livestock diets: A review", Animal Feed Science and Technology, 2016, p. 1–17; Mæhre, "Characterization of protein, lipid and mineral contents in common Norwegian seaweeds and evaluation of their potential as food and feed", Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 2014, p. 3281–3290 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Seaweed" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Duarte, "Can Seaweed Farming Play a Role in Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation?", Frontiers in Marine Science, 2017, p. 100; Bindoff, "IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate", 2019, p. 447–587 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Seaweed" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Global seaweeds and microalgae production(FAO)" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Seaweed" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Mohammad, "Application of seaweed (Kappaphycus alvarezii) in Malaysian food products", International Food Research Journal, 4 Jan 2020, p. 1677–1687; "Devon Family Friendly – Tasty Seaweed Recipe – Honest!", BBC, 2005-05-25 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Seaweed" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Algues vertes: la famille du chauffeur décédé porte plainte contre X", AFP, 2010-04-22; Contaminants, "Hydrogen Sulfide", Emergency and Continuous Exposure Guidance Levels for Selected Submarine Contaminants: Volume 3, 2009 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Seaweed" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Buck, "The desperate race to cool the ocean before it's too late", MIT Technology Review, April 23, 2019 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Buck, "The desperate race to cool the ocean before it's too late", MIT Technology Review, April 23, 2019. facts only, no text reused. technologyreview.com
  11. "5.4: Algae", Biology LibreTexts, 2019-06-15. facts only, no text reused. bio.libretexts.org
  12. Chawla, "The promise of Bioyarn from AlgiKnit", MaterialDriven, 2017-06-16. facts only, no text reused. materialdriven.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Seaweed (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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