Algae belong to many distinct evolutionary lineages and are not a single cohesive group. They are typically simple, aquatic, autotrophic organisms - meaning they photosynthesise simple inorganic sources into complex organic nutritive compounds. They are photosynthetic like vascular plants and are responsible for 50% of the oxygen produced globally - every second breath you breathe is produced by algae. Algae range from unicellular to multicellular forms with seaweeds (macro algae) being the largest and most complex marine forms.
For more information about algae see:
*The Network is not responsible for the content of external internet sites
This page last updated on 2 Oct 2012