How important is algae

Most people believe that land plants create the largest amount of oxygen in the atmosphere. That’s not true land plants only create a small amount of the earths oxygen while algae creates around 70 to 80 percent of the air we breathe. Have you ever seen that green slime being pushed onto shore near beaches? That’s what algae are.

 

But how do algae create 70 to 80 percent of the earth’s oxygen? The ocean contains algae which cover 71% of the earth and the land is about 30%. Compare the two and there are more algae then there are land plants. But how fast do algae produce oxygen? Algae produce the same amount oxygen as land plants.

There are some places where algae don’t grow and the same for the trees. Overall, the algae still covers more distance which means there is more oxygen created by the photosynthesis of algae then the photosynthesis of land plants.

-- This post is by Bobby from Block 4