Algae nutrition is a typical example of their energy production for life. For example, plants use solar energy, and animals feed on plants that other predators eat.
The food chain is a sequence of who eats whom in the ecosystem (biological community) for the acquisition of nutrients and the energy that supports life.
The main features of autotrophs
Autotrophs are called living organisms that produce their own food (organic origin) from simple molecules. There are two main types of autotrophs:
Photoautotrophs (photosynthetic organisms), for example, plants that use the energy of the sun to convert them into organic substances - carbohydrates by photosynthesis from carbon dioxide. Other examples of photoautotrophs are cyanobacteria and algae.
Chemoautotrophs acquire organic compounds through chemical reactions in which certain inorganic compounds are involved: ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen.
Autotrophs are considered the basis of any ecosystem on our planet. They enter many food networks and chains, and the energy that is obtained during chemosynthesis or photosynthesis is supported by other organisms of ecological systems.
Speaking about what type of nutrition is characteristic of algae, we note that they are typical representatives of photoautotrophs. If we are talking about the value in the nutritional chains, then autotrophs are called manufacturers or producers.
Heterotrophs
What is characterized by such a power circuit? Algae use chemical or solar energy to produce their own food (carbohydrates) from carbon dioxide. Heterotrophs instead of the energy of the sun receive energy using by-products or other organisms. Their typical examples are fungi, animals, bacteria, people. There are several variants of heterotrophs with various ecological functions: from insects to fungi.
Algae nutrition
Algae, being phototrophic organisms, can exist only in the presence of sunlight, minerals, and organic compounds. Their main habitat is water.
Some algal communities exist:
- planktonic;
- benthic algae;
- ground;
- soil;
- hot springs;
- snow and ice;
- salt water bodies;
- in calcareous substrate
The specificity of their nutrition is that, unlike animal organisms and bacteria, in the process of evolution, algae developed the ability to use fully oxidized inorganic compounds for their nutrition: water and carbon dioxide.
Algae is fed thanks to solar energy, this process is accompanied by the release of molecular oxygen.
The use of light energy for complex biological syntheses in algae is possible due to the fact that plants have a complex of pigments that absorb light. Of these, chlorophyll is of particular importance.
The process of carbon and light nutrition of plants is called photosynthesis. In general, algae nutrition corresponds to the following chemical equation:
CO 2 + 12H2O = C6H2O6 + 6H2O + 2815680 J
For every 6 gram molecules of water and acid, one gram molecule of glucose is synthesized. During the process, 2815680 J of energy is released, 6 gram oxygen molecules are formed.
The function of the process is the biochemical conversion of light energy into chemical energy.
Important points
Each variant of food chains ends with a predator or a super predator, that is, a creature that does not have natural enemies. For example, a shark, a crocodile, a bear. They are called the "owners" of their own ecological systems. If one of the organisms dies, detritophages (worms, vultures, crabs, hyenas) eat it. The rest is decomposed by bacteria and fungi (reducers), the energy exchange continues.
Types of morphological differentiation of algal thallus
Algae nutrition is accompanied by a flow of energy, its loss is characteristic for each link in the food chain.
For unicellular flagella, a certain organization is characteristic. Amoeboid is inherent in species that are devoid of a dense shell, and cytoplasmic processes are used for movement. Palmeloid is formed by cells that are immersed in tetraspore (common mucus).
Coenobias are single-celled colonies in which functions are divided between groups of individuals.
Department of blue-green algae
It has about two thousand species. This is the oldest group of algae, the remains of which are found in Precambrian sediments. They are characterized by a photo-authoritative way of eating. It is this group of algae that is most common in nature.
Among them are unicellular forms. In blue-green algae there is no clear nucleus, mitochondria, shaped plastids, and pigments are located in lamellae - special photosynthetic plates.
Specific features
Reproduction is carried out by simple cell division for unicellular species, for filamentous - thanks to fragments of the mother thread. They can fix nitrogen, therefore they settle in those places in which there is practically no nutrient medium. This way of feeding algae allows them to exist comfortably even on volcanoes after their eruption.
Green algae have chlorophylls a and b. This set is in higher and euglena plants. They also have a certain set of additional pigments, including xanthophylls: zeaxanthin, lutein.
They are characterized by the photoautotrophic type of algae nutrition associated with photosynthesis in significance and scale. In various departments there are such species that can be called strict photosynthetics.
Chemical Features
Algae nutrition can be explained on the basis of their chemical composition. It is heterogeneous. In green algae, an increased content of proteins is noted - 40-45%. Among them are alanine, leupine, bicarboxylic acids, alginine. Up to 30% of them contain carbohydrates, up to 10% - lipids. In the ash there is copper, zinc.
Algae nutrition is inextricably linked to solar energy and photosynthesis. Currently, interest in algae has grown significantly, not only as a source of nutrients, but also as an excellent raw material for biodiesel production.
Brown algae growing plants, which are then processed into environmentally friendly biodiesel, are relevant.
Algae are indispensable assistants in space research. With their help, the crew of the spacecraft receives oxygen. Suitable for such purposes, the simplest algae - chlorella, characterized by high photosynthesis activity. Experienced algal plants are already operating in our country, as well as in European countries.
Being autotrophs, synthesizing organic compounds from inorganic substances, they use sunlight to get the right nutrition. This is accomplished through photosynthesis, a serious process that consists of two phases: light and dark.
The first phase is associated with the knocking out of the chromatophore from the chlorophyll by the light beams of electrons required for some processes: photophosphorylation (ADP is converted to ATP), photolysis of water (evolution of hydroxyl groups), accumulation of NADP, carbon dioxide, hydrogen.
During the dark phase, all that accumulated during the day is used in the Calvin cycle. The product of biochemical reactions is glucose, and it is the food for algae.