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ALGAE
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Primitive chlorophyll-containing mainly aquatic eukaryotic organisms lacking true stems and roots and leaves
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("algae" is a kind of...):
protoctist (any of the unicellular protists)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "algae"):
seaweed (plant growing in the sea, especially marine algae)
golden algae (algae having the pigments chlorophyll and carotene and xanthophyll)
yellow-green algae (any alga of the division Chrysophyta with its chlorophyll masked by yellow pigment)
diatom (microscopic unicellular marine or freshwater colonial alga having cell walls impregnated with silica)
confervoid algae (algae resembling confervae especially in having branching filaments)
brown algae (algae having the chlorophyll masked by brown and yellow pigments)
euglenid; euglenoid; euglenophyte (marine and freshwater green or colorless flagellate organism)
chlorophyte; green algae (algae that are clear green in color; often growing on wet ricks or damp wood or the surface of stagnant water)
chlorella (any alga of the genus Chlorella)
red algae (marine algae in which the chlorophyll is masked by a red or purplish pigment; source of agar and carrageenan)
cryptomonad; cryptophyte (common in fresh and salt water appearing along the shore as algal blooms)
Context examples:
Plants, algae, and certain types of bacteria can pull CO2 out of the air and use it as a building block for sugars, proteins and other molecules in their bodies.
(Carbon hides in sediment, keeping oxygen in atmosphere, National Science Foundation)
Ocean algae depend on phosphorus, which is essential to all life on Earth.
(Study reveals new patterns of key ocean nutrient, National Science Foundation)
Unlike red algae, whose blooms can damage the ecosystem, green algae form the basis of the food chain, providing food for crustaceans and larger organisms.
(Scientists report skyrocketing phyotplankton population in aftermath of Kīlauea eruption, Wikinews)
CLE peptides are involved in cellular development and response to stress, and they are present throughout the plant kingdom, from green algae to flowering plants.
(Plant gene discovery could help reduce fertilizer pollution in waterways, National Science Foundation)
Limestone surfaces are also more likely to harbor lichens — symbiotic communities composed of fungi and photosynthesizing cyanobacteria or algae.
(Tales from the crypt: Life after death in a graveyard, National Science Foundation)
Once deposited there, their iron content could be enough to boost the productivity of marine phytoplankton, feeding new blooms of these microscopic algae and altering ocean ecosystems.
(Sleeping sands of the Kalahari awaken after more than 10,000 years, NSF)
"Removal of algae grazers such as herbivorous fish and sea urchins leads to increases in macroalgae, which then leads to increased organic carbon, contributing to the degradation of coral reefs," Weber adds.
(Microbes reflect the health of coral reefs, National Science Foundation)
Deforestation cuts back on tree shadow on rivers, increases the number of river algae, which compete with fish for oxygen, and curtails the availability of food that comes from trees.
(Amazon fish ‘face new threats’, SciDev.Net)
By showing how genes for domoic acid production are turned on, the authors suggest a way to connect the ocean conditions that drive algae blooms with the development of toxin production.
(Scientists discover genetic basis for how harmful algae blooms become toxic, National Science Foundation)
It is synthesized by several unicellular algae and some terrestrial plants.
(Brassicasterol, NCI Thesaurus)
