It is estimated that between 70% and 80% of the oxygen in the atmosphere is produced by marine plants . Nearly all marine plants are single celled, photosynthetic algae. Yup, that’s right, good ol’ scum on the pond…green gak…..slip slimein’ away. Even marine seaweed is many times colonial algae. They are a bunch of single cells trying to look like a big plant (see seaweed photo), but they are really individuals.

We need marine algae a whole lot more than they need us. Think about it….70% to 80% of all the oxygen we breathe comes from algae!

as the world headed into a cooler, drier climate around 250 million years ago, the early seed-bearing plants had a distinct advantage over their simpler, spore-releasing relatives that then flourished in moist, warm swamps.

Seed-bearing plants also figured out better ways to get around. Some seeds sprout improbably elaborate barbs in order to snag a lift on passing animals. A significant number hitch a ride by growing a morsel called a elaiosome that entices ants to carry them off a few feet. Other seeds are textured or buoyant, so they can float away on wind or water.

The human appetite for seeds has resulted in new forms of dispersal as well. Thousands of years ago, people began collecting and cultivating nutrient-rich seeds, like corn, lentils, and oats, for food.

About 100,000 segments of human DNA are remarkably similar to retroviruses, a class of viruses that includes HIV. Retroviruses insert a copy of their genes into the genome of their host cell. Scientists estimate that 8 percent of the human genome is made up of this viral DNA, known as human endogenous retroviruses, or HERVs.

Microbes may compete with large animal scavengers by producing repugnant chemicals that deter higher species from consuming valuable food resources—such as decaying meat, seeds and fruit, a new study suggests.
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Hay hopes the research will make ecologists think more critically about the broad role of microbes in the ecosystem. Microbes are often omitted or relegated to a minor role in food web diagrams, but they should be depicted as direct competitors with larger animals, he said.

Like explorers of old, scientists are venturing into the immense but little-known realm of the microscopic organisms that dominate our planet.

“It’s an entire world that most of us have no idea about,” said Alan Leshner, the chief executive of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Countless trillions of microbes — mostly bacteria and a recently discovered kingdom of one-celled creatures known as archaea — inhabit every cranny of the globe. They reshape their environment, make life possible and sometimes destroy it.