Where do Algae Grow? - Algae Growth Environments

Nature gave us oil from algae; perhaps we should try Nature’s way again 

Algae are some of the most robust organisms on earth, able to grow in a wide range of conditions. 

Algae are usually found in damp places or bodies of water and thus are common in terrestrial as well as aquatic environments. However, terrestrial algae are usually rather inconspicuous and far more common in moist, tropical regions than dry ones, because algae lack vascular tissues and other adaptions to live on land. 

As mentioned above, algea grow in almost every habitat in every part of the world. The following are examples of non-marine habitats.

• Animals: Reported substrates include turtles, snails, rotifers, worms, crustacean, alligators, three-toed sloths, aquatic ferns, freshwater sponges and some other animals.
• Aquatic plants: Algae grow on and inside water plants (including other algae)
• Artificial substrates: Wooden posts and fences, cans and bottles etc. all provide algal habitats.
• Billabongs & lagoons: Rich microalgal habitats, particularly for desmids.
• Bogs, marshes & swamps
• Farm Dams
• Hot springs
• Lakes
• Mud and sand
• Ponds (ephemeral), puddles, roadside ditches and rock pools
• Reservoirs
• Rivers
• Rock (internal & surface)
• Saline Lagoons
• Saline Lakes & Marshes
• Salt marshes and salt lakes
• Sewage (see Oilgae blog directory for articles on companies focused on sewage as a growth medium)
• Snow
• Soil
• Streams
• Terrestrial plants - tree trunks, branches, shady sides of trees, damp walls, surface of and inside leaves. 

In fact, the habitats of algae are so numerous that a more justified title for this page would be “Where Don’t Algae Grow” instead of “Where Do Algae Grow?” 

 

Source : OILGAE 

 

See also: 

 

Oilgae blog article - Diatoms under Millions of Years of Ice – hmm…Trying to figure out how the Arctic would have been millions of years ago, scientists dig up ice, and they find – algae! Hmm…these chaps happen to be in the most unlikeliest of places, don’t they!