Wading Through Research

What is algae? This seems like a very simple and easy to answer question. Surprisingly though, many people (even those doing research on specific groups of algae like me), have a tough time answering this question. Mainly, I think this is because we rarely get this question from other people (scientists or laypeople). Also, since science often encourages you to focus your research questions, we rarely have to even think about how a specific group of algae is related to other groups of algae, or how algae fits into the evolutionary scheme of other living organisms (are algae plants or animals?...).  Anabaena , a common genus of cyanobacteria (aka "blue-green algae").

My research is on the diatom communities of the Everglades. These silicious, environmentally sensitive algae like to live buried within a complex biofilm called periphyton .With the naked eye, periphyton just looks like muck or scum. But there is a hidden microscopic world that is quite fascinating and even beautiful. Everglades periphyton magnified 1000x: filamentous cyanobacteria and a diatom