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The Amazon received the title of “lungs of the world” unfairly. Together, seaweed and freshwater species produce 55% of the planet’s oxygen. It is clear that the forests are of great help, but a good part of the gas is consumed there, in the respiration and decomposition of animals and plants. Algae, on the other hand, luckily for us, manufacture much more oxygen than they need. “The excess gas released into the water passes into the atmosphere and becomes available to other living beings,” says biologist Mutue Toyota Fujii, from the Botanical Institute of São Paulo. Algae still have the advantage of occupying a much larger area than trees. “After all, 70% of the planet is covered in water and all oceans are inhabited by microscopic oxygen-producing algae”, says another biologist, Estela Maria Plastino, from the University of São Paulo (USP).
The truth is that human beings owe a great debt to these aquatic plants. “The simplest species, blue algae, released oxygen into Earth’s early atmosphere 3.5 billion years ago. If that hadn’t happened, plants and animals would never have appeared,” says Estela.
Seaweed alone produces more than half of the vital gas
Origin – Woods and forests
% Produced – 24.9%
Origin – Steppes, fields and pastures
% Produced – 9.1%
Origin – Cultivated areas
% Produced – 8.0%
Origin – Desert regions
% Produced – 3.0%
Origin – Trees (total)
% Produced – 45%
Origin – Seaweed
% Produced – 54.7%
Origin – Freshwater algae
% Produced – 0.3%
Origin – Algae (total)
% Produced – 55%
Source: Ecology, by Ramón Margalef