{"id":430924,"date":"2022-12-27T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-27T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?post_type=selected&p=430924"},"modified":"2022-12-27T15:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-12-27T14:00:00","slug":"slime-for-the-climate-delivered-by-brown-algae","status":"publish","type":"selected","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/selected\/slime-for-the-climate-delivered-by-brown-algae\/","title":{"rendered":"Slime for the climate, delivered by brown algae"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Brown algae take up large amounts of carbon dioxide from the air and release parts of the carbon contained therein back into the environment in mucous form. This mucus is hard to break down for other ocean inhabitants, thus the carbon is removed from the atmosphere for a long time, as researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen now show<\/a>.\u00a0They reveal that the algal mucus called fucoidan is particularly responsible for this carbon removal and estimate that brown algae could thus remove up to 550 million tons of carbon dioxide from the air every year \u2013 almost the amount of Germany’s entire annual greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why we write about this topic:<\/summary>

Nature can help us in the fight against global warming. Algae can as well, as they are able to absorb carbon dioxide.<\/p><\/div><\/details>\n\n\n\n

Using carbon to grow<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Algae take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and use the carbon to grow. They release up to a third of the carbon they absorb back into the seawater, for example in the form of sugary excretions. Depending on the structure of these excretions, they are either quickly used by other organisms or sink towards the seafloor. \u201cThe excretions of brown algae are very complex and therefore incredibly complicated to measure,\u201d says first author Hagen Buck-Wiese from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen. \u201cHowever, we have managed to develop a method to analyze them in detail.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this method, the researchers scrutinized a large number of different substances. The so-called fucoidan turned out to be particularly exciting. \u201cFucoidan made up about half of the excretions of the brown algae species we studied, the so-called bladderwrack,\u201d says Buck-Wiese. Fucoidan is a recalcitrant molecule. \u201cThe fucoidan is so complex that it is very hard for other organisms to use it. No one seems to like it.\u201d As a result, the carbon from the fucoidan does not return to the atmosphere quickly. \u201cThis makes the brown algae particularly good helpers in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the long term \u2013 for hundreds to thousands of years.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>
<\/div><\/div>
Scientists make sustainable biodiesel from algae fed on used coffee grounds<\/div>
Espresso, americano, or macchiato, there are plenty of ways to enjoy coffee, with countless options of beans and blends. <\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

1 gigaton<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brown algae are remarkably productive. It is estimated that they absorb about 1 gigaton (one billion tons) of carbon per year from the air. Using the results of the present study, this would mean that up to 0.15 gigatons of carbon, equivalent to 0.55 gigatons of carbon dioxide, are sequestered by brown algae each year in the long term. For comparison: Germany’s annual greenhouse gas emissions currently amount to about 0.74 gigatons of carbon dioxide, according to the Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt, estimation for 2020). \u201cAnd even better: The fucoidan does not contain any nutrients such as nitrogen,\u201d Buck-Wiese explains further. Thus, the growth of the brown algae is not affected by carbon losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other species and other locations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For the current study, Buck-Wiese and his colleagues from the MARUM MPG Bridge Group Marine Glycobiology, which is based at both the Bremen Max Planck Institute and MARUM – Centre for Marine and Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen, conducted their experiments at the Tv\u00e4rminne Zoological Station in southern Finland. \u201cNext we want to look into other brown algae species and other locations,\u201d says Buck-Wiese. \u201cThe great potential of brown algae for climate protection definitely needs to be further researched and utilized.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1780,"featured_media":511641,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[37275,129268],"location":[24456],"internal_archives":[],"class_list":["post-430924","selected","type-selected","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sustainability-nl","tag-algae","tag-brown-algae","location-germany"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/coffee-g8625852c8_1920.jpg","coauthors":[],"author_meta":{"author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/elckevels\/","display_name":"Elcke Vels"},"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 4 years ago","modified":"Updated 4 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on December 27, 2022","modified":"Updated on December 27, 2022"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on December 27, 2022 3:00 pm","modified":"Updated on December 27, 2022 3:00 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","tax_additional":{"category":{"linked":["Sustainability<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Sustainability<\/span>"],"slug":"category","name":"Categories"},"post_tag":{"linked":["algae<\/a>","Brown algae<\/a>"],"unlinked":["algae<\/span>","Brown algae<\/span>"],"slug":"post_tag","name":"Tags"},"language":{"linked":["EN<\/a>"],"unlinked":["EN<\/span>"],"slug":"language","name":"Tags"},"post_translations":{"linked":[],"unlinked":[],"slug":"post_translations","name":""},"location":{"linked":["Germany<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Germany<\/span>"],"slug":"location","name":"Locations"},"internal_archives":{"linked":[],"unlinked":[],"slug":"internal_archives","name":"Internal Archives"}},"series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/selected\/430924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/selected"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/selected"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1780"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430924"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=430924"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=430924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}