What's an Abundant Potential Food Source That We Haven't Developed a Taste for Yet?

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/10/02/magazine/29mag-food-issue.html#/policy

What's an Abundant Potential Food Source That We Haven't Developed a Taste for Yet?

BY LUKE MITCHELL

ImagineChina/Corbis
Algae on the beach at a resort in Qingdao, Shandong, China.

While the world's farmers labored to produce 819 million tons of corn in 2009, the world's rivers, lakes and seas brought forth 30 trillion tons of algae. The only reason the oceans aren't choked with the stuff is because so many living things other than humans willingly devour it. No one has figured out a profitable way to harvest naturally occurring microalgae, but roving aquafarmers could in theory one day reap the oxygen-depleting algae blooms that have created at least 400 oceanic dead zones worldwide, some greater in area than New Jersey. In the meantime, a few companies have begun trying to make food from commercially grown algae. (Algae as a source of biofuel has been a money-losing proposition so far.) Scientists at Solazyme Roquette Nutritionals have developed an algalin flour that could replace the oil and eggs in many snacks; Aurora Algae (formerly Aurora Biofuels) is constructing a 1,500-acre production facility in Australia to make an ingredient for patties and nuggets. Leslie van der Meulen, Aurora's vice president for business development, says its product will "rival any chickenless item on the market today."

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Fish, Shrimp, Oysters, etc., consume algae and have developed a means to 'harvest' [consume] algae.

Of course these mainly consume Diatom Algae and Green Algae and not Blue Green Algae.

Diatoms key to evolution of whales

Sydney, Feb 19 (ANI): A new study by scientists has determined that a type of algae called diatoms have been key to the evolution of the diversity of whales.

According to a report by ABC Science, the research was carried out by Felix Marx of the University of Otago in New Zealand and Dr Mark Uhen of George Mason University in the US.

“The fossil record clearly shows that diatoms and whales rose and fell in diversity together,” said Marx, whose research was part of a PhD project under the supervision of Associate Professor Ewan Sordyce.

Marx and Uhen looked at the diversity of dolphins and whales (cetations) in the fossil record dating back 30 million years.

They then compared this with records of climate change and estimates of various food sources in the ocean.

Marx and Uhen measured the abundance of two different types of algae: nanoplankton and diatoms, which are key “primary producers” of the ocean – converting sunlight into food.

They found diatoms were the key to cetation diversity.

“The greater the diversity of diatoms found in the fossil record (a proxy for diatom abundance) the greater the diversity in species of whales and dolphins,” said Marx.

Marx said that the importance of diatoms is linked to their larger size, compared to nanoplankton.

The larger the primary producer, the fewer the links in the food chain between it and the top predator, and less energy is lost on the way.

“This suits a whale,” said Marx.

“You get a relatively large diatom, a krill can come along and eat the diatom and then a whale can come along and eat the krill. So you have two steps in the food chain,” he said.

The findings suggest it will be important for scientists to consider the role of diatoms when modelling the long-term effect of climate change on cetations. (ANI)

http://buzz7.com/science/diatoms-key-to-evolution-of-whales.html