{"id":663,"date":"2014-01-17T14:37:21","date_gmt":"2014-01-17T19:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nybg.org\/science-talk\/?p=663"},"modified":"2014-04-10T14:28:48","modified_gmt":"2014-04-10T18:28:48","slug":"the-river-dwelling-cousins-of-ocean-loving-algae","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/01\/the-river-dwelling-cousins-of-ocean-loving-algae\/","title":{"rendered":"The River-Dwelling Cousins of Ocean-Loving Algae"},"content":{"rendered":"

Xian Wang is studying for her Ph.D. degree at Fordham University<\/a> and The New York Botanical Garden<\/a>‘s Commodore Matthew Perry Graduate Studies Program.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\"Trepanier<\/a>
Trepanier Creek, British Columbia, a fast speed creek and one of my sampling sites<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Algae, a large and diverse group of plants that live in water, are often overlooked, but they shouldn’t be. They play an important role in the food web and life on Earth: algae produce more oxygen than all the land plants combined. They can be found in freshwater, brackish, and marine environments, and they\u2019re classified as red, green, or brown, which is the kind I am currently studying.
\n
\nThe great majority of brown algae are generally found in marine environments. Many people\u2014including botanists\u2014are surprised to learn that freshwater brown algae exist, yet they do! Freshwater browns are very interesting, but unfortunately they are poorly understood. Their scientific classification, ecological roles in the ecosystem, and how they evolved from their marine counterparts are far from well-studied.<\/p>\n

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The scientific name of a freshwater brown alga that I study is Heribaudiella fluviatilis<\/em>. It has been collected from scattered locations in Asia, Europe, and North America. This species is found in fast-flowing cold rivers and forms tiny brown crusts on the surface of rocks. I enjoy my research not only because I get to collect these interesting organisms in the field, but also because I am able to study their DNA in the lab in order to figure out how these freshwater brown algae evolved from their marine ancestors.<\/p>\n

Solving such mysteries is one of the ways scientists at The New York Botanical Garden are working to understand plant life so it can be conserved. Imagine a world without these oxygen-producing powerhouses!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Xian Wang travels the world studying an important river species more commonly associated with the ocean.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[144,214,215,217,216,219,218,213],"yoast_head":"\nThe River-Dwelling Cousins of Ocean-Loving Algae - Science Talk Archive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/01\/the-river-dwelling-cousins-of-ocean-loving-algae\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The River-Dwelling Cousins of Ocean-Loving Algae - Science Talk Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Xian Wang travels the world studying an important river species more commonly associated with the ocean.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/01\/the-river-dwelling-cousins-of-ocean-loving-algae\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Science Talk Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-01-17T19:37:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-04-10T18:28:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/DSC_0108-1024x680.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"680\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Xian Wang\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/\",\"name\":\"Science Talk Archive\",\"description\":\"Exploring the science of plants, from the field to the lab\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/01\/the-river-dwelling-cousins-of-ocean-loving-algae\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/DSC_0108.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/DSC_0108.jpg\",\"width\":4288,\"height\":2848,\"caption\":\"Mad River, Washington State, another one of my sampling sites\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/01\/the-river-dwelling-cousins-of-ocean-loving-algae\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/science-talk\/2014\/01\/the-river-dwelling-cousins-of-ocean-loving-algae\/\",\"name\":\"The River-Dwelling Cousins of Ocean-Loving Algae - 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