Talk:Algae

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 5 January 2022 and 4 April 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Osad3840.

"Most" algae are autotrophic, but 100% of algae are photosynthetic?

Wikipedia now says:

"Algae = photosynthetic eukaryotic organism. . . . Most are aquatic and autotrophic".

So 100% of algae are photosynthetic? How is it then that only "most" are autotrophic? Why not 100% of algae? Are 100% of algae really photosynthetic? If not, why are the non-photosynthetic algae still algae?

--ee1518 (talk) 20:29, 28 March 2019 (UTC)

Good point. What's meant is that in evolutionary terms, ancestral algae were photosynthetic, but sme have secondarily lost this ability (it's like saying that birds are feathered flying organisms, even though there are flightless birds). It's tricky to word both accurately and simply. Peter coxhead (talk) 21:00, 28 March 2019 (UTC)

The above discussion illustrates precisely what is wrong with WP in 2019. Too many "experts" are interested in hearing themselves talk, but not thinking for a moment what all this might mean to a "lay" person. A non-expert. Come on folks. Check your ego at the door and make Wikipedia a place that everyone can enjoy. Save your overly-technical arguments and discussions for symposia and papers within your field of expertise. The rest of us don't want to know. 73.6.96.168 (talk) 03:27, 1 November 2019 (UTC)

This article serves no one.

This article serves no one. Sorry, but it just doesn't. Maybe if you're a scientist or something that works with Algae, OK - maybe then it's interesting. But for the rest of us, it just doesn't serve any purpose. Has everyone forgotten the purpose of an encyclopedia? It's supposed to be a place (or a book) that "folks" can use and learn about something. Casually, even. My dad was a HUGE reader and proponent of education, even though he only got through the 8th grade. He used to read the World Book (pick a letter) - every night. He loved learning, but he was not "learned" by any definition. Thanks to the World Book, he could learn a little about Tigers and Cells and Atoms and stuff like that. He didn't want to learn everything - he was just looking for a clue. This place has lost my support, financial and otherwise, because it has lost its focus. Go back to being an online encyclopedia and I will be first in line to support this site, 100% 73.6.96.168 (talk) 03:20, 1 November 2019 (UTC)

There are indeed real problems with this article. They seem to me to have two causes. Firstly, the perennial problem in Wikipedia with important topics, namely that many different editors have made smallish contributions, so that the article is very "bitty" and doesn't have an overall thread. It needs someone with good writing skills to completely overhaul it. Secondly, it deals with a group of organisms that has radically changed its status. "Algae" were once a scientifically respectable group; now the word is just an umbrella term for a collection of organisms that are, as the article says, "not necessarily closely related". This makes it difficult to write about. It might perhaps be better to shorten it drastically, with cross-references to the separate groups (e.g. as listed under "Groups included" in the taxobox). Peter coxhead (talk) 10:09, 1 November 2019 (UTC)

Basic definition

Add a basic definition because someone removed it JoshuaSaver (talk) 07:26, 24 January 2021 (UTC)

Algae are protists or plantae

Can anybody please mention clearly which one is more applicable Rituraj6868nnun (talk) 08:17, 29 April 2021 (UTC)

Neither really, it is awfully complicated and you would be best off reading and understanding the three relevant articles. Since land plants arose from within the green algae and share a common ancestor with them, many now argue that land plants are in fact green algae, though there is still an inconveniently contrasting point of view that green algae are not plants, and that Plantae started with the Embryophyte's transition to land. Algae are not all related. Certainly there are groups of algae (e.g. brown algae) that are not related either to green algae or to plants. Protists don't form a clade with plants or green algae either, so it is no longer regarded as useful as a formal grouping.Plantsurfer 15:51, 29 April 2021 (UTC)

About algea

What is algea 175.157.122.93 (talk) 16:08, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

See Algea. Plantsurfer 16:21, 31 March 2022 (UTC)

Fully protected edit request on 11 June 2022

A protected redirect, Alga, needs redirect category (rcat) templates added. Please modify it as follows:

• from this:

#REDIRECT [[Algae]]

• to this:

#REDIRECT [[Algae]]

{{Redirect category shell|
{{R from move}}
{{R to plural|printworthy}}
{{R mentioned in hatnote}}
{{R printworthy}}
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• WHEN YOU COPY & PASTE, PLEASE LEAVE THE SKIPPED LINE BLANK FOR READABILITY.

The {{Redirect category shell}} template is used to sort redirects into one or more categories. When {{pp-protected}} and/or {{pp-move}} suffice, the Redirect category shell template will detect the protection level(s) and categorize the redirect automatically. (Also, the categories will be automatically removed or changed when and if protection is lifted, raised or lowered.) Thank you in advance! P.I. Ellsworth , ed. ^put'r there 11:20, 11 June 2022 (UTC)

 Not done however I reduced the protection so you can edit it directly now @Paine Ellsworth:. — xaosflux ^Talk 16:06, 11 June 2022 (UTC)

Thank you very much, xaosflux! P.I. Ellsworth , ed. ^put'r there 20:25, 11 June 2022 (UTC)