Is algae secret ingredient in mass extinctions?

by Rachael Rettner, an ok journalist from MSNBC



In this article, journalist Rachael Rettner supposes that asteroid crashes and volcanic activity may not have been the only causes of mass extinctions. What was another one of them? Algae. Boring, smelly old algae.

Once again, like my weekly post from two weeks ago, this theory is highly negated by the science community. I don't know why I continue to pick articles like this. Maybe the cynic in me likes seeing these cocky scientists fail. But that aside, here's what the article had to say about algae and all its gooey goodness.

Rettner says that "when nutrients abound, the algae and other primitive microbes can grow rapidly and can aggregate to form dense populations, known as algae blooms. Such outbreaks of toxic algae can have devastating effects on ecosystems, killing fish, birds, marine mammals and even people" (Rettner 1). She goes on to explain that cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, forms a blue-green film on top of the water during its algal bloom.

To detect whether or not this stupid plant had any sort of effect on mass extinctions, geologist James Castle of Clemson University noticed that during four of the five mass extinctions, there was an increase in stromatolites. Stromatolites have layers of cyanobacteria on them. Then he compared that to modern day stromatolites, showing that the bacteria had hardly changed in the millions of years of its existence.

Rettner goes on to say that the didn't find an increase in algal fossilization. So they proposed planktonic algae. All in all, this article fails on every single level.

Don't get me wrong, I love science and new theories and all that jazz, but once again I have to rant about an article that has little proven facts. Now, once again, James Castle could probably kick my butt in a geology-off of some sorts, but nothing here really convinces me of this new theory for a mass extinction. I think they should've called the media in once they had convinced other folks that this was a legit excuse. Maybe once the world agrees with Castle, then the textbooks can be re-written. Even then though, the textbooks will still be large and intimidating, and I still will be hesitant to do my nightly reading assignmetns. It will probably still sit on my shelf as a paperweight, or in most cases, another textbook weight.

That is all.

Oh, and who is "patches?" I'm trying to keep track of who's the scribe and stuff and last time I checked, there's no one in our class named patches, so i'm assuming it's a pseudonym.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33541539/ns/technology_and_science-science/