I'm not a biologist and know little about biology, so I'd like to ask
people who are in the know, so to speak. Right now, the biofuels
industry is going apes over Algae and the promise it holds to clean up
co2 and create oil at the same time without using prime farm land and
any ole water. Sounds great right? Every speech and presentation
that I hear and see says they will be using genetic manipulation and
large scale mono-cropping, although probably a different monocrop in
each area. Is there a chance that something could go wrong
biologically? From my understanding, Algae keep us alive by supplying
over 50% of the earth's free oxygen in the atmosphere. I;ve also
heard that there are thousands of species of Algae occurring
naturally. Presumably, the engineers will be interested in creating
species which create the most fuel, not the most oxygen and they will
be grown in large open tanks where they will get into the atmosphere
and compete with the natural algae in the natural habbitat. Is there
a realistic chance that engineered algae could displace natural algae
and leave us with less oxygen in the atmosphere for things like
breathing? Is there also a chance that a engineered Algae could get
into the natural setting and initially out compete the natural algae,
but then die out because they deplete resources or can't do well long
term in that environment and then when they die, the old Algae is gone
and doesn't come back because they were killed off (or something)? It
just seems kinda scary, especially when you are so ignorant in a
subject, to be messing with a fundemental species that drives all
oxygen consuming life on earth. Any ideas?
Chris
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