Florida has been suffering a particularly bad red tide this year. The algae bloom has been killing tons and tons of marine life. Algae blooms and bacteria blooms cause problems all over the world and a lot of them are made worse by human impact.
CORRECTION: Karenia brevis is also not a plant. It belongs to the group of the Chromista. In the current structure of the tree of life, they are categorized as Protists, so while they are definitely not bacteria, they aren’t plants either. They are photosynthetic protists. In the proposed 7-kingdom structure, the Chromista are their own group. Cod, this deserves its own video.
Mentioned in this episode:
- Tagesschau: Alge verursacht Massensterben von Meerestieren
- CNN: Red tide has contributed to more than 600 tons of dead marine life in Florida (Warning: contains inaccuracies or mistakes)
- Red Tide Current Status Map
- The Guardian: Thousands of fish killed by toxic red tide (Warning: contains inaccuracies or mistakes)