Question Sheet: The algae invasion

SCIENCE

Before reading:

1. What is algae?
2. How could algae be an invader?
3. What does it mean to “classify” an organism?

During reading:

1. Why have algae “pestered” scientists for a long time?
2. What is one way plants are different from animals?
3. What did researchers find out when they looked at the genes of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii?
4. What are cyanobacteria and what do they have to do with algae?
5. In what way are algae “invading” other organisms now?

After Reading

1. What does the “problem with algae” imply about the way scientists currently classify organisms?
2. In what way are all algae alike? Why area algae also so different from each other?

SOCIAL STUDIES

1. When did philosophers begin classifying living organisms? Why?
2. What is molecular phylogenetics? Why might it be a cool career field?