The newsletter, Aquaphyte, covers news of interest to aquatic, wetland and invasive plant researchers, regulators, managers, students and others. Aquaphyteis published once or twice yearly and is free of charge. It reaches subscribers worldwide.

The entire collection of Aquaphyte has been added to a federal grant funded project called Expanding Access to Biodiversity Literature. The aim of this grant is to enhance the collection of the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) through the addition of unique and valuable content. BHL is a consortium of major natural history museum libraries, botanical libraries, and research institutions that cooperate to digitize and make accessible the legacy biodiversity literature. Together, the consortium accounts for over two million volumes of biodiversity literature collected over 200 years. Open access to the resources in the Biodiversity Heritage Library supports the work of scientists, researchers, and students in their home institutions and throughout the world.

Algae are in the plant kingdom, but technically they are not plants. A diverse group of organisms, algae survive in even the harshest habitats. From the dry desert, to the Arctic Circle, to boiling springs, these organisms have found a way to extract enough from their environment to live. Algae range in size from microscopic to meters long and from single-celled to complex organisms that rival large plants. These organisms may look like true plants, but unlike plants, algae do not have roots or true stems and leaves. In Florida's freshwaters, algae are what make the water green. Green water is not necessarily undesirable, and neither are algae. In fact, algae are essential to the ecosystem and to life as we know it. Algae are a primary component of the food web, providing food for all types of animals, including fish, insects, mollusks, zooplankton (microscopic animals), and humans. There are microscopic algae, like phytoplankton; and there are macroalgae, visible to the naked eye. Algae occur naturally in all types of systems and can indicate the condition of an ecosystem. The mere presence of a species can indicate the amount and type of nutrients present. 

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