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ALGAE; TYPES

AND
HARMFUL EFFECTS

V
ISS SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL
PERINTHALMANNA
DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY

BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE
Certified that this project report.......................................................... is
the bonafide work of........................................................... who carried
out the project under my supervision in partial fulfillment of
requirement of the AISSCE conducted by the CBSE in the year
2024-2025

ROLL NO:
Teacher in charge:

Signature of internal examiner: Signature of the external examiner:


Date: Date:

Page:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In the completion of this project successfully


many people have bestowed upon me their
blessings and heart pledged support. I’m taking
this opportunity to thank all who have been of
help in this project.

I would like to sincerely and profusely thank my


biology teacher Mrs. DEEPA ma’am for the
valuable guidance, advice and for giving useful
suggestions and relevant ideas that facilitate an
easy and early completion of this project.

I would like to thank my parents and my friends


who have helped me with their valuable
suggestion and guidance.

Page:
INDEX
SI. No CONTENT PAGE NO:
1. AIM
2. INTRODUCTION:
WHAT’RE ALGAE
TYPES OF AGAE
HABITAT
IMPORTANCE OF ALGAE
HARMFUL EFFECTS
3. OBJECTIVE
4. CASE STUDY
5. INFERENCE
6. RECOMMENDATION & CONCLUSIONS
7. BIBLIOGRAPHY
AIM

To know further more about algae, types, their


importance, habitat & also their harmful and
hazardous sides such as algal blooms and
eutrophication.
INTRODUCTION
WHAT’RE ALGAE?

Algae are a group of chlorophyll bearing, photosynthetic,


autotrophic, thalloid plants. their body is not differentiated into
true roots, stems and leaves. They lack vascular tissue &
epidermis with stomata. The study of algae is termed as
phycology. the term algae were coined by Carolus Linnaeus. The
size ranges from microscopic unicellular to colonial, filamentous
and to massive plant bodies.

ALGAL DIVERSITY:
They fall into a heterogeneous group of cryptogrammic plants,
comprising 13 large phyla.

As on date 40,000 algal species have been described all over the
world. A total of 834 species of algae having been reported from
Kerala.

 The blue-green algae are a diverse group of phototropic


prokaryotes.
 The green algae are cosmopolitan and occur in marine
brackish, fresh waters and soil environments.
 The brown algae are global in distribution and essentially
marine.
 The red algae form the largest group and is predominantly
marine.
HABITAT:

Algae are mainly aquatic. Algae thrive both in marine as well as


fresh waters. They can also be seen in terrestrial habitat like moist
soil and walls. Some fresh water algae are Spirogyra and Ulothrix

IMPORTANCE:

Algae have important ecological roles, including producing most


of the world’s oxygen and being the primary producers.

Algae are one of the important sources of food for fishes, aquatic
amphibians, mammals and other animals. Algae like gracilaria,
galedium are used as food in coastal regions of India. Spirulina, a
type of blue-green algae, rich in vitamin B complex and minerals.
Powdered spirulina, is used in herbal toxins and biscuits. They are
consumed by astronauts because they increase the availability of
oxygen.

Some blue-green algae such as anabaena, nostoc are able to


convert atmospheric nitrogen into molecular nitrogen.
PRESENCE OF ALGAE ON WATER BODIES
AND THEIR HARMFUL EFFECTS
Now let us come to the key point of this project that is harmful
effects of algae. In villages of olden days and even now in most of
the rural areas ponds are considered to be the main source of
water for various domestic uses. The villagers keep their ponds
clean. Towards the end of the summer the remaining water in the
ponds are pumped out and the bottom end sides of the ponds are
cleaned of all materials like clay and even growing vegetation like
algae. The monsoon rain fills the pond and the water is used over
the year till next monsoon. As the time passes several underwater
plants flourish in the ponds and so the algae. Towards the
beginning of summer, a green scum starts appearing over the
water surface, which causes some bad smells as well as bad taste
to the water. Now this is a fact that the water has been
contaminated because of algae such as spirogyra. Such growth of
spirogyra can be removed by skimming the floating scum. But if
the algae grow in plenty to such an extent that it becomes
practically impossible/uneconomical to remove them, there is no
way out. Harmful algal bloom is one of the several condition of
spoilage of water bodies by a type of algae called blue-green algae.
FRESHWATER ALGAL BLOOMS
On a smaller scale, algae are a pest in the tanks, ponds and lakes
used for fish farming. As in the ocean, algae can cause problems
for fish. Algae can also overwhelm plants and immobile animals
like corals, and clog up equipment. In swimming pools, gardens
and bird baths algae are little more than unsightly, but in
aquaculture they are often a serious problem.

Freshwater algal blooms are a result of an excess of particular


phosphorus. The excess of nutrients may originate from fertilizers
that’re applied to land for agricultural purposes, the nutrients can
then enter watersheds through water runoff, excess carbon and
nitrogen have also been suspected as causes.

When phosphates are introduced into water system, higher


concentrations cause increased growth of algae and plants. Algae
tend to grow very quickly under high nutrient availability, which
results in hypoxic conditions (O2 depletion). Without sufficient
dissolved oxygen in the water animals and plants may die off in
large numbers.

 Algal blooms caused by blue-green algae and spirogyra are


not alike.
ALGAL BLOOMS BEING A POLLUTE ON WATER BODIES.
CYANOBACTERIA & SPIROGYRA;
DESCRIPTION
SPIROGYRA: These are free floating green algae present
in freshwater habitats such as ponds, lakes, etc. Spirogyra
are commonly known as water silk/pond silk as they are
filamentous and branched vegetative structure. Around 400
species of spirogyra are found
CYANOBACTERIA: These are photosynthetic
microscopic organisms that are technically bacteria. They are
originally called blue-green algae as its dense growth makes
the water green, blue-green or brownish green.
SPIROGYRA & CYANOBACTRIA;
DIFFERENCES:

Cyanobacteria Spirogyra
Cellular Prokaryotes Eukaryotes
organization.
Kingdom Monera Protista
Colour Bluish green Green
Membrane bound Absent Present
organelles
Chloroplasts Doesn’t contain chloroplasts Contains chloroplasts
Photosynthetic  Chlorophyll-a  Chlorophyll-a
pigments  Phycocyanin  Chlorophyll-b
 Phycoerythrin  Carotene
 Xanthophyll
Ability to fix Some of them are able. Cannot
atmospheric NO2
Examples  Anabaena  Chlamydomonas
 Nostoc  Chlorella
 Spirulina  Ulva
 Oscillatoria  Netrium
Cyanobacteria
EUTROPHICATION
Eutrophication is the process in which a water body becomes
overly enriched with nutrients leading to the plentiful growth of
simple plant like the excessive growth or bloom of algae and
plankton in a water body are indicators of this process. It is
characterized by excessive plant and algal growth due to the
increased availability of one or more limiting growth factors
needed for photosynthesis such as sunlight, carbon dioxide and
nutrient fertilizers. Eutrophication occurs naturally over centuries
as lakes ages and are filled in with sediments.
 CASE STUDY-I

Algae bloom chokes Achencoil river stretch:

Algal blooms have led to heavy pollution on the stretch of the


Achencoil river at Kallarkadavu, near Pathanamthitta. Algal
bloom has resulted in heavy pollution on the Kumbazha-
Kallarakadavu stretch of the Achencoil river, posing a grave
public health risk in the Pathanamthitta municipal limits.

Yellow algae in Achencoil lake kills fish, fights cancer when


these algae spread on the surface of the water, the oxygen
supply to the water would be completely cut off in the process
of eutrophication. This results in massive death of fish which
rely on the dissolved oxygen in water.

Algal bloom has led to heavy pollution on the stretch of the Achencoil river at Kallarakkadavu, near Pathanamthitta.
 CASE STUDY-II

Algae in Chaliyar to be studied!

A similar case over the reported toxicity in the blue-green algae


noticed in the chaliyar, and Iruvazhingippuzha, one of its
tributaries, Kozhikode district collector U.V. Jose has asked the
government agencies to conduct a comprehensive investigation
into the matter. Water from the Chaliyar is supplied for drinking
in Malappuram and Calicut districts.

Kozhikode, Kerala, 17/03/2022; A scene from the Chaliyar after the recent rains
OBJECTIVE
Objective of this project is to have a case study on harmful algal
blooms in freshwater ponds more precisely, to study whether
there is any harmful effect due to the presence of algae and how
the excessive growth of algae has resulted in those ponds from the
knowledge acquired during case study.
INFERENCES

Algae is found in almost all water bodies. Algae thrive best


in the presence of phosphates and nitrates.

Algae thrive best where good sunlight is available. Algal


blooms render the water bodies unfit for human use.

Toxic algal blooms can cause skin irritation and could also
be fatal & dangerous.
RECOMMENDATION & CONCLUSION
Water is very precious. So we should preserve whatever sources of
water is available to us. We have seen that uncontrolled growth of
algae in freshwater will render it unfit for domestic use. There are
other activities also which contaminates the fresh water sources.
How however we are at present concerned about controlling algal
growth that may contaminate the water sources.

Inflow of any kind of surface water into the ponds or lakes which
is a source of fresh water must be checked at any cost.

Use of soaps and detergents, which are sources of phosphates,


must be discharged into the pond.

The ponds shall have facilities for constantly draining the excess
water above a particular level. The ponds will have spring from
where water is incoming. So the overflow drain will help in
keeping the algal concentration to minimum.

Ponds shall be cleaned at regular intervals preferably summer by


pumping out the water and removing the mud and other debris
collected, dead or decaying leaves increase nutritional value Of
the water in the pond providing a rich source of nutrition.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

WEBSITES:

 www.wikipedia.com
 www.eHow.com
 www.igin.org
 www.thehindu.com

Books:

 NCERT Biology Text Class XI

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