โ Scribed by Indira S. Jayangoudar; S. V. Ganapati
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Algae are primitive, microscopic, pigment-bearing plants found in nature either submerged under water, free-floating, epiphytic or living under sub-aerial conditions . They are distinguished from fungi by their chlorophyll content and autotrophic mode of nutrition . They can be easily identified by the coloration of their pigments, which form the basis for their broad classification into the following six groups until the beginning of the 20th century, but now it is possible to distinguish clearly eleven classes of the algae.
The former six algal groups are : Chlorophyceae, Cyanophyceae, Xanthophyceae, Diatomaceae, Phaeophyceae, and Rhodophyceae . Of these, the first four groups are mostly found in fresh waters and the last two in sea water . C h 1 o r o p h y c e a e are bright grass green algal organisms having predominently chlorophyll type pigment, nucleus, starch grains and cellulosic cell wall . They vary in sizes from minute unicellular forms to multi-cellular, branching, aquatic forms which are more widely represented in fresh . than in marine waters . C y a n o p h y c e a e are blue-green algae having in addition to chlorophyll certain other pigments like carotenes, xanthophylls and phycobilins . Their colour ranges from blue-green, orange-yellow, brown, red to violet. Their chief colouring matter is known as phyco-cyanin which is bluish when viewed in transmitted light and reddish by reflected light . When they decay they have a distinct bluish-green appearance . They store sugars and glycogen .
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Over 380 stable carbon isotope (6~3C) analyses made during 1981-82 showed that Syringodium filiforme Kutz seagrass meadows in the Indian River lagoon of eastern Florida have food webs based on algal rather than seagrass carbon. Seagrasses averaging approximately -8%o were isotopically distinct from