Using the ReefWatcher's field guide to native and alien Hawaiian algae published on the UH website, I identified the algae as of the genus Padina, however I am not quite sure which species it is. The most common species of Padina in Hawaii are the P. australis and P. japonica, and is sometimes referred to as "peacock's tail" because of its fan-like shape. Padina is a member of the class phaeophyceae, which is a class of brown algae. The peacock's tail alga is not harmful when eaten, however it can be dangerous when walking across rock, as the algae can get quite slippery.
This alga has no predators that we know of for sure right now, but most likely this alga is a part of herbivorous marine animals', like sea urchins, sea turtles, and
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Another member of the padina family, the P. pavonica, has an interesting way of reproducing, and I assume that most of the padina also propagate the same way. The P. pavonica can reproduce two ways: one way to do so is by producing diploid spores that develop into new algae. Another way to do so is by way of sexual reproducing – producing haploid gametes. This method, however, is quite rare and the algae usually reproduce by way of diploid spores. Some time after the new alga begins to form, it attaches to the rock, shell, or bed. Although it may seem as if the algae are all connected together, in reality, they are all individual algae tightly packed together. Algae will become an increasingly important part of our ecosystem as we continue to release more and more carbon dioxide into the air, without doing much about it. Many know that animals breath in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide (and other impurities), while plants need carbon dioxide to survive and breathe out other molecules like oxygen. One way we can minimize the harmful effects of our carbon dioxide emissions on the environment is to plant more plants. Algae are a good choice to aid in reducing these consequences, because they are rather small, but still take CO2 out of the air. I was interested in why some algae did not grow on the rocks where the waves were breaking. It seemed like that would be an
The middle shore, or middle tide zone, is submerged by water for approximately half of the cycle. This means that there is the capability to support much more marine vegetation, specifically seaweeds. The organisms found there are more complex and larger in size than further up the shore.[9] The rock pools can provide a suitable habitat for small fish, sea urchins, shrimps and zoo plankton. This area is more diversified than the upper shore.
Sargassum is used by larvae to travel to other locations and this allows the ocean to be more diverse. They also produce oxygen since they are photosynthetic. Algae is not a Linnaean classification but they are in kingdom Chromista and Plantae. Algae has three grouping of brown, red, and green algae. Brown algae contain chlorophyll an and c and are in kingdom Chromista. Red algae contain a pigment called phycobilins and only contain chlorophyll and are in kingdom Plantae. They are used as a food additive in ice cream and used in sushi. In their blooms they become known as the red tide and will secrete nerve toxins in the water. Green algae contain chlorophyll a and b and are in kingdom Plantae. Some of the common are dead mans finger, sea lettuce, and mermaids
Along the coasts of rocky beaches, an intricate ecological community inhabits the ‘rocky intertidal’ areas. The variety of rocks is home to an array of slimy, squishy, and colorful organisms. This intertidal community is comprised of nine species: three different algae, three stationary filter-feeders, and three mobile consumers. The three algae, Nori Seaweed, Black Pine, and Coral Weed, are the community’s producers and inhabit the bottom of the food chain. The next three species are stationary consumers. They are Mussel, Goose Neck Barnacle, and Acorn Barnacle. Because of their consumer status, they are more competitively dominant than algae. The last three components are the mobile consumers: Whelk, Chiton, and Starfish. They
More commonly referred to as “rock snot”, this algae bloom covers the bottoms of water ways with a thick mat. This algae (native to the northern hemisphere) is quickly expanding its range.
It is a gram-positive soil organism. Arthrobacter sp. will grow and divide in nutrient- rich soil. They are rod- shaped, tan to yellow in color, and smooth and glossy in colonies. Under normal conditions, they can grow rapidly and divide once every 2-3 hours (Poxleitner, M, et al). This bacterium is tolerant to multiple metals and it is extremely resistant to elevated concentrations of chromate It is also used in the number of carbon sources for growth including glucose, fructose, lactate, succinate, malate and hydrocarbons (Nakatsu, C, et al). In the SEA Phage Project, Arthrobacter sp. would be helping to create more bacteriophage to continue on completing the main objective of this
Underwater grasses, or Elodea, was observed as well. This wide variety of life is a good indicator of the water’s health.
The red algae Polysiphonia sp. 1 does not survive well in areas along the reef where the damselfish are not present because it is often grazed on and does not survive as well as other algae. It holds a mutualistic relationship with damselfish because while these fish do graze on the algae they do not consume it completely and allow the algae to continue to grow as well. Eighteen damselfish species were used in this study in different territories throughout the Indo-West Pacific to study their relationship with the red alga. Polysiphonia sp. 1 was found in the central Indo-Pacific but was low in abundance from the Great Barrier Reef and Mauritius, and the algae were also found in territories of fishes from the African coast. Other species of the clade in this alga were found only where damselfish inhabited the area as well. The results showed that the cultivation mutualism was maintained throughout the Indo-Pacific even though variations were seen among the mode of cultivation. From this it can be gathered that damselfish in different regions have different methods of cultivating the algae and this in turn affects the algae
This single-celled fresh water algae has grown in popularity because of the many benefits it offers to the human body. It sometimes used in chelation therapy, when patients' bodies have been polluted with harmful chemicals and toxins that build
Producing long and hair-like filaments, Lyngbya normally grows in dense mats at the bottoms of nutrient-enriched lakes and spring-fed systems. These mats produce gasses during photosynthesis that often cause the mats to rise to the surface where they can grow to several acres in size. Winds push the mats causing them to pile up against shorelines and in channels making navigation difficult and decreasing sunlight for the native species. In some areas, the algae bloom covers so much of the pre-existing vegetation that it smothers eelgrass, a preferred food of the endangered West Indian manatee. Reduced water clarity and extreme fluctuations in oxygen stress every part of the ecosystem and as a result, tiny essential, life-sustaining micro-organisms that feed on native vegetation are severely reduced, and so are the fish, turtles, manatees and other wildlife that feed on them. The birds and larger animals that feed on smaller animals must find new, more plentiful
Algae blooms have been an issue in the Chesapeake Bay, especially in the Baltimore Inner Harbor. Algae is a natural and critical part of the ecosystem, however in large doses it is harmful to the plants and organisms within the ecosystem. Algae blooms can block out sunlight and kill other plants in the water. Algae depends on various factors such as water, nutrients and carbon dioxide to grow. Eutrophication of the Inner Harbor has lead to algae blooms that have caused large fish kills in the past. When there is an over abundance of certain chemical nutrients eutrophication can occur. Runoff from land and farms is the main cause of excess nutrients into the water. The most common nutrients that are related to algae outbreaks are nitrate nitrogen and phosphate. In addition, a lack of dissolved oxygen can also be an indicator for the process of eutrophication and risk of an algae outbreak. A particular type of algae commonly found in Maryland is known as Prorocentrum minimum. Prorocentrum tends to cause “mahogany tides” causing water to be brown and have an odor. There has been a campaign launched by the Healthy Harbor
Since the algae population decreases, so does the algae bloom, which sink to the bottom and decompose to create oxygen many underwater animals need. Some blooms also produce toxins, which can harm or kill the fish, harm animals that drink the water, and cause problems for humans as well. With a decrease in algae blooms, plants and animals would no longer have a steady population. They would end up
The size of this algae ranges from microscopic, to macroalage, which is large, visible pieces of algae that form on the bottom of sediments.Certain types of algae can produce dangerous chemicals which are harmful to humans, wildlife, and aquatic creatures. Although these different algae are harmful, there aren’t enough of them to make a dent in the amount of life there is in the Chesapeake Bay. With such little amounts of toxic algae, much of it becomes a vital food source, which could cause an issue if the amount of it were to drop. Without this algae, many of the animals would begin to die off because there would not be be enough food for all of them. If this does happen, there would be many dead animals floating and decomposing in the water. The main animals that feed off the algae are smaller fish. Which, with these smaller fish dying, the larger fish and other animals would also begin dying off since the smaller fish are their food source.
The investigation of these tidal zones showed that most of the organisms are not evenly distributed. The tidal organisms are often hidden in cracks, shades and gullies to prevent them from being dislodged by the wave action or desiccation.
Climate scientists around the world overwhelmingly agree that mankind is responsible for a warming trend and for other changes to the global climate as a result of greenhouse gas emission form the burning of fossil fuels. This is far from a simple cause-and-effect system, however, given the global scale of the issue there are necessarily many factors that interact in complex manners to changes in atmospheric gases and to the Earth's climate. Understanding the manner in which other biological agents counteract, contribute to, and/or are affected by human impacts on the climate and the climate overall is essential to understanding the larger climate change issues. The following pages examine how algae is related to global climate change, noting a far more significant impact than most lay observers might expect.
Now the microalgae is considered as the third generation biomass and can be used in many fields such as food supplement, wastewater treatment, hydrogen production and biofuels. Researches focus on the green