Micro 221: History of Phycology

• Phycology is being introduced, as part of Micro 221, at the University of Southern Mindanao in 2024.
• The course's topic outline includes the history of phycology, major groups of algae, and the importance of algae.
• The intended learning outcomes are to trace the history and recent developments in phycology, identify the major groups of algae, and explain the importance of algae in human lives.

History of Phycology

• Carolus Linnaeus contributed to the science of phycology in 1754.
• Antoine Laurent de Jussieu furthered phycology in 1789.
• Algae are also known as pond scum or thallophyta.
• Phycology is the study of algae, with "phycos" meaning "sea weeds" and "logos" meaning "study".
• Algae's plant body is always a thallus.
• Most algae are aquatic, with a few exceptions.
• Algae are chlorophyll-bearing thalloid plants, without differentiation into tissue or tissue systems.
• Algae's sex organs are unicellular, however, if multicellular each cell is capable of reproducing.
• Algae's sex organs are never surrounded by a sterile jacket layer.
• Algae do not form an embryo after gametic fusion.
• Algae's sporophytic and gametophytic generations are independent when represented in the life cycle.
• Algae reproduces through vegetative, asexual, and sexual modes.
• Algae contains chlorophyll.
• Romans referred to algae as Fucus.
• Chinese referred to algae as Tsao.
• Hawaiians referred to algae as Limu.
• Detailed knowledge of algae became available after the invention of the microscope in the 17th century.
• Theophrastus and Dioscorides contributed insights about algae dating back to the end of the 18th century.
• The 2nd phase of algology occured from 1800 until about 1880.
• The 3rd phase of algology was from about 1880 to the early 1950s.
• The 4th or modern phase of algology occurred from the early 1950s to the present
• Von Zalusian (1592) included algae with fungi, lichens, and seaweeds as Musci.
• Bauhin (1620) listed under algae Muscus, Fucus, Conferva, Equisetum (=Chara).
• Fucus, Conferva, Ulva, and Corallina are types of algae.
• J. Stackhouse was the first to study zygote germination in Fucus and describe (1801) the process of fertilization.
• Dawson and Turner studied algae in 1802.
• Vaucher studied algae in 1803.
• Lamouroux studied algae in 1813.
• Lyngbye studied algae in 1819.
• Greville studied algae in 1830.
• William Henry Harvey studied algae in (1846-51, 1852-1858).
• CA Agardh and his son J.G. Agardh contributed to algology.
• F.T. Kutzing contributed to algology (1843, 1849).
• De Toni (1889) summarized the taxonomy and nomenclature of algae – Sylloge Algarum.
• Schmitz studied (1883, 1889) Rhodophyta.
• Kuckuck (1912) and Kjellman (1897) are associated with Phaeophycota.
• Wille (1897-1911) is associated with Chlorophycota.
• Oltmanns researched algae in (1904, 1922).
• Fritsch researched algae (1935, 1945).
• Smith (1951) wrote a Manual of Phycology.
• The widespread availability of the Electron Microscope and the invention of scuba advanced algology.
• New societies, the Phycological Society of America, La Societe Phycologique de France, the Japanese Phycological Society, and the International Phycological Society, were founded.
• Journals exclusive to algae include; Phycologia, and Phykos.
• Roth (1797-1805) identified Hydrodictyon, Batrachospermum and Rivularia.
• H.E. Link (1820-33) of Germany identified Tetraspora, Oedogonium and Spirogyra.
• Jean Vincent Félix Lamouroux (1805,1816) - Laminaria.
• C.A. Agardh identified Diotomaceae, Nostochineae, Confervoideae, Ulvaceae, Florideae andFucoideae.
• Thurret (1854-55) published the first monograph on Fucus.
• Areschoug (1866-84) studied zoospore in Urospora and Cladophora, and a morphological account of Laminaria and Macrocystis.
• O. Borge (1894-1936) worked on freshwater algae of Sweden.
• Classical work on freshwater algae of Britain was carried out by West and West.
• G. S. West wrote a book ‘Algae’ on the structure and reproduction of algae.
• Felix Eugen Fritsch and Rich (1907-37) studied freshwater algae of South Africa, and published the classification of algae.
• Pia (1910) and Wolcott (1914) gave significant contributions to some fossil algae.
• Harvey produced a series of flora of marine algae Phycologia Australica, Phycologia Brittanica etc.

Major Groups of Algae

• Criteria in classifying algae include nuclear organization, cell wall components, pigments, flagellation, chemical nature of reserve material, type of life cycle and reproduction.
• Nuclear organization can be prokaryotic or eukaryotic.
• Cyanophyceae or cyanobacteria (blue green) are prokaryotic in nature.
• Cyanophyceae lacks a nuclear membrane and its genetic material exists as chromatin threads.
• Types of algae cell walls include cellulose, insoluble cellulosic layer and outer wall (pectic substances), alginic and fucinic acid, silica, Xylan and Galactan, and mucopeptide.
• Pigments are an important criteria for classifying algae.
• Chlorophyll has 5 types:, a, b, c, d, and e.
• Carotenoids are yellow or orange-colored pigments that control the colors in algae.
• There are 3 types of carotenoids: carotene, xanthophylls, and carotenoid acids.
• Phycobilins or biliproteins are a special type of pigment.
• There are 3 types of phycobilins: phycocyanin, phycoerythrin, and allophycocyanin.
• Types of reserve food material include starch, chlorophyceae (starch), cyanophyceae (myxophycean starch), and rhodophyceae (floridean starch).
• There is also variation in the type of flagellation.
• Algae is categorized based on the presence or absence of sexual reproduction, the complexity of reproductive organs, and the method of reproduction.
• Characteristics of various groups of algae include: Division Euglenophyta (euglenoids), Division Pyrrhophyta (dinoflagellates), Division Chrysophyta (diatoms, golden-brown algae, yellow-green algae), Division Chlorophyta (green algae), Division Phaeophyta (brown algae), and Division Rhodophyta (red algae).
• Division Euglenophyta contains many non-pigmented euglenoids.
• Zoologists classify them as members of the phylum Protozoa.
• Photosynthetic species have pigments similar to those of green algae.
• Euglenoids are extremely ancient, having a cell organization similar to that which evolved hundreds of millions of years ago.
• Division Pyrrhophyta (dinoflagellates) lack histones and have intranuclear mitosis with chromosomes that never decondense during interphase.
• Botanists consider dinoflagellates to be an isolated line that originated in the very first stages of the evolution of eukaryotic cells
• Division Chrysophyta (diatoms, golden-brown algae, yellow-green algae) is a diverse group, sometimes divided into several separate divisions, sometimes included with the brown algae.
• Chrysophyta and brown algae have similar biochemistry, especially photosynthetic pigments (chlorophylls a and c ) and unusual storage products.
• Division Chlorophyta (green algae) are extremely diverse structurally but very homogenous and well defined biochemically.
• Chlorophyta are almost identical to true plants in terms of basic metabolism.
• Chlorophyta are universally considered to be the ancestors of true plants.
• Division Phaeophyta (brown algae) is a large group of species that often have large, complex bodies and that are common along rocky coasts.
• Some kelps have well-defined tissues, one of which strongly resembles phloem and is involved in long-distance transport of organic molecules.
• Division Rhodophyta (red algae) has many species with simple filamentous bodies.
• Rhodophyta's filaments may be aggregated and resemble parenchyma.
• Rhodophyta never have a flagella at any time.
• Rhodophyta are unique in having a strongly prokaryotic organization to their chloroplasts.
• There are phycobilisomes as in cyanobacteria, and their nuclear structure and mitosis do not appear to be unusual.

Importance of Algae

• Algae constitute the link of the food chain.
• Algae is useful in fish culture.
• Algae is used as food, for example blue-green seaweeds (chlorella and spirulina), brown seaweeds (arame, wakame, kelp, and kombu), green seaweeds (sea grapes and sea lettuce), and red seaweeds (nori and dulse and irish moss).
• Algae is used as fodder.
• Algae is effective as fertilizer, promoting lant growth and increasing the contents of metals in corn, increasing the contets of sugars and carotenoids in a tomato, increasing germination rate of seeds and shortening the germination period;promote growth of roots and leaves, enhancing soil nutrients, and enhancing soil fertility and yield.
• Reclamation of alkaline land can be achieved with with blue-green algae (Nostoc, Scytonema, Anabaena and Aulosira).
• Binding of soil particles can be achieved with algae.
• Space research utilizes algae.
• Algae is used in commercial products include agar-agar(red algae e.g. Gelidium, Gracilaria Gigartina etc), carrageenin (Chondrus crispus, Gigartina stellata and Iridaea laminaroides), and algin and alginates (Species of Laminaria, Fucus, Ascophyllum, Macrocystis, Nereocystis, Ecklonia, and Sargassum).
• Diatomite has medicinal uses.
• Alaria (kelp) is used for strengthening the stomach and restoring appetite after sickness.
• Alginates are used for their haemostatic nature.
• Fucoidin and sodium laminarin sulphate is a blood coagulant
• Digenia simplex (Rhodophyaceaea is an antihelmintic drug
• Agar-agar is absorptive and a lubricating action.
• Chlorellin ( Chorella) is an antibiotic against coliform and related intestinal bacteria.
• Extracts of Cladophora and Lyngbya kill strain of Psuedomonans and Mycobacterium and exhibit antiviral activity.
• Algal properties can be used in sewage disposal, such as with Chlamydomonas, Scenedesmus, Chlorella, Euglena, Eudorina and Pandorina.
• Products that can be harvested from algae include mannitol and fucoidin (Phaeophyceae), and Iodine and Bromine (Laminariales).
• Algae also has negative impacts on certain species.
• Gymnodinium veneficum, Prymnesium parvum and Species of Microcystis causes mortality in fish and in domestic animals that drink water infested with these algae.
• Gonyaulax produce endotoxins.
• Microcystis auruginosa and Anabaena flos-aquae cause animal poisoning in temperate countries.
• Anabaena and Microcystis cause gastric trouble.
• Gymnodinium brevis causes respiratory disorders.
• Lyngbya and Chlorella cause skin infections.
• Cephleuros causes “red rust of tea”.
• Algae can cause fouling of marine vessels.
• Algae impacts municipal water supplies as a result of loss of recreational and fishing values of pools, ponds, and lakes, imparting abnormal tastes and odors by the metabolic or decomposition products of organisms, clogging of water filters, coloration of raw and finished waters, production of toxic substances, corrosion of concrete and metallic walls of pipes and boilers, and changes in Ph, CO2, bicarbonate, and oxygen content of water.