Correlation of Biodiversity of Algal Genera with Special Reference to the Waste Water Effluents from Industries

Abstract

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants, which cause adverse change, into the natural environment and mainly from external inputs like sewage, waste from industries, oil spills and agricultural use of pesticides. Anthropogenic activity-reflected in the use of toxic metals and organic pollutants-has increased levels of soil contamination and damage to aquatic systems. Ecosystems maintain water quality and withstand pressure from pollution better if they are naturally equipped with biodiversity. Algae regularly develop in fresh water and seawater and some species grow in high-salt environments. Algae quickly reponds to changes in their environment as a consequence of changes in water chemistry, affecting their diversity, community composition and abundance. Recently, algae have been used in bioremediation and to cleanup wastewater due to their high efficiency in absorbing both organic and inorganic pollutants, incuding dissolved nutrients, heavy metals, pesticides, toxic compounds and even radiactive materials. Almost all freshwater ecosystems depend on phytoplankton because they are producers and participate in the aquatic food chain; they are also useful for water quality assessment. The present work is an effort to determine the range of variation among different groups of algae. Our results showed that four species dominated the microbial community in eutrophic waters, namely Euglena (Euglenophyta), Nitzschia (Bacillariophyta), Oscillatoria and Phormidium (Cyanophyta).