DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ALGAE AND MOSSES

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ALGAE AND MOSSES

Algae	Mosses
They live in aquatic environment	They live in moist shady places
Their body consist unicellular to multicellular, filamentous , thalloid or leafy	Plant body consist thalloid or leafy
Reproduction is isogamous, anisogamous or oogamous	Reproduction oogamous only
Sterile jacket not covered their sex organ	Sterile jacket is covered their sex organ
Female sex organ is oogonium	Female sex organ is archegonium
Never produced embryo	Produced embryo
Sporophyte independent of gametophyte	Sporophyte is depend on gamephyte
Sporophyte didn’t developed	Sporophyte developed and differentiated into foot, seta and capsule
Mitospores usually present	Mitospores absent

Merambong Shoal, Johor.

Merambong Shoal, Johor.

What Happened?

In the past, losses of seagrass communities in coastal area of Malaysia caused either by natural causes or human activity generally passed unnoticed or unrecorded. Decline and losses of seagrass particularly in many places in Malaysia including seagrass beds of Sungai Pulai estuary, Johor are abrupt and due to human activities. A good example was those in Sungai Pulai estuary, Johor of Tanjung Adang Darat seagrass shoal, which was at risk in 1998 and totally disappeared in 2003 due to dredging of the shallow shipping passageways and land reclamation for the development of new port facilities. Starting in February 2014, more land reclamation was planned to reclaim part of the Sungai Pulai estuary including seagrass bed of Merambong. Current status of reclamation work in Sungai Pulai estuary specific to seagrass bed of Merambong is reported and discussed based on observation through repeated visits to the seagrass area.

What are the impacts?

The seagrass bed in Merambong shoal is the largest seagrass bed in Malaysia. Species that can be found at Merambong shoal are Syringodium isoetifolium, Halodule pinifolia, Halodule uninervis, Cymodocea serrulata, Thalassia hemprichii, Halophila ovalis, Halophila minor and Halophila spinulosa. All of this species will be endangered because of land reclamation can destroyed this entire species. Other than that, seagrass also is a main diet for dugongs at Merambong shoal. Other marine species also will get the impact where the habitat for those species will be destroyed.

Can it be solved and how?

This problems can be solved by replanting the seagrass on the different places near Merambong shoal.

Harmful Algal Bacteria (HAB)

Harmful Algal Bacteria (HAB)

Harmful bacteria bloom is an algal bloom that produce toxic and give a negative impact to environement or other organisms. The example of microalgae that cause this phenomenon is cyanobacteria, dinoflagellate, and blue green algae.

Examples

1.    Red tides

2.    Eutrophication

Causes

Algal  need sunlight  for photosynthesis, a high flowing water for more oxygen and nutrientsas their food sources. Excessive amount of sunlight increase the amount of oxygen level in the water and also increase the number of algae, a slow moving of water causes the algae lack of oxygen instead releasing more carbon dioxide and lack of nutrient which is nitrogen and phosphorus which really important for their need to keep growth . Besides that, cause by humans also can contribute to algal blooms which is, run-off, overuse of fertilizer , waste water from industries and many more.

 Disadvantages

Disadvantages

·          Create the dead  zone in the water

·          The treatment costs to treat the water is increasing

·          Produce a toxin that can being harmful for fish and humans if they drink the water which already contaminated.

·          Increases the mortality of fish

·          Mechanical damage like gills becomes clogging and asphyxiation

·          Effect the aquaculture product

Further study about HAB

1.    Prorocentrum minimum (Pavillard) Schiller: A review of a harmful algal bloom species of growing worldwide importance. (Cynthia et. al (2004)

2.    A review of harmful algal blooms and their apparent global increase by G.M. Hallegraeff (1993)

Problems In Aquatic Plants

Problems In Aquatic Plants

There is a lot of aquatic plant in this world. There are a lot of species and varieties that can be add to a pond or an aquarium. Aquatic plant also plays role in ecosystem where aquatic plant can help to filter the water and can be use as shelter for fish fry and fish breeding. But there are problems that have to be face in aquatic plants.

1)  Excess carbon dioxide

Symptoms:

The fish gasp at the water surface for air, as if they are suffocating.

Cause:

Oxygen deficiency resulting from over fertilization with co2, dirty filter material, poor lighting, too large of a fish load and bad tank maintenance.

Solution :

Check all your maintenance procedures and filters, look for dead animals and plants. If you use an automatic CO2 fertilization system, adjust the amount released and make sure it does not run at night when the lights are off.

 2)  Carbon dioxide deficiency

Symptoms:

The plants stay much smaller and grow more slowly than plants fertilized with CO2. Rough Calcium deposits on the leaves. Breakdown of the pH system causing a rise in pH.

Causes:

A lack of CO2 can arise even with optimal care. All plants use CO2 in their respiration process and it is difficult to maintain an equilibrium. Vigorously Aerated or agitated water increases CO2 loss, as the gas escapes into the air.

Solution :

Regularly fertilize with CO2 and try to limit the amount of aeration and water agitation in your tank