Studies on the seaweeds of Andaman and Nicobar Group of Islands

The importance of marine algae, often referred to as seaweeds, has been felt over a long time and is appreciated more and more in modern times. The economic value of marine algae is understood both indirectly and directly. The indirect benefit is due to the role of ma rine phytoplankton as well as the benthic macrophyte biomass along the shore and in the continental shelf, in primary production of the sea. Direct benefit includes the use of ma rine algae as food, feed, fertilizer and as source of various products of commercial importance such as agar and alginic acid

Effect of light quality on the cell integrity in marine alga <i style="">Ulva pertusa </i>(Chlorophyceae)

21-25A floating sterile mutant of Ulva pertusa was grown in the laboratory under various light conditions: White light (as reference), broadband isoquantic red (600 – 700 nm) and blue (400 – 500 nm) light. The morphological variation of cell organelles of white (WLC), blue (BLC) and red light cultures (RLC) was studied by electron microscopy after 15 days of light treatment with 14: 10 h light and dark photoperiod. The results indicate that blue light is more efficient than the red light in developing the thylakoid architecture of individual cell organelles. The cell maintenance (integrity) process, which is most essential for the cell division and growth, was found to be positively controlled by blue light. Furthermore, the cell morphology of Ulva was relatively well developed in BLC than in RLC and also comparable with WLC. The results suggest that the red part of the light, though not by itself able to support the growth, is not inhibitory either to growth or to the maintenance of cell integrity. However, the energy is not substantial to run other essential metabolic process