Cool and Exciting Facts About Science......,,,,,,,,,, "Because Facts Are Stranger Than Fiction"
Friday, June 25, 2010
Chlorophyta: Green Algae
Chlorophyta: Green Algae
Examples: Chlorella, Chlamydomonas, Spirogyra, Ulva. Green seaweeds.
Characteristics: Green colour from chlorophyll a and b in the same proportions as the 'higher' plants; beta-carotene (a yellow pigment); and various characteristic xanthophylls (yellowish or brownish pigments). Food reserves are starch, some fats or oils like higher plants. Green algae are thought to have the progenitors of the higher green plants but there is currently some debate on this point.
Green algae may be unicellular (one cell), multicellular (many cells), colonial (living as a loose aggregation of cells) or coenocytic (composed of one large cell without cross-walls; the cell may be uninucleate or multinucleate). They have membrane-bound chloroplasts and nuclei. Most green are aquatic and are found commonly in freshwater (mainly charophytes) and marine habitats (mostly chlorophytes); some are terrestrial, growing on soil, trees, or rocks (mostly trebouxiophytes). Some are symbiotic with fungi giving lichens. Others are symbiotic with animals, e.g. the freshwater coelentrate Hydra has a symbiotic species of Chlorella as does Paramecium bursaria, a protozoan. A number of freshwater green algae (charophytes, desmids and Spirogyra) are now included in the Charophyta (charophytes), a phylum of predominantly freshwater and terrestrial algae, which are more closely related to the higher plants than the marine green algae belonging to the Chlorophyta (known as chlorophytes). Other green algae from mostly terrestrial habitats are included in the Trebouxiophyceae, a class of green algae with some very unusual features.
Asexual reproduction may be by fission (splitting), budding, fragmentation or by zoospores (motile spores). Sexual reproduction is very common and may be isogamous (gametes both motile and same size); anisogamous (both motile and different sizes - female bigger) or oogamous (female non-motile and egg-like; male motile). Many green algae have an alternation of haploid and diploid phases. The haploid phases form gametangia (sexual reproductive organs) and the diploid phases form zoospores by reduction division (meiosis). Some do not have an alternation of generations, meiosis occurring in the zygote. There are about 8,000 species of green algae, about 1,000 of which are marine chlorophytes and the remainder freshwater charophytes. Unfortunately, just because algae are green no longer means that they are related: two major aggregation of green algae, the Chlorophyta and the Charophyta have turned out not be remotely related to each other.
Commercial uses: Organic beta-carotene is produced in Australia from the hypersaline (growing in high salinity water often known as brine) green alga Dunaliella salina grown in huge ponds. Carotene has been shown to be very effective in preventing some cancers, including lung cancer. Caulerpa, a marine tropical to warm-temperate genus, is very popular in aquaria. Unfortunately, this has led to the introduction of a number of Caulerpa species around the world, the best-known example being the invasive species Caulerpa taxifolia.
Chlorella, a genus of freshwater and terrestrial unicellular green alga with about 100 species, is grown like yeast in bioreactors, where it has a very rapid life history. It may be taken in the form of tablets or capsules, or added to foods such as pasta or cookies. Taken in any form, it is said improve the nutritional quality of a daily diet. According to the Taiwan Chlorella Manufacturing Company the increase in processed and refined foods in the diet of modern man make Chlorella an important food supplement for anyone interested in better health.
Examples: Chlorella, Chlamydomonas, Spirogyra, Ulva. Green seaweeds.
Characteristics: Green colour from chlorophyll a and b in the same proportions as the 'higher' plants; beta-carotene (a yellow pigment); and various characteristic xanthophylls (yellowish or brownish pigments). Food reserves are starch, some fats or oils like higher plants. Green algae are thought to have the progenitors of the higher green plants but there is currently some debate on this point.
Green algae may be unicellular (one cell), multicellular (many cells), colonial (living as a loose aggregation of cells) or coenocytic (composed of one large cell without cross-walls; the cell may be uninucleate or multinucleate). They have membrane-bound chloroplasts and nuclei. Most green are aquatic and are found commonly in freshwater (mainly charophytes) and marine habitats (mostly chlorophytes); some are terrestrial, growing on soil, trees, or rocks (mostly trebouxiophytes). Some are symbiotic with fungi giving lichens. Others are symbiotic with animals, e.g. the freshwater coelentrate Hydra has a symbiotic species of Chlorella as does Paramecium bursaria, a protozoan. A number of freshwater green algae (charophytes, desmids and Spirogyra) are now included in the Charophyta (charophytes), a phylum of predominantly freshwater and terrestrial algae, which are more closely related to the higher plants than the marine green algae belonging to the Chlorophyta (known as chlorophytes). Other green algae from mostly terrestrial habitats are included in the Trebouxiophyceae, a class of green algae with some very unusual features.
Asexual reproduction may be by fission (splitting), budding, fragmentation or by zoospores (motile spores). Sexual reproduction is very common and may be isogamous (gametes both motile and same size); anisogamous (both motile and different sizes - female bigger) or oogamous (female non-motile and egg-like; male motile). Many green algae have an alternation of haploid and diploid phases. The haploid phases form gametangia (sexual reproductive organs) and the diploid phases form zoospores by reduction division (meiosis). Some do not have an alternation of generations, meiosis occurring in the zygote. There are about 8,000 species of green algae, about 1,000 of which are marine chlorophytes and the remainder freshwater charophytes. Unfortunately, just because algae are green no longer means that they are related: two major aggregation of green algae, the Chlorophyta and the Charophyta have turned out not be remotely related to each other.
Commercial uses: Organic beta-carotene is produced in Australia from the hypersaline (growing in high salinity water often known as brine) green alga Dunaliella salina grown in huge ponds. Carotene has been shown to be very effective in preventing some cancers, including lung cancer. Caulerpa, a marine tropical to warm-temperate genus, is very popular in aquaria. Unfortunately, this has led to the introduction of a number of Caulerpa species around the world, the best-known example being the invasive species Caulerpa taxifolia.
Chlorella, a genus of freshwater and terrestrial unicellular green alga with about 100 species, is grown like yeast in bioreactors, where it has a very rapid life history. It may be taken in the form of tablets or capsules, or added to foods such as pasta or cookies. Taken in any form, it is said improve the nutritional quality of a daily diet. According to the Taiwan Chlorella Manufacturing Company the increase in processed and refined foods in the diet of modern man make Chlorella an important food supplement for anyone interested in better health.
Cyanochloronta, Cyanobacteria, blue-green algae, blue-green bacteria.
Introduction and uniqueness
The algae are the simplest members of the plant kingdom, and the blue-green algae are the simplest of the algae. They have a considerable and increasing economic importance; they have both beneficial and harmful effects on human life. Blue-greens are not true algae. They have no nucleus, the structure that encloses the DNA, and no chloroplast, the structure that encloses the photosynthetic membranes, the structures that are evident in photosynthetic true algae. Infact blue-greens are more akin to bacteria which have similar biochemical and structural characteristics. The process of nitrogen fixation and the occurrence of gas vesicles are especially important to the success of nuisance species of blue-greens. The blue-greens are widely distributed over land and water, often in environments where no other vegetation can exist. Their fossils have been identified as over three billion years old. They were probably the chief primary producers of organic matter and the first organisms to release elemental oxygen, O2, into the primitive atmosphere, which was until then free from O2. Thus blue-greens were most probably responsible for a major evolutionary transformation leading to the development of aerobic metabolism and to the subsequent rise of higher plant and animal forms. They are referred to in literature by various names, chief among which are Cyanophyta, Myxophyta, Cyanochloronta, Cyanobacteria, blue-green algae, blue-green bacteria.
The majority of blue-greens are aerobic photoautotrophs: their life processes require only oxygen, light and inorganic substances. A species of Oscillatoria that is found in mud at the bottom of the Thames, are able to live anaerobically. They can live in extremes of temperatures -60°C to 85°C, and a few species are halophilic or salt tolerant (as high as 27%, for comparison, conc. of salt in seawater is 3%). Blue-greens can grow in full sunlight and in almost complete darkness. hey are often the first plants to colonize bare areas of rock and soil, as an example subsequent to cataclysmic volcanic explosion (at Krakatoa, Indonesia in 1883). Unlike more advanced organisms, these need no substances that have been preformed by other organisms.
At the onset of nitrogen limitation during bloom conditions, certain cells in Anabaena and Aphanizomenon evolve into heterocysts, which convert nitrogen gas into ammonium, which is then distributed to the neighboring cells of a filament. In addition, blue-greens that form symbiotic (mutually beneficial) relationships with a wide range of other life forms, can convert nitrogen gas into ammonium.
Finally, at the onset of adverse environmental conditions, some blue-greens can develop a modified cell, called an akinete. Akinetes contain large reserves of carbohydrates, and owing to their density and lack of gas vesicles, eventually settle to the lake bottom. They can tolerate adverse conditions such as the complete drying of a pond or the cold winter temperatures, and, as a consequence, akinetes serve as "seeds" for the growth of juvenile filaments when favorable conditions return. Heterocysts and akinetes are unique to the blue-greens.
Blue-greens in freshwater lakes
Unicellular and filamentous blue-greens are almost invariably present in freshwater lakes frequently forming dense planktonic populations or water blooms in eutrophic (nutrient rich) waters. In temperate lakes there is a characteristic seasonal succession of the bloom-forming species, due apparently to their differing responses to the physical- chemical conditions created by thermal stratification. Usually the filamentous forms (Anabaena species, Aphanizomenon flos-aquae and Gloeotrichia echinulata) develop first soon after the onset of stratification in late spring or early summer, while the unicellular-colonial forms (like Microcystis species) typically bloom in mid-summer or in autumn. The main factors which appear to determine the development of planktonic populations are light, temperature, pH, nutrient concentrations and the presence of organic solutes.
Attached and benthic populations in lakes
Many blue-greens grow attached on the surface of rocks and stones (epilithic forms), on submerged plants (epiphytic forms) or on the bottom sediments (epipelic forms, or the benthos) of lakes.
The epilithic community displays a clearly discernable zonation in lakes. Members of the genera Pleurocapsa, Gloeocapsa and Phormidium often dominate the dark blue-black community of the spray zone. Scytonema and Nostoc species form olive-green coatings and are more frequent about the water line, whilst the brownish Tolypothrix and Calothrix species are more typical components of the subsurface littoral community.
The epiphytic flora of lakes is usually dominated by diatoms and green algae, and blue-greens are of less importance in this community. Species of the genera Nostoc, Lyngbya, Chamaesiphon and Gloeotrichia have been occasionally encrusting submerged plants.
The epipelic community commonly includes blue-greens like Aphanothece and Nostoc particularly in the more eutrophic lakes. Benthic blue-greens growing over the littoral sediments and on submerged plants may be responsible for the occasional high rates of N2-fixation measured in oligotrophic lakes.
Terrestrial blue-greens
In the temperate region blue-greens are especially common in calcareous and alkaline soils. Certain species, Nostoc commune, are often conspicuous on the soil surface. Acid soils, however, lack blue-green element and are usually dominated by diatoms and green algae.
Gliding movement
When viewed under the light microscope, blue-greens show a variety of movements, such as gliding, rotation, oscillation, jerking and flicking.
Nuisance/Noxious Conditions
The formation of water blooms results from the redistribution and often rapid accumulation of buoyant planktonic populations. When such populations are subjected to suboptimal conditions, they respond by increasing their buoyancy and move upward nearer to the water surface. Water turbulence usually prevents them reaching the surface. If, however, turbulence suddenly weakens on a calm summer day, the buoyant population may 'over-float' and may become lodged right at the water surface. There the cells are exposed to most unfavourable and dangerous conditions, like O2 supersaturation, rapidly diminishing CO2 concentrations and intense solar radiation, which are inhibitory to photosynthesis and N2-fixation, causing photo-oxidation of pigments and inflicting irreversible damage to the genetic constitution of cells. A frequent outcome of surface bloom formation is massive cell lysis and rapid disintegration of large planktonic populations. his is closely followed by an equally rapid increase in bacterial numbers, and in turn by a fast deoxygenation of surface waters which could be detrimental to animal populations within the lake. Water blooms are objectionable for recreational activities, and more importantly, create great nuisance in the management of water reservoirs.
Most of these conditions are produced by just three blue-greens, informally referred to as Annie (Anabaena flos-aquae), Fannie (Aphanizomenon flos-aquae) and Mike (Microcystis aeroginosa). An oversupply of nutrients, especially phosphorus and possibly nitrogen, will often result in excessive growth of blue-greens because they possess certain adaptations that enable them to outcompete true algae. Perhaps the most important adaptation is their positive buoyancy, which is regulated by their gas vesicles which are absent in true algae.
Benefits
Their reputation as "nuisance" or "noxious" is totally undeserved. While periodic blooms are considered a nuisance in recreational lakes and water supply reservoirs of North America, the near continuous blooms of blue-greens in some tropical lakes are a valuable source of food for humans. Some blue-green species make major contributions to the world food supply by naturally fertilizing soils and rice paddies. R.N. Singh of the Banares Hindu University in India has shown that the introduction of blue-green algae to saline and alkaline soils in the state of Uttar Pradesh increases the soils' content of nitrogen and organic matter and also their capacity for holding water. This treatment has enabled formerly barren soils to grow crops. Astushi Watanabe of the University of Tokyo found the introduction of Tolypothrix tenuis resulted in a 20% increase of rice crop. W.E. Booth of the University of Kansas showed through experiments in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, that a coating of blue-greens on prairie soil binds the particles of the soil to their mucilage coating, maintains a high water content and reduces erosion.
Humans also consume Spirulina. It contains all of the amino acids essential for humans, and its protein content is high (± 60%). It is a staple food in parts of Africa and Mexico. In China, Taiwan and Japan, several blue-greens are served as a side dish and a delicacy. Several areas in North America culture and commercially process certain blue-greens for various food and medicinal products such as vitamins, drug compounds, and growth factors.
Heterocystous blue-greens possess the unique ability to simultaneously evolve O2 in photosynthesis (in vegetative cells) and H2 by nitrogenase catalyzed electron transfer to H+-ions (in heterocysts), in the absence of N2 or other substrates of nitrogenase. This is the basis for the attempts of several workers to exploit the potential through the development of a `biophotolytic system' for solar energy conversion, even though to date the thermodynamic efficiency has been disappointingly low.
Nevertheless, the utilization of blue-greens in food production and in solar energy conversion may hold immense potential for the future, and could be exploited for man's economy. Progress in the study of the genetics of blue-greens may enable us to manipulate the N2-fixation (nif) and associated genes, and produce strains which fix N2, evolve H2 or release ammonia with great efficiency.
Poisonous Conditions
(Also see, Diverse taxa of cyanobacteria produce ß-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA), a neurotoxic amino acid- Proc. the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 2005) Poisonous blue-greens occur in ponds and lakes throughout the world. In Canada, they primarily occur in the prairie provinces. Poisoning has caused the death of cows, dogs, and other animals. Although humans ordinarily avoid drinking water that displays a blue-green bloom or scum, they may be affected by toxic strains when they swim or ski in recreational water bodies during a bloom. Typical symptoms include redness of the skin and itching around the eyes; sore, red throat; headache; diarrhea; vomiting; and nausea. The frequently occurring `swimmers itch' is attributed to contact with Lyngbya majuscula, Schizothrix calcicola and Oscillatoria nigroviridis, which are commonly found in tropical and subtropical seawaters. The toxins responsible are lipid-soluble phenolic compounds. Since the same or similar symptoms can be produced by bacteria or viruses, one should not necessarily conclude that blue-greens are responsible for a human illness simply because the sick individual recently swam in a lake or pond that has suffered a bloom. Human death has not been documented. Reported cases affecting humans list Anabaena as the main culprit.
Most of the recorded toxic blooms are caused by Microcystis aeruginosa, which manufactures "microcystin", which yields 7 (or 14) amino acids upon hydrolysis. It causes enlargement and congestion of the liver followed by necrosis and haemorrhage, and may also exhibit neurotoxic activity.
But many toxic blooms are also produced by either Anabaena flos-aquae (manufactures "anatoxins") or Aphanizomenon flos-aquae (manufactures "aphantoxins").
Alkaloid toxins (anatoxins, aphantoxins) act on the nervous system, leading to paralysis of muscles needed for breathing.
Two other genera, Oscillatoria and Nodularia are also known to produce toxic populations. Whether the animal survives the poisoning depends primarily upon the concentration of toxin ingested. Blue-green toxins may act on zooplankton and might be an effective mechanism of protection against grazing pressures.
Little is known about the percent of blooms that are toxic (upto 25% quoted in literature), and also why a toxic population is produced. A complicating factor is that part of a bloom can be toxic and another part nontoxic within the same lake. It has been suggested that toxic strains may develop only under a particular set of environmental conditions, or that toxin production may be associated with plasmid-mediated gene transfer.
Colour and identification
The blue-green color of cells (cyan means blue-green) is due to the combination of green chlorophyll pigment and a unique blue pigment (phycocyanin). However, not all blue-greens are blue-green. Their pigmentation includes yellow-green, green, grey-green, grey-black, and even red specimens. The Red Sea derives its name from occasional blooms of a species of Oscillatoria that produces large quantities of a unique pigment called phycoerythrin. In the arid regions of Central and East Africa, flamingos consume vast quantities of Spirulina, and their feathers derive their pink color from carotene pigments in filaments of Spirulina.
The blue-greens are microscopic life forms that exhibit several different types of organization. Some grow as single cells enclosed in a sheath of slime-like material, or mucilage. The cells of others aggregate into colonies that are either flattened, cubed, rounded, or elongated into filaments. Actual identification of cyanobacteria (blue-greens) requires microscopic examination of cells, colonies, or filaments, although experienced aquatic biologists can usually recognize Microcystis (colonies look like tiny grey-green clumps) and Aphanizomenon (green, fingernail-like or grass-like clippings).
Measures to control the growth of blue-greens
Chemicals are widely used to prevent the growth of nuisance algae, and the commonest one being copper sulphate. A number of other algicides are phenolic compounds, amide derivatives, quaternary ammonium compounds and quinone derivatives. Dichloron aphthoquinone is selectively toxic to blue-greens. The hazards of using toxic chemicals indiscriminately in the natural environment are well documented.
Biological control is in principle possible, though not always practical and as effective. Invertebrates like cladocerans, copepods, ostracods and snails are known to graze on green algae and diatoms. Daphnia pulex has been reported to feed on Aphanizomenon flos-aquae while present in the form of single filaments or small colonies but avoid large raft-like colonies. The copepod Diaptomus has been implicated in the grazing of Anabaena populations in Severson Lake, Minnesota.
Micro-organisms (fungi, bacteria and viruses) appear to play an important part in regulating growth of blue-greens in freshwaters. Certain chytrids (fungal pathogens) specifically infest akinetes, other heterocysts. Bacterial pathogens belonging to the group of Myxobacteriales can effect rapid lysis of a wide range of unicellular and filamentous blue-greens, though heterocysts and akinetes remain generally unaffected. Viral pathogens belonging to the group of cyanophages exhibit some degree of host specifity. Phage AR-1 attacks Anabaenopsis, phages SM-1 and AS-1 are effective against the unicellular forms, Synechococcus and Microcystis, Phage C-1 lyses Cylindropermum, and the LPP-1 virus is effective against strains of Lyngbya, Phormidium and Plectonema.
The long-term approach is no doubt the systematic removal of major nutrients.
The algae are the simplest members of the plant kingdom, and the blue-green algae are the simplest of the algae. They have a considerable and increasing economic importance; they have both beneficial and harmful effects on human life. Blue-greens are not true algae. They have no nucleus, the structure that encloses the DNA, and no chloroplast, the structure that encloses the photosynthetic membranes, the structures that are evident in photosynthetic true algae. Infact blue-greens are more akin to bacteria which have similar biochemical and structural characteristics. The process of nitrogen fixation and the occurrence of gas vesicles are especially important to the success of nuisance species of blue-greens. The blue-greens are widely distributed over land and water, often in environments where no other vegetation can exist. Their fossils have been identified as over three billion years old. They were probably the chief primary producers of organic matter and the first organisms to release elemental oxygen, O2, into the primitive atmosphere, which was until then free from O2. Thus blue-greens were most probably responsible for a major evolutionary transformation leading to the development of aerobic metabolism and to the subsequent rise of higher plant and animal forms. They are referred to in literature by various names, chief among which are Cyanophyta, Myxophyta, Cyanochloronta, Cyanobacteria, blue-green algae, blue-green bacteria.
The majority of blue-greens are aerobic photoautotrophs: their life processes require only oxygen, light and inorganic substances. A species of Oscillatoria that is found in mud at the bottom of the Thames, are able to live anaerobically. They can live in extremes of temperatures -60°C to 85°C, and a few species are halophilic or salt tolerant (as high as 27%, for comparison, conc. of salt in seawater is 3%). Blue-greens can grow in full sunlight and in almost complete darkness. hey are often the first plants to colonize bare areas of rock and soil, as an example subsequent to cataclysmic volcanic explosion (at Krakatoa, Indonesia in 1883). Unlike more advanced organisms, these need no substances that have been preformed by other organisms.
At the onset of nitrogen limitation during bloom conditions, certain cells in Anabaena and Aphanizomenon evolve into heterocysts, which convert nitrogen gas into ammonium, which is then distributed to the neighboring cells of a filament. In addition, blue-greens that form symbiotic (mutually beneficial) relationships with a wide range of other life forms, can convert nitrogen gas into ammonium.
Finally, at the onset of adverse environmental conditions, some blue-greens can develop a modified cell, called an akinete. Akinetes contain large reserves of carbohydrates, and owing to their density and lack of gas vesicles, eventually settle to the lake bottom. They can tolerate adverse conditions such as the complete drying of a pond or the cold winter temperatures, and, as a consequence, akinetes serve as "seeds" for the growth of juvenile filaments when favorable conditions return. Heterocysts and akinetes are unique to the blue-greens.
Blue-greens in freshwater lakes
Unicellular and filamentous blue-greens are almost invariably present in freshwater lakes frequently forming dense planktonic populations or water blooms in eutrophic (nutrient rich) waters. In temperate lakes there is a characteristic seasonal succession of the bloom-forming species, due apparently to their differing responses to the physical- chemical conditions created by thermal stratification. Usually the filamentous forms (Anabaena species, Aphanizomenon flos-aquae and Gloeotrichia echinulata) develop first soon after the onset of stratification in late spring or early summer, while the unicellular-colonial forms (like Microcystis species) typically bloom in mid-summer or in autumn. The main factors which appear to determine the development of planktonic populations are light, temperature, pH, nutrient concentrations and the presence of organic solutes.
Attached and benthic populations in lakes
Many blue-greens grow attached on the surface of rocks and stones (epilithic forms), on submerged plants (epiphytic forms) or on the bottom sediments (epipelic forms, or the benthos) of lakes.
The epilithic community displays a clearly discernable zonation in lakes. Members of the genera Pleurocapsa, Gloeocapsa and Phormidium often dominate the dark blue-black community of the spray zone. Scytonema and Nostoc species form olive-green coatings and are more frequent about the water line, whilst the brownish Tolypothrix and Calothrix species are more typical components of the subsurface littoral community.
The epiphytic flora of lakes is usually dominated by diatoms and green algae, and blue-greens are of less importance in this community. Species of the genera Nostoc, Lyngbya, Chamaesiphon and Gloeotrichia have been occasionally encrusting submerged plants.
The epipelic community commonly includes blue-greens like Aphanothece and Nostoc particularly in the more eutrophic lakes. Benthic blue-greens growing over the littoral sediments and on submerged plants may be responsible for the occasional high rates of N2-fixation measured in oligotrophic lakes.
Terrestrial blue-greens
In the temperate region blue-greens are especially common in calcareous and alkaline soils. Certain species, Nostoc commune, are often conspicuous on the soil surface. Acid soils, however, lack blue-green element and are usually dominated by diatoms and green algae.
Gliding movement
When viewed under the light microscope, blue-greens show a variety of movements, such as gliding, rotation, oscillation, jerking and flicking.
Nuisance/Noxious Conditions
The formation of water blooms results from the redistribution and often rapid accumulation of buoyant planktonic populations. When such populations are subjected to suboptimal conditions, they respond by increasing their buoyancy and move upward nearer to the water surface. Water turbulence usually prevents them reaching the surface. If, however, turbulence suddenly weakens on a calm summer day, the buoyant population may 'over-float' and may become lodged right at the water surface. There the cells are exposed to most unfavourable and dangerous conditions, like O2 supersaturation, rapidly diminishing CO2 concentrations and intense solar radiation, which are inhibitory to photosynthesis and N2-fixation, causing photo-oxidation of pigments and inflicting irreversible damage to the genetic constitution of cells. A frequent outcome of surface bloom formation is massive cell lysis and rapid disintegration of large planktonic populations. his is closely followed by an equally rapid increase in bacterial numbers, and in turn by a fast deoxygenation of surface waters which could be detrimental to animal populations within the lake. Water blooms are objectionable for recreational activities, and more importantly, create great nuisance in the management of water reservoirs.
Most of these conditions are produced by just three blue-greens, informally referred to as Annie (Anabaena flos-aquae), Fannie (Aphanizomenon flos-aquae) and Mike (Microcystis aeroginosa). An oversupply of nutrients, especially phosphorus and possibly nitrogen, will often result in excessive growth of blue-greens because they possess certain adaptations that enable them to outcompete true algae. Perhaps the most important adaptation is their positive buoyancy, which is regulated by their gas vesicles which are absent in true algae.
Benefits
Their reputation as "nuisance" or "noxious" is totally undeserved. While periodic blooms are considered a nuisance in recreational lakes and water supply reservoirs of North America, the near continuous blooms of blue-greens in some tropical lakes are a valuable source of food for humans. Some blue-green species make major contributions to the world food supply by naturally fertilizing soils and rice paddies. R.N. Singh of the Banares Hindu University in India has shown that the introduction of blue-green algae to saline and alkaline soils in the state of Uttar Pradesh increases the soils' content of nitrogen and organic matter and also their capacity for holding water. This treatment has enabled formerly barren soils to grow crops. Astushi Watanabe of the University of Tokyo found the introduction of Tolypothrix tenuis resulted in a 20% increase of rice crop. W.E. Booth of the University of Kansas showed through experiments in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, that a coating of blue-greens on prairie soil binds the particles of the soil to their mucilage coating, maintains a high water content and reduces erosion.
Humans also consume Spirulina. It contains all of the amino acids essential for humans, and its protein content is high (± 60%). It is a staple food in parts of Africa and Mexico. In China, Taiwan and Japan, several blue-greens are served as a side dish and a delicacy. Several areas in North America culture and commercially process certain blue-greens for various food and medicinal products such as vitamins, drug compounds, and growth factors.
Heterocystous blue-greens possess the unique ability to simultaneously evolve O2 in photosynthesis (in vegetative cells) and H2 by nitrogenase catalyzed electron transfer to H+-ions (in heterocysts), in the absence of N2 or other substrates of nitrogenase. This is the basis for the attempts of several workers to exploit the potential through the development of a `biophotolytic system' for solar energy conversion, even though to date the thermodynamic efficiency has been disappointingly low.
Nevertheless, the utilization of blue-greens in food production and in solar energy conversion may hold immense potential for the future, and could be exploited for man's economy. Progress in the study of the genetics of blue-greens may enable us to manipulate the N2-fixation (nif) and associated genes, and produce strains which fix N2, evolve H2 or release ammonia with great efficiency.
Poisonous Conditions
(Also see, Diverse taxa of cyanobacteria produce ß-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA), a neurotoxic amino acid- Proc. the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 2005) Poisonous blue-greens occur in ponds and lakes throughout the world. In Canada, they primarily occur in the prairie provinces. Poisoning has caused the death of cows, dogs, and other animals. Although humans ordinarily avoid drinking water that displays a blue-green bloom or scum, they may be affected by toxic strains when they swim or ski in recreational water bodies during a bloom. Typical symptoms include redness of the skin and itching around the eyes; sore, red throat; headache; diarrhea; vomiting; and nausea. The frequently occurring `swimmers itch' is attributed to contact with Lyngbya majuscula, Schizothrix calcicola and Oscillatoria nigroviridis, which are commonly found in tropical and subtropical seawaters. The toxins responsible are lipid-soluble phenolic compounds. Since the same or similar symptoms can be produced by bacteria or viruses, one should not necessarily conclude that blue-greens are responsible for a human illness simply because the sick individual recently swam in a lake or pond that has suffered a bloom. Human death has not been documented. Reported cases affecting humans list Anabaena as the main culprit.
Most of the recorded toxic blooms are caused by Microcystis aeruginosa, which manufactures "microcystin", which yields 7 (or 14) amino acids upon hydrolysis. It causes enlargement and congestion of the liver followed by necrosis and haemorrhage, and may also exhibit neurotoxic activity.
But many toxic blooms are also produced by either Anabaena flos-aquae (manufactures "anatoxins") or Aphanizomenon flos-aquae (manufactures "aphantoxins").
Alkaloid toxins (anatoxins, aphantoxins) act on the nervous system, leading to paralysis of muscles needed for breathing.
Two other genera, Oscillatoria and Nodularia are also known to produce toxic populations. Whether the animal survives the poisoning depends primarily upon the concentration of toxin ingested. Blue-green toxins may act on zooplankton and might be an effective mechanism of protection against grazing pressures.
Little is known about the percent of blooms that are toxic (upto 25% quoted in literature), and also why a toxic population is produced. A complicating factor is that part of a bloom can be toxic and another part nontoxic within the same lake. It has been suggested that toxic strains may develop only under a particular set of environmental conditions, or that toxin production may be associated with plasmid-mediated gene transfer.
Colour and identification
The blue-green color of cells (cyan means blue-green) is due to the combination of green chlorophyll pigment and a unique blue pigment (phycocyanin). However, not all blue-greens are blue-green. Their pigmentation includes yellow-green, green, grey-green, grey-black, and even red specimens. The Red Sea derives its name from occasional blooms of a species of Oscillatoria that produces large quantities of a unique pigment called phycoerythrin. In the arid regions of Central and East Africa, flamingos consume vast quantities of Spirulina, and their feathers derive their pink color from carotene pigments in filaments of Spirulina.
The blue-greens are microscopic life forms that exhibit several different types of organization. Some grow as single cells enclosed in a sheath of slime-like material, or mucilage. The cells of others aggregate into colonies that are either flattened, cubed, rounded, or elongated into filaments. Actual identification of cyanobacteria (blue-greens) requires microscopic examination of cells, colonies, or filaments, although experienced aquatic biologists can usually recognize Microcystis (colonies look like tiny grey-green clumps) and Aphanizomenon (green, fingernail-like or grass-like clippings).
Measures to control the growth of blue-greens
Chemicals are widely used to prevent the growth of nuisance algae, and the commonest one being copper sulphate. A number of other algicides are phenolic compounds, amide derivatives, quaternary ammonium compounds and quinone derivatives. Dichloron aphthoquinone is selectively toxic to blue-greens. The hazards of using toxic chemicals indiscriminately in the natural environment are well documented.
Biological control is in principle possible, though not always practical and as effective. Invertebrates like cladocerans, copepods, ostracods and snails are known to graze on green algae and diatoms. Daphnia pulex has been reported to feed on Aphanizomenon flos-aquae while present in the form of single filaments or small colonies but avoid large raft-like colonies. The copepod Diaptomus has been implicated in the grazing of Anabaena populations in Severson Lake, Minnesota.
Micro-organisms (fungi, bacteria and viruses) appear to play an important part in regulating growth of blue-greens in freshwaters. Certain chytrids (fungal pathogens) specifically infest akinetes, other heterocysts. Bacterial pathogens belonging to the group of Myxobacteriales can effect rapid lysis of a wide range of unicellular and filamentous blue-greens, though heterocysts and akinetes remain generally unaffected. Viral pathogens belonging to the group of cyanophages exhibit some degree of host specifity. Phage AR-1 attacks Anabaenopsis, phages SM-1 and AS-1 are effective against the unicellular forms, Synechococcus and Microcystis, Phage C-1 lyses Cylindropermum, and the LPP-1 virus is effective against strains of Lyngbya, Phormidium and Plectonema.
The long-term approach is no doubt the systematic removal of major nutrients.
Green Algae
The term 'algae' is used for some lower plants and many, often unrelated groups of microorganisms that are able to perform photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis (converting light energy into chemical energy) is performed in parts of the cell called chloroplasts. They can be found in different shapes and colours and in many different organisms. Not all these organisms are green. Diatoms, Chrysophytes and dinoflagellates have yellow to brown chloroplasts. There are brown algae (Phaeophyta), red algae (Rhodophyta) and many other groups of unicellular algae in many shades of green. The blue green Cyanobacteria also photosynthesize.
A very diverse groups of freshwater algae are the Chlorophytes or Green algae. Based on the compounds of the photosynthetic pigments and several other characteristics they seem closest related to plants.
A common green algae is Hydrodictyon, the water net. It is a related to Pediastrum (top image) But it forms a bag-shaped colony. Like Pediastrum each individual cell can develop into a new colony. You can imagine that since the colony contains thousands of cells Hydrodictyon can reproduce very rapidly. And unlike Pediastrum, Hydrodictyon can grow large, almost 30 cm. in length. Blooms of Hydrodictyon can be a real problem for water treatment plants.
The image shows a part of a small colony (left) and three individual cells of a big colony. Inside each of these cells a new colony can be formed.
This species illustrates that green algae don't always have to look like green algae. The chloroplast often turns red when conditions become unfavourable. Haematococcus swims with the aid of two long flagella.
Many species are flagellated and motile, other are immobile but often have a flagellated stage at some time in their life cycle. Certainly one of the most spectacular flagellated green algae is Volvox. It forms a spherical colony. All the small cells of the colony possess two flagella and a small eyespot. With this the colony is able to swim towards the light. Volvox has interesting ways of reproduction.
A small rather inconspicuous green algae without undulipodia is Chlorella. It can be found as an endosymbiont inside ciliates, hydra and other animals. They raise Chlorella as if they grow crops in a greenhouse.
The close up of this green Paramecium bursaria, a ciliate, shows the individual cells of Chlorella.
Many green algae form long filaments. The cells stay attached after they divide. Some genera, like Spirogyra, Mougeotia and Zygnema can become so numerous they form dense mats of growth in surfaces of ponds, so-called pond scum. This pond scum is interesting for a study under the microscope. If you squeeze it in a jar you will collect many interesting organisms. And the filamentous algae are at least as interesting. The chloroplasts have distinct shapes. In Spirogyra the chloroplast runs through the cell like a helix. The image also shows the nucleus hanging on fine threads.
Spirogyra and related algae like the Desmids are conjugating green algae. These desmids are so beautiful they deserve a page for themselves.
Algae fuel
Algae fuel
Algae fuel, also called algal fuel, algaeoleum or second-generation biofuel,[1] is a biofuel which is derived from algae. During photosynthesis, algae and other photosynthetic organisms capture carbon dioxide and sunlight and convert it into oxygen and biomass. Up to 99% of the carbon dioxide in solution can be converted, which was shown by Weissman and Tillett (1992) in large-scale open-pond systems. Several companies and government agencies are funding efforts to reduce capital and operating costs and make algae fuel production commercially viable.[2] The production of biofuels from algae does not reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), because any CO2 taken out of the atmosphere by the algae is returned when the biofuels are burned. They do however eliminate the introduction of new CO2[citation needed] by displacing fossil hydrocarbon fuels.
High oil prices, competing demands between foods and other biofuel sources, and the world food crisis, have ignited interest in algaculture (farming algae) for making vegetable oil, biodiesel, bioethanol, biogasoline, biomethanol, biobutanol and other biofuels, using land that is not suitable for agriculture. Among algal fuels' attractive characteristics: they do not affect fresh water resources,[3] can be produced using ocean and wastewater, and are biodegradable and relatively harmless to the environment if spilled.[4][5][6] Algae cost more per unit mass (as of 2010, food grade algae costs ~$5000/tonne), due to high capital and operating costs[7], yet can theoretically yield between 10 and 100 times more energy per unit area than other, second-generation biofuel crops.[8] One biofuels company has claimed that algae can produce more oil in an area the size of a two car garage than a football field of soybeans, because almost the entire algal organism can use sunlight to produce lipids, or oil.[9] The United States Department of Energy estimates that if algae fuel replaced all the petroleum fuel in the United States, it would require 15,000 square miles (40,000 km2).[10] This is less than 1⁄7 the area of corn harvested in the United States in 2000.[11] However, these claims remain unrealized, commercially.
Factors
Dry mass factor is the percentage of dry biomass in relation to the fresh biomass; e.g. if the dry mass factor is 5%, one would need 20 kg of wet algae (algae in the media) to get 1 kg of dry algae cells.[12]
Lipid content is the percentage of oil in relation to the dry biomass needed to get it, i.e. if the algae lipid content is 40%, one would need 2.5 kg of dry algae to get 1 kg of oil.[13]
Fuels
The vegoil algae product can then be harvested and converted into biodiesel; the algae’s carbohydrate content can be fermented into bioethanol and biobutanol.[14]
Biodiesel
Currently most research into efficient algal-oil production is being done in the private sector, but predictions from small scale production experiments bear out that using algae to produce biodiesel may be the only viable method by which to produce enough automotive fuel to replace current world diesel usage.[15]
Microalgae have much faster growth rates than terrestrial crops. The per unit area yield of oil from algae is estimated to be from between 5,000 to 20,000 US gallons per acre per year (4,700 to 18,000 m3/km2·a);[citation needed] this is 7 to 30 times greater than the next best crop, Chinese tallow (700 US gal/acre·a or 650 m3/km2·a).[16]
Studies[17] show that some species of algae can produce up to 60% of their dry weight in the form of oil. Because the cells grow in aqueous suspension, where they have more efficient access to water, CO2 and dissolved nutrients, microalgae are capable of producing large amounts of biomass and usable oil in either high rate algal ponds or photobioreactors. This oil can then be turned into biodiesel which could be sold for use in automobiles. Regional production of microalgae and processing into biofuels will provide economic benefits to rural communities.[18]
Biobutanol
Main article: Butanol fuel
Butanol can be made from algae or diatoms using only a solar powered biorefinery. This fuel has an energy density 10% less than gasoline, and greater than that of either ethanol or methanol. In most gasoline engines, butanol can be used in place of gasoline with no modifications. In several tests, butanol consumption is similar to that of gasoline, and when blended with gasoline, provides better performance and corrosion resistance than that of ethanol or E85[19].
The green waste left over from the algae oil extraction can be used to produce butanol.
Biogasoline
Biogasoline is gasoline produced from biomass such as algae. Like traditionally produced gasoline, it contains between 6 (hexane) and 12 (dodecane) carbon atoms per molecule and can be used in internal-combustion engines.
Methane
Through the use of algaculture grown organisms and cultures, various polymeric materials can be broken down into methane.[20]
SVO
The algal-oil feedstock that is used to produce biodiesel can also be used for fuel directly as "Straight Vegetable Oil", (SVO). The benefit of using the oil in this manner is that it doesn't require the additional energy needed for transesterification, (processing the oil with an alcohol and a catalyst to produce biodiesel). The drawback is that it does require modifications to a normal diesel engine. Transesterified biodiesel can be run in an unmodified modern diesel engine, provided the engine is designed to use ultra-low sulfur diesel, which, as of 2006, is the new diesel fuel standard in the United States.
Hydrocracking to traditional transport fuels
Main articles: Vegetable oil refining and Green crude
Vegetable oil can be used as feedstock for an oil refinery where methods like hydrocracking or hydrogenation can be used to transform the vegetable oil into standard fuels like gasoline and diesel.[21]
Jet fuel
Main article: Aviation biofuel
Rising jet fuel prices are putting severe pressure on airline companies,[22] creating an incentive for algal jet fuel research. The International Air Transport Association, for example, supports research, development and deployment of algal fuels. IATA’s goal is for its members to be using 10% alternative fuels by 2017.[1]
Trials have been carried with aviation biofuel by Air New Zealand[23], Continental Airlines[citation needed] and Virgin Airlines[24].
In February 2010, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced that the U.S. military was about to begin large-scale production oil from algal ponds into jet fuel. After extraction at a cost of $2 per gallon, the oil will be refined at less than $3 a gallon. A larger-scale refining operation, producing 50 million gallons a year, is expected to go into production in 2013, with the possibility of lower per gallon costs so that algae-based fuel would be competitive with fossil fuels. The projects, run by the companies SAIC and General Atomics, are expected to produce 1,000 gallons of oil per acre per year from algal ponds.[25]
Algae cultivation
Algae can produce up to 300 times more oil per acre than conventional crops, such as rapeseed, palms, soybeans, or jatropha. As Algae has a harvesting cycle of 1–10 days, it permits several harvests in a very short time frame, a differing strategy to yearly crops (Chisti 2007). Algae can also be grown on land that is not suitable for other established crops, for instance, arid land, land with excessively saline soil, and drought-stricken land. This minimizes the issue of taking away pieces of land from the cultivation of food crops (Schenk et al. 2008). Algae can grow 20 to 30 times faster than food crops.[26]
Photobioreactors
Most companies pursuing algae as a source of biofuels are pumping nutrient-laden water through plastic tubes (called "bioreactors" ) that are exposed to sunlight (and so called photobioreactors or PBR).
Running a PBR is more difficult than an open pond, and more costly.
Algae can also grow on marginal lands, such as in desert areas where the groundwater is saline, rather than utilize fresh water.[27]
Because algae strains with lower lipid content may grow as much as 30 times faster than those with high lipid content,[28] the difficulties in efficient biodiesel production from algae lie in finding an algal strain with a combination of high lipid content and fast growth rate, that isn't too difficult to harvest; and a cost-effective cultivation system (i.e., type of photobioreactor) that is best suited to that strain. There is also a need to provide concentrated CO2 to increase the rate of production.
[edit] Closed loop system
Another obstacle preventing widespread mass production of algae for biofuel production has been the equipment and structures needed to begin growing algae in large quantities. Maximum use of existing agriculture processes and hardware is the goal.[29]
In a closed system (not exposed to open air) there is not the problem of contamination by other organisms blown in by the air. The problem for a closed system is finding a cheap source of sterile CO2. Several experimenters have found the CO2 from a smokestack works well for growing algae.[30][31] To be economical, some experts think that algae farming for biofuels will have to be done as part of cogeneration, where it can make use of waste heat, and help soak up pollution.[27][32]
[edit] Open pond
Open-pond systems for the most part have been given up for the cultivation of algae with high-oil content.[33] Many believe that a major flaw of the Aquatic Species Program was the decision to focus their efforts exclusively on open-ponds; this makes the entire effort dependent upon the hardiness of the strain chosen, requiring it to be unnecessarily resilient in order to withstand wide swings in temperature and pH, and competition from invasive algae and bacteria. Open systems using a monoculture are also vulnerable to viral infection. The energy that a high-oil strain invests into the production of oil is energy that is not invested into the production of proteins or carbohydrates, usually resulting in the species being less hardy, or having a slower growth rate. Algal species with a lower oil content, not having to divert their energies away from growth, have an easier time in the harsher conditions of an open system.
Some open sewage ponds trial production has been done in Marlborough, New Zealand.[34]
[edit] Algae types
Main article: SERI microalgae culture collection
Research into algae for the mass-production of oil is mainly focused on microalgae; organisms capable of photosynthesis that are less than 0.4 mm in diameter, including the diatoms and cyanobacteria; as opposed to macroalgae, such as seaweed. The preference towards microalgae is due largely to its less complex structure, fast growth rate, and high oil content (for some species). However, some research is being done into using seaweeds for biofuels, probably due to the high availability of this resource.[35][36]
The following species listed are currently being studied for their suitability as a mass-oil producing crop, across various locations worldwide[37][38][39]:
Botryococcus braunii
Chlorella
Dunaliella tertiolecta
Gracilaria
Pleurochrysis carterae (also called CCMP647)[40] .
Sargassum, with 10 times the output volume of Gracilaria.[41]
In addition, due to its high growth rate, Ulva[42] has been investigated as a fuel for use in the SOFT cycle, (SOFT stands for Solar Oxygen Fuel Turbine), a closed-cycle power generation system suitable for use in arid, subtropical regions.[43]
[edit] Specific research
Some commercial interests into large scale algal-cultivation systems are looking to tie in to existing infrastructures, such as cement factories,[32] coal power plants, or sewage treatment facilities. This approach changes wastes into resources to provide the raw materials, CO2 and nutrients, for the system.[44]
Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation of New Zealand announced that it has produced its first sample of homegrown bio-diesel fuel with algae sourced from local sewerage ponds. A small quantity of laboratory produced oil was mixed with 95% regular diesel.
A feasibility study using marine microalgae in a photobioreactor is being done by The International Research Consortium on Continental Margins at the International University Bremen.[45]
The Department of Environmental Science at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines, is working on producing biofuel from a local species of algae.[46]
NBB’s Feedstock Development program is addressing production of algae on the horizon to expand available material for biodiesel in a sustainable manner[47].
[edit] Nutrients
Main article: Algal nutrient solutions
Nutrients like nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K), are important for plant growth and are essential parts of fertilizer. Silica and iron, as well as several trace elements, may also be considered important marine nutrients as the lack of one can limit the growth of, or productivity in, an area.[48]
One company, Green Star Products, announced their development of a micronutrient formula to increase the growth rate of algae. According to the company, its formula can increase the daily growth rate by 34% and can double the amount of algae produced in one growth cycle.[49]
Wastewater
Wastewater treatment facility
A possible nutrient source is waste water from the treatment of sewage, agricultural, or flood plain run-off, all currently major pollutants and health risks. However, this waste water cannot feed algae directly and must first be processed by bacteria, through anaerobic digestion. If waste water is not processed before it reaches the algae, it will contaminate the algae in the reactor, and at the very least, kill much of the desired algae strain. In biogas facilities, organic waste is often converted to a mixture of carbon dioxide, methane, and organic fertilizer. Organic fertilizer that comes out of the digester is liquid, and nearly suitable for algae growth, but it must first be cleaned and sterilized.
The utilization of wastewater and ocean water instead of freshwater is strongly advocated due to the continuing depletion of freshwater resources. However, heavy metals, trace metals, and other contaminants in wastewater can decrease the ability of cells to produce lipids biosynthetically and also impact various other workings in the machinery of cells. The same is true for ocean water, but the contaminants are found in different concentrations. Thus, agricultural-grade fertilizer is the preferred source of nutrients, but heavy metals are again a problem, especially for strains of algae that are susceptible to these metals. In open pond systems the use of strains of algae that can deal with high concentrations of heavy metals could prevent other organisms from infesting these systems (Schenk et al. 2008). In some instances it has even been shown that strains of algae can remove over 90% of nickel and zinc from industrial wastewater in relatively short periods of time (Chong, Wong et al. 1998).
Investment and economic viability
There is always uncertainty about the success of new products and investors have to consider carefully the proper energy sources in which to invest. A drop in fossil fuel oil prices might make consumers and therefore investors lose interest in renewable energy. Algal fuel companies are learning that investors have different expectations about returns and length of investments. AlgaePro Systems found in its talks with investors that while one wants at least 5 times the returns on their investment, others would only be willing to invest in a profitable operation over the long term. Every investor has its own unique stipulations that are obstacles to further algae fuel development. Additional concerns consider the potential environmental impact of Algal fuel development, as well as secondary impacts on wildlife such as bears and fish.[citation needed]
Whereas technical problems, such as harvesting, are being addressed successfully by the industry, the high up-front investment of algae-to-biofuels facilities is seen by many as a major obstacle to the success of this technology. Only few studies on the economic viability are publicly available, and must often rely on the little data (often only engineering estimates) available in the public domain. Dmitrov[50] examined the GreenFuels photobioreactor and estimated that algae oil would only be competitive at an oil price of $800 per barrel. A study by Alabi at al.[51] examined raceways, photobioreactors and anaerobic fermenters to make biofuels from algae and found that photobioreactors are too expensive to make biofuels. Raceways might be cost-effective in warm climates with very low labor costs, and fermenters may become cost-effective subsequent to significant process improvements. The group found that capital cost, labor cost and operational costs (fertilizer, electricity, etc.) by themselves are too high for algae biofuels to be cost-competitive with conventional fuels. Similar results were found by others[52][53][54], suggesting that unless new, cheaper ways of harnessing algae for biofuels production are found, their great technical potential may never become economically accessible.
Algae fuel by country
List of algal fuel producers
Europe
Algae fuel in the United Kingdom
Universities in the United Kingdom which are working on producing oil from algae include:University of Glasgow, University of Brighton, Cambridge University, University College London, Imperial College London, Cranfield University.
The Ukraine plans to produce biofuel using a special type of algae[55].
The CSIC´s Instituto de Bioquímica Vegetal y Fotosíntesis (Microalgae Biotechnology Group, in Sevilla, Spain[56] is researching the algal fuels.
United States
Algae fuel in the United States
The Aquatic Species Program, launched in 1978, was a research program funded by the United States Department of Energy (DoE) which was tasked with investigating the use of algae for the production of energy. The program initially focused efforts on the production of hydrogen, shifting primary research to studying oil production in 1982. From 1982 until its end in 1996, the majority of the program research was focused on the production of transportation fuels, notably biodiesel, from algae. In 1995, as part of overall efforts to lower budget demands, the DoE decided to end the program. Research stopped in 1996 and staff began compiling their research for publication.
US universities which are working on producing oil from algae include: University of Texas at Austin,[57] University of Maine, University of Kansas, and Old Dominion University[58].
At the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution the wastewater from domestic and industrial sources contain rich organic compounds that are being used to accelerate the growth of algae.[14] The Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at University of Georgia is exploring microalgal biomass production using industrial wastewater.[59] Algaewheel, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, presented a proposal to build a facility in Cedar Lake, Indiana that uses algae to treat municipal wastewater, using the sludge byproduct to produce biofuel.[60][61]
Sapphire Energy (San Diego) has produced green crude from algae.
Solazyme (South San Francisco, California) has produced a fuel suitable for powering jet aircraft from algae.
Algae fuel, also called algal fuel, algaeoleum or second-generation biofuel,[1] is a biofuel which is derived from algae. During photosynthesis, algae and other photosynthetic organisms capture carbon dioxide and sunlight and convert it into oxygen and biomass. Up to 99% of the carbon dioxide in solution can be converted, which was shown by Weissman and Tillett (1992) in large-scale open-pond systems. Several companies and government agencies are funding efforts to reduce capital and operating costs and make algae fuel production commercially viable.[2] The production of biofuels from algae does not reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), because any CO2 taken out of the atmosphere by the algae is returned when the biofuels are burned. They do however eliminate the introduction of new CO2[citation needed] by displacing fossil hydrocarbon fuels.
High oil prices, competing demands between foods and other biofuel sources, and the world food crisis, have ignited interest in algaculture (farming algae) for making vegetable oil, biodiesel, bioethanol, biogasoline, biomethanol, biobutanol and other biofuels, using land that is not suitable for agriculture. Among algal fuels' attractive characteristics: they do not affect fresh water resources,[3] can be produced using ocean and wastewater, and are biodegradable and relatively harmless to the environment if spilled.[4][5][6] Algae cost more per unit mass (as of 2010, food grade algae costs ~$5000/tonne), due to high capital and operating costs[7], yet can theoretically yield between 10 and 100 times more energy per unit area than other, second-generation biofuel crops.[8] One biofuels company has claimed that algae can produce more oil in an area the size of a two car garage than a football field of soybeans, because almost the entire algal organism can use sunlight to produce lipids, or oil.[9] The United States Department of Energy estimates that if algae fuel replaced all the petroleum fuel in the United States, it would require 15,000 square miles (40,000 km2).[10] This is less than 1⁄7 the area of corn harvested in the United States in 2000.[11] However, these claims remain unrealized, commercially.
Factors
Dry mass factor is the percentage of dry biomass in relation to the fresh biomass; e.g. if the dry mass factor is 5%, one would need 20 kg of wet algae (algae in the media) to get 1 kg of dry algae cells.[12]
Lipid content is the percentage of oil in relation to the dry biomass needed to get it, i.e. if the algae lipid content is 40%, one would need 2.5 kg of dry algae to get 1 kg of oil.[13]
Fuels
The vegoil algae product can then be harvested and converted into biodiesel; the algae’s carbohydrate content can be fermented into bioethanol and biobutanol.[14]
Biodiesel
Currently most research into efficient algal-oil production is being done in the private sector, but predictions from small scale production experiments bear out that using algae to produce biodiesel may be the only viable method by which to produce enough automotive fuel to replace current world diesel usage.[15]
Microalgae have much faster growth rates than terrestrial crops. The per unit area yield of oil from algae is estimated to be from between 5,000 to 20,000 US gallons per acre per year (4,700 to 18,000 m3/km2·a);[citation needed] this is 7 to 30 times greater than the next best crop, Chinese tallow (700 US gal/acre·a or 650 m3/km2·a).[16]
Studies[17] show that some species of algae can produce up to 60% of their dry weight in the form of oil. Because the cells grow in aqueous suspension, where they have more efficient access to water, CO2 and dissolved nutrients, microalgae are capable of producing large amounts of biomass and usable oil in either high rate algal ponds or photobioreactors. This oil can then be turned into biodiesel which could be sold for use in automobiles. Regional production of microalgae and processing into biofuels will provide economic benefits to rural communities.[18]
Biobutanol
Main article: Butanol fuel
Butanol can be made from algae or diatoms using only a solar powered biorefinery. This fuel has an energy density 10% less than gasoline, and greater than that of either ethanol or methanol. In most gasoline engines, butanol can be used in place of gasoline with no modifications. In several tests, butanol consumption is similar to that of gasoline, and when blended with gasoline, provides better performance and corrosion resistance than that of ethanol or E85[19].
The green waste left over from the algae oil extraction can be used to produce butanol.
Biogasoline
Biogasoline is gasoline produced from biomass such as algae. Like traditionally produced gasoline, it contains between 6 (hexane) and 12 (dodecane) carbon atoms per molecule and can be used in internal-combustion engines.
Methane
Through the use of algaculture grown organisms and cultures, various polymeric materials can be broken down into methane.[20]
SVO
The algal-oil feedstock that is used to produce biodiesel can also be used for fuel directly as "Straight Vegetable Oil", (SVO). The benefit of using the oil in this manner is that it doesn't require the additional energy needed for transesterification, (processing the oil with an alcohol and a catalyst to produce biodiesel). The drawback is that it does require modifications to a normal diesel engine. Transesterified biodiesel can be run in an unmodified modern diesel engine, provided the engine is designed to use ultra-low sulfur diesel, which, as of 2006, is the new diesel fuel standard in the United States.
Hydrocracking to traditional transport fuels
Main articles: Vegetable oil refining and Green crude
Vegetable oil can be used as feedstock for an oil refinery where methods like hydrocracking or hydrogenation can be used to transform the vegetable oil into standard fuels like gasoline and diesel.[21]
Jet fuel
Main article: Aviation biofuel
Rising jet fuel prices are putting severe pressure on airline companies,[22] creating an incentive for algal jet fuel research. The International Air Transport Association, for example, supports research, development and deployment of algal fuels. IATA’s goal is for its members to be using 10% alternative fuels by 2017.[1]
Trials have been carried with aviation biofuel by Air New Zealand[23], Continental Airlines[citation needed] and Virgin Airlines[24].
In February 2010, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced that the U.S. military was about to begin large-scale production oil from algal ponds into jet fuel. After extraction at a cost of $2 per gallon, the oil will be refined at less than $3 a gallon. A larger-scale refining operation, producing 50 million gallons a year, is expected to go into production in 2013, with the possibility of lower per gallon costs so that algae-based fuel would be competitive with fossil fuels. The projects, run by the companies SAIC and General Atomics, are expected to produce 1,000 gallons of oil per acre per year from algal ponds.[25]
Algae cultivation
Algae can produce up to 300 times more oil per acre than conventional crops, such as rapeseed, palms, soybeans, or jatropha. As Algae has a harvesting cycle of 1–10 days, it permits several harvests in a very short time frame, a differing strategy to yearly crops (Chisti 2007). Algae can also be grown on land that is not suitable for other established crops, for instance, arid land, land with excessively saline soil, and drought-stricken land. This minimizes the issue of taking away pieces of land from the cultivation of food crops (Schenk et al. 2008). Algae can grow 20 to 30 times faster than food crops.[26]
Photobioreactors
Most companies pursuing algae as a source of biofuels are pumping nutrient-laden water through plastic tubes (called "bioreactors" ) that are exposed to sunlight (and so called photobioreactors or PBR).
Running a PBR is more difficult than an open pond, and more costly.
Algae can also grow on marginal lands, such as in desert areas where the groundwater is saline, rather than utilize fresh water.[27]
Because algae strains with lower lipid content may grow as much as 30 times faster than those with high lipid content,[28] the difficulties in efficient biodiesel production from algae lie in finding an algal strain with a combination of high lipid content and fast growth rate, that isn't too difficult to harvest; and a cost-effective cultivation system (i.e., type of photobioreactor) that is best suited to that strain. There is also a need to provide concentrated CO2 to increase the rate of production.
[edit] Closed loop system
Another obstacle preventing widespread mass production of algae for biofuel production has been the equipment and structures needed to begin growing algae in large quantities. Maximum use of existing agriculture processes and hardware is the goal.[29]
In a closed system (not exposed to open air) there is not the problem of contamination by other organisms blown in by the air. The problem for a closed system is finding a cheap source of sterile CO2. Several experimenters have found the CO2 from a smokestack works well for growing algae.[30][31] To be economical, some experts think that algae farming for biofuels will have to be done as part of cogeneration, where it can make use of waste heat, and help soak up pollution.[27][32]
[edit] Open pond
Open-pond systems for the most part have been given up for the cultivation of algae with high-oil content.[33] Many believe that a major flaw of the Aquatic Species Program was the decision to focus their efforts exclusively on open-ponds; this makes the entire effort dependent upon the hardiness of the strain chosen, requiring it to be unnecessarily resilient in order to withstand wide swings in temperature and pH, and competition from invasive algae and bacteria. Open systems using a monoculture are also vulnerable to viral infection. The energy that a high-oil strain invests into the production of oil is energy that is not invested into the production of proteins or carbohydrates, usually resulting in the species being less hardy, or having a slower growth rate. Algal species with a lower oil content, not having to divert their energies away from growth, have an easier time in the harsher conditions of an open system.
Some open sewage ponds trial production has been done in Marlborough, New Zealand.[34]
[edit] Algae types
Main article: SERI microalgae culture collection
Research into algae for the mass-production of oil is mainly focused on microalgae; organisms capable of photosynthesis that are less than 0.4 mm in diameter, including the diatoms and cyanobacteria; as opposed to macroalgae, such as seaweed. The preference towards microalgae is due largely to its less complex structure, fast growth rate, and high oil content (for some species). However, some research is being done into using seaweeds for biofuels, probably due to the high availability of this resource.[35][36]
The following species listed are currently being studied for their suitability as a mass-oil producing crop, across various locations worldwide[37][38][39]:
Botryococcus braunii
Chlorella
Dunaliella tertiolecta
Gracilaria
Pleurochrysis carterae (also called CCMP647)[40] .
Sargassum, with 10 times the output volume of Gracilaria.[41]
In addition, due to its high growth rate, Ulva[42] has been investigated as a fuel for use in the SOFT cycle, (SOFT stands for Solar Oxygen Fuel Turbine), a closed-cycle power generation system suitable for use in arid, subtropical regions.[43]
[edit] Specific research
Some commercial interests into large scale algal-cultivation systems are looking to tie in to existing infrastructures, such as cement factories,[32] coal power plants, or sewage treatment facilities. This approach changes wastes into resources to provide the raw materials, CO2 and nutrients, for the system.[44]
Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation of New Zealand announced that it has produced its first sample of homegrown bio-diesel fuel with algae sourced from local sewerage ponds. A small quantity of laboratory produced oil was mixed with 95% regular diesel.
A feasibility study using marine microalgae in a photobioreactor is being done by The International Research Consortium on Continental Margins at the International University Bremen.[45]
The Department of Environmental Science at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines, is working on producing biofuel from a local species of algae.[46]
NBB’s Feedstock Development program is addressing production of algae on the horizon to expand available material for biodiesel in a sustainable manner[47].
[edit] Nutrients
Main article: Algal nutrient solutions
Nutrients like nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K), are important for plant growth and are essential parts of fertilizer. Silica and iron, as well as several trace elements, may also be considered important marine nutrients as the lack of one can limit the growth of, or productivity in, an area.[48]
One company, Green Star Products, announced their development of a micronutrient formula to increase the growth rate of algae. According to the company, its formula can increase the daily growth rate by 34% and can double the amount of algae produced in one growth cycle.[49]
Wastewater
Wastewater treatment facility
A possible nutrient source is waste water from the treatment of sewage, agricultural, or flood plain run-off, all currently major pollutants and health risks. However, this waste water cannot feed algae directly and must first be processed by bacteria, through anaerobic digestion. If waste water is not processed before it reaches the algae, it will contaminate the algae in the reactor, and at the very least, kill much of the desired algae strain. In biogas facilities, organic waste is often converted to a mixture of carbon dioxide, methane, and organic fertilizer. Organic fertilizer that comes out of the digester is liquid, and nearly suitable for algae growth, but it must first be cleaned and sterilized.
The utilization of wastewater and ocean water instead of freshwater is strongly advocated due to the continuing depletion of freshwater resources. However, heavy metals, trace metals, and other contaminants in wastewater can decrease the ability of cells to produce lipids biosynthetically and also impact various other workings in the machinery of cells. The same is true for ocean water, but the contaminants are found in different concentrations. Thus, agricultural-grade fertilizer is the preferred source of nutrients, but heavy metals are again a problem, especially for strains of algae that are susceptible to these metals. In open pond systems the use of strains of algae that can deal with high concentrations of heavy metals could prevent other organisms from infesting these systems (Schenk et al. 2008). In some instances it has even been shown that strains of algae can remove over 90% of nickel and zinc from industrial wastewater in relatively short periods of time (Chong, Wong et al. 1998).
Investment and economic viability
There is always uncertainty about the success of new products and investors have to consider carefully the proper energy sources in which to invest. A drop in fossil fuel oil prices might make consumers and therefore investors lose interest in renewable energy. Algal fuel companies are learning that investors have different expectations about returns and length of investments. AlgaePro Systems found in its talks with investors that while one wants at least 5 times the returns on their investment, others would only be willing to invest in a profitable operation over the long term. Every investor has its own unique stipulations that are obstacles to further algae fuel development. Additional concerns consider the potential environmental impact of Algal fuel development, as well as secondary impacts on wildlife such as bears and fish.[citation needed]
Whereas technical problems, such as harvesting, are being addressed successfully by the industry, the high up-front investment of algae-to-biofuels facilities is seen by many as a major obstacle to the success of this technology. Only few studies on the economic viability are publicly available, and must often rely on the little data (often only engineering estimates) available in the public domain. Dmitrov[50] examined the GreenFuels photobioreactor and estimated that algae oil would only be competitive at an oil price of $800 per barrel. A study by Alabi at al.[51] examined raceways, photobioreactors and anaerobic fermenters to make biofuels from algae and found that photobioreactors are too expensive to make biofuels. Raceways might be cost-effective in warm climates with very low labor costs, and fermenters may become cost-effective subsequent to significant process improvements. The group found that capital cost, labor cost and operational costs (fertilizer, electricity, etc.) by themselves are too high for algae biofuels to be cost-competitive with conventional fuels. Similar results were found by others[52][53][54], suggesting that unless new, cheaper ways of harnessing algae for biofuels production are found, their great technical potential may never become economically accessible.
Algae fuel by country
List of algal fuel producers
Europe
Algae fuel in the United Kingdom
Universities in the United Kingdom which are working on producing oil from algae include:University of Glasgow, University of Brighton, Cambridge University, University College London, Imperial College London, Cranfield University.
The Ukraine plans to produce biofuel using a special type of algae[55].
The CSIC´s Instituto de Bioquímica Vegetal y Fotosíntesis (Microalgae Biotechnology Group, in Sevilla, Spain[56] is researching the algal fuels.
United States
Algae fuel in the United States
The Aquatic Species Program, launched in 1978, was a research program funded by the United States Department of Energy (DoE) which was tasked with investigating the use of algae for the production of energy. The program initially focused efforts on the production of hydrogen, shifting primary research to studying oil production in 1982. From 1982 until its end in 1996, the majority of the program research was focused on the production of transportation fuels, notably biodiesel, from algae. In 1995, as part of overall efforts to lower budget demands, the DoE decided to end the program. Research stopped in 1996 and staff began compiling their research for publication.
US universities which are working on producing oil from algae include: University of Texas at Austin,[57] University of Maine, University of Kansas, and Old Dominion University[58].
At the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution the wastewater from domestic and industrial sources contain rich organic compounds that are being used to accelerate the growth of algae.[14] The Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at University of Georgia is exploring microalgal biomass production using industrial wastewater.[59] Algaewheel, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, presented a proposal to build a facility in Cedar Lake, Indiana that uses algae to treat municipal wastewater, using the sludge byproduct to produce biofuel.[60][61]
Sapphire Energy (San Diego) has produced green crude from algae.
Solazyme (South San Francisco, California) has produced a fuel suitable for powering jet aircraft from algae.
Algae
The word algae represent a large group of different organisms from different phylogenetic groups, representing many taxonomic divisions. In general algae can be referred to as plant-like organisms that are usually photosynthetic and aquatic, but do not have true roots, stems, leaves, vascular tissue and have simple reproductive structures. They are distributed worldwide in the sea, in freshwater and in wastewater. Most are microscopic, but some are quite large, e.g. some marine seaweeds that can exceed 50 m in length.
The unicellular forms are known as microalgae where as the multicellular forms comprise macroalgae.
Chlorella sppMicroalgae comprise a vast group of photosynthetic, heterotrophic organisms which have an extraordinary potential for cultivation as energy crops. They can be cultivated under difficult agro-climatic conditions and are able to produce a wide range of commercially interesting byproducts such as fats, oils, sugars and functional bioactive compounds.
Ulva lacutaSeaweed is a loose colloquial term encompassing macroscopic, multicellular, benthic marine algae. The term includes some members of the red, brown and green algae. They are photosynthetic, like plants, and "simple" because they lack the many distinct organs found in land plants. For that reason they are currently excluded from being considered plants.
The algae have chlorophyll and can manufacture their own food through the process of photosynthesis. Almost all the algae are eukaryotes and conduct photosynthesis within membrane bound structure called chloroplasts. Cyanobacteria are organisms traditionally included among the algae, but they have a prokaryotic cell structure.
The unicellular forms are known as microalgae where as the multicellular forms comprise macroalgae.
Chlorella sppMicroalgae comprise a vast group of photosynthetic, heterotrophic organisms which have an extraordinary potential for cultivation as energy crops. They can be cultivated under difficult agro-climatic conditions and are able to produce a wide range of commercially interesting byproducts such as fats, oils, sugars and functional bioactive compounds.
Ulva lacutaSeaweed is a loose colloquial term encompassing macroscopic, multicellular, benthic marine algae. The term includes some members of the red, brown and green algae. They are photosynthetic, like plants, and "simple" because they lack the many distinct organs found in land plants. For that reason they are currently excluded from being considered plants.
The algae have chlorophyll and can manufacture their own food through the process of photosynthesis. Almost all the algae are eukaryotes and conduct photosynthesis within membrane bound structure called chloroplasts. Cyanobacteria are organisms traditionally included among the algae, but they have a prokaryotic cell structure.
Flower Plants of India
The exotic and natural beauty of the flower pants has always affected the travellers and tourists across the world. There are around 15,000 flowering plant species in India. Lotus is the National Flower of India. The North -East -India has the profuse growth of orchids and marigold plants. Spring and summer are the best time to visit India as flowers are in full boom during these seasons to welcome the visitors with the burst of colours. Most of the flowers of India are used for several purposes such as for decoration, for medical purposes etc. The scented flower plants of India add charm to the natural beauty of the country. Bougainvillea, Rose, Jamine, Orchid, and Lotus are some of the popular flowering plants of India.
Lotus
Of all the spectacular Flowering plants found in India, Lotus is the one that eloquently conjures up the spirit of typically religious India. Lotus is the National Flower of India. It is the aquatic plant with broad floating leaves and beautiful pinkish flower
Rose
The scented smell and beautiful petals of Rose plant give it a complete distinctive appearance. There are more than 120 species of rose plant all over the world. Rose plants are generally used for beautifying the gardens and walkways
Marigold
Among all the major plants of India, Marigold is the most identical. The Marigold Flower holds the great religious significance. The Marigold flower is offered to God and Goddess in India. It is also used for making garlands.
Jasmine
Jasmine is a evergreen semi vining shrub. In India the Jasmine plant is related to Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. Jasmine plant is mostly propagated in summer season through the softwood cuttings, semi hard wood cuttings and through simple layering
Bougainvillea
Bougainvillea is a popular woody scandent shrub. It is popularly known as the paper flower. Bougainvillea is widely grown in the Eravikulam National Park in India. Bougainvillea spinosa is the another popular specie of Bougainvillea found in India
Orchids
Orchids are one of the prominent plant species that cover whole of north-east India. Roots of Orchids are edible and are even cooked. Dancing ladies, dancing dolls, Butterflies orchids are some of the popular names of the Orchids
Of all the spectacular Flowering plants found in India, Lotus is the one that eloquently conjures up the spirit of typically religious India. Lotus is the National Flower of India. It is the aquatic plant with broad floating leaves and beautiful pinkish flower
The scented smell and beautiful petals of Rose plant give it a complete distinctive appearance. There are more than 120 species of rose plant all over the world. Rose plants are generally used for beautifying the gardens and walkways
Marigold
Among all the major plants of India, Marigold is the most identical. The Marigold Flower holds the great religious significance. The Marigold flower is offered to God and Goddess in India. It is also used for making garlands.
Jasmine is a evergreen semi vining shrub. In India the Jasmine plant is related to Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. Jasmine plant is mostly propagated in summer season through the softwood cuttings, semi hard wood cuttings and through simple layering
Bougainvillea is a popular woody scandent shrub. It is popularly known as the paper flower. Bougainvillea is widely grown in the Eravikulam National Park in India. Bougainvillea spinosa is the another popular specie of Bougainvillea found in India
Orchids are one of the prominent plant species that cover whole of north-east India. Roots of Orchids are edible and are even cooked. Dancing ladies, dancing dolls, Butterflies orchids are some of the popular names of the Orchids
Holostemma Creeper
Common name: Holostemma Creeper • Hindi: Chhirvel • Marathi: Dudruli, Shidodi • Tamil: Palay kirai • Malayalam: Ada kodien • Telugu: Palagurugu • Sanskrit: Jivanti, Arkapushpi
Botanical name: Holostemma ada-kodien Family: Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed family)
Synonyms: Holostemma annulare
Holostemma Creeper is a handsome, extensive, laticiferous, twining shrub with large conspicuous flowers. The bark is deeply cracked. The leaves are ovate to heart-shaped, 5-12 × 2-8 cm, coriaceous, acute, smooth above, and finely pubescent. The flowers are greenish-yellow in color, purplish crimson inside, in lateral cymes. The petals are thick, typical of the milkweed family. Flowers are very fragrant. The central crown is edible. The fruits follicles sub-woody, 6-9 cm long, tapering and green. The roots are pretty long up to a meter or more in length, thick, cylindrical and irregularly twisted. It grows over hedges and in open forests especially on the lower slopes of hills. But its occurance has diminished very much within this range of distribution and hence it is considered endangered. Flowering: April-September.
Medicinal uses: Mainly the roots and the whole plant are used for medicinal purposes. Externally the paste of its leaves and roots alleviate oedema due to vitiation of pitta dosa. The herb is beneficial for external use in various skin diseases, wounds and inflammation of the skin.
Botanical name: Holostemma ada-kodien Family: Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed family)
Synonyms: Holostemma annulare
Medicinal uses: Mainly the roots and the whole plant are used for medicinal purposes. Externally the paste of its leaves and roots alleviate oedema due to vitiation of pitta dosa. The herb is beneficial for external use in various skin diseases, wounds and inflammation of the skin.
Green Milkweed Creeper
Common name: Green Milkweed Creeper • Marathi: शॆंडवेल Shendvel, जाती Jati, मारवेल Marvel • Tamil: Perum kahamugan kodi • Malayalam: വട്ടു വല്ലീ Vattu valli • Kannada: Ghara hoovu gida
Botanical name: Cosmostigma racemosum Family: Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed family)
Synonyms: Asclepias racemosa
Green Milkweed Creeper is a twining shrub with watery sap. Stem are hollow within, sparsely hairy when young. Oppositely arranged leaves 7.5-11 x 3.5-5 cm, are broadly ovate, sharp tipped, with a rounded or heart-shaped base. Leaf stalks are 1.5-3 cm long. Small greenish flowers occur incorymb-like or raceme-like; peduncle 1.5-2.5 cm long. Sepals are 1.5 mm long, 5 in number. Flowers flat, wheel-like, 8-10 mm across, with 5 petals and very short tube. Petals are 4 mm long, ovate, yellowish-green with reddish-brown speckles. Stamens 5; filaments united; anthers 2-celled; Carpels 2, free ; style short, apex 5-angled. Flowering: July.
Medicinal uses: The leaves of this woody climber are used in Indian traditional medicine to cure ulcerous sores.
Bird's Head Birthwort
Botanical name: Aristolochia ornithocephala Family: Aristolochiaceae (Birthwort family)
Bird's Head Birthwort is an climbing shrub with large alternate, long stalked leaves which are heart-shaped to kidney-shaped. Stipules are prominently leaf-like. The flowers are singly borne on stalks 8-10 inches long. The flower tube is divided into three parts. The lower pouch-like part contains the style and stamens. The tube is suddenly inflated in the upper quarter into the so-called bird's head. Two expansions are attached to the head which may be termed the beak and the lip. The lip is 6 x 4 inches. Bird's Head Birthwort is native to Brazil, but now cultivated widely. It flowers in the rainy season
Hophead (Medicinal Plant)
Common name: Hophead, Philippine Violet • Bengali: Vishellakarani
Botanical name: Barleria lupulina Family: Acanthaceae (Ruellia family)
Hophead is a popular medicinal plant distributed in mountains of southern and western India. Shrubbery plant with single dark green leaves, red-brown branches, and flowers that bloom in upright spikes. It is an erect shrub with smooth, hairless stems and leaves. Leaves narrowly obovate, spine-tipped, 3.5-9 cm long, 0.8-1.2 cm wide. Flowers occur in a terminal spike with overlapping bracts which are broadly ovate, 15 mm long, green with purple upper half. Flower consists of a 3m long corolla tube, opening into 1 cm long petals. Longer stamen filaments 2 cm long; shorter stamens fertile. Style is 3 cm long and smooth.
Medicinal uses: Traditional and therapeutic use is anti-inflammatory for insect bites, herpes simplex use by its fresh leaves, and roots for anti-inflammatory centipede bites
Kariyat (Medicinal Plants)
Common name: Kariyat, Creat • Hindi: Kirayat, Kalpanath • Manipuri: ৱুবতী Vubati • Marathi: Oli-kiryata, Kalpa • Tamil: நீலவெம்பு Nilavembu • Malayalam: Nelavepu, Kiriyattu • Telugu: Nilavembu • Kannada: Nelaberu • Bengali: কলমেঘ Kalmegh • Oriya: Bhuinimba • Konkani: Vhadlem Kiratyem • Urdu: Naine-havandi • Assamese: কলমেঘ Kalmegh • Gujarati: Kariyatu • Sanskrit: Kalmegha, Bhunimba • Mizo: Hnakhapui
Botanical name: Andrographis paniculata Family: Acanthaceae (Ruellia family)
Synonyms: Justicia paniculata
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kariyat is an erect annual herb extremely bitter in taste in all parts of the plant. It grows erect to a height of 1-4 ft in moist shady places with smooth leaves and white flowers with rose-purple spots on the petals. Stem dark green, 0.3 - 1.0 m in height, 2-6 mm in diameter, quadrangular with longitudinal furrows and wings on the angles of the younger parts, slightly enlarged at the nodes; leaves glabrous, up to 8.0 cm long and 2.5 cm broad, lanceolate, pinnate; flowers small, in lax spreading axillary and terminal racemes or panicles; capsules linear-oblong, acute at both ends, 1.9 cm x 0.3 cm; seeds numerous, sub quadrate, yellowish brown.
Medicinal uses: Since ancient times, Kariyat is used as a wonder drug in traditional Siddha and Ayurvedic systems of medicine as well as in tribal medicine in India and some other countries for multiple clinical applications. The therapeutic value of Kalmegh is due to its mechanism of action which is perhaps by enzyme induction. The plant extract exhibits antityphoid and antifungal activities.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
plants facts
The leaves of the Victorian water lily are sometimes over six feet in diameter.
Orchids are grown from seed so small that it would take thirty thousand to weigh as much as one grain of wheat.
At last count there were about 226,000 trees in New York's Central Park.
The Curly Redwood Lodge is one of northern California’s most unique lodges. It was built from one curly redwood tree that produced 57,000 board feet of lumber. The tree - cut down in 1952 - was 18 feet 2 inches at the trunk. Curly redwood is unique because of the curly grain of the wood, unlike typical straight grained redwood.
The Mexican Jumping Bean is not a bean. It is actually a thin-shelled section of a seed capsule containing the larva of a small gray moth called the jumping bean moth (Laspeyresia saltitans).
The average ear of corn has eight-hundred kernels arranged in sixteen rows.
Trees do not have life expectancies like humans. Some in California are believed to be four-thousand years old or more. How can trees live so long? The simple answer is that they're not as complex as people. So, as long as conditions are right, trees continue to live and grow, until something interrupts it.
In ancient religions, the Norsemen considered the mistletoe a baleful plant that caused the death of Baldur, the shining god of youth.
Carrageenan is a common ingredient in ice cream and toothpaste. Carrageenan is seaweed. A purple, edible seaweed, also known as Irish moss, that's found along the coasts of Northern Europe and North America. It's used as a suspending agent in foods, pharmaceuticals and liquids, as a clarifying agent for beverages, and in controlling crystal growth in frozen confections.
A single coffee tree yields only one pound of roasted, ground coffee annually.
Bamboo can grow up to three feet in a 24 hour period.
Kudzu is not indigenous to the South, but in that climate it can grow up to six inches a day.
The shape of plant collenchyma cells and the shape of the bubbles in beer foam are the same - they are orthotetrachidecahedrons.
American colonists discovered that superior candles could be made from the fruit of a squat bush growing in the sand dunes along the New England seashore. The small, grayish bayberry was picked, crushed, and boiled. It had to be skimmed several times before the pale, nearly transparent, green fat was sufficiently refined. Bayberry candles were highly prized, because so much labor and so many berries were needed to make just one candle.
Oak trees do not have acorns until they are fifty years old or older.
A person standing under an oak tree is 16 more times liable to be hit by lightning than if he had taken refuge beneath a beech tree. The oak tree has vertical roots which provide a more direct route to ground water.
The partridge berry is a botanical Siamese twin. Each berry develops from 2 flowers.
The giant sequoia, which produces millions of seeds, can take 175 to 200 years to flower. No other organism takes this long to mature sexually.
There are an estimated 285,000 species of flowering plants on Earth compared to 148,000 for all other plants. Flowering plants are very important because they provide food for herbivores - plant-eating animals - and for humans.
Leaves of the Sumatra breadfruit tree are notched when they first form, yet have no indentations when the leaves mature.
The Sitka spruce is Britain's most commonly planted tree.
The squirting cucumber (Ecballium elaterium), when brushed by a passerby, ejects its seeds and a stream of poisonous juice that stings the skin.
The Saguaro Cactus, found in the Southwestern United States doesn't grow branches until it is 75 years old.
Lightning keeps plants alive. The intense heat of lightning forces nitrogen in the air to mix with oxygen, forming nitrogen oxides that are soluble in water and fall to the ground in rain. Plants need nitrates to survive, so without lightning, plants could not live.
Pine, spruce, or other evergreen wood should never be used for barbecuing. These woods, when burning or smoking, can add harmful tar and resins to the food. Only hardwoods should be used for smoking and grilling, such as oak, pecan, hickory, maple, cherry, alder, apple, or mesquite, depending on the type of meat being cooked.
Heroin is derived from the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, which means the poppy that brings sleep.
An ear of corn averages 800 kernels in 16 rows. A pound of corn consists of approximately 1,300 kernels. 100 bushels of corn produces approximately 7,280,000 kernels. Corn is produced on every continent of the world with the exception of Antarctica.
The tree dictated on the Lebanese flag is a Cedar.
Of the 15,000-odd known species of orchids in the world, 3,000 of them can be found in Brazil.
The telegraph plant of Asia has leaves that flutter constantly, even when there is no breeze
Orchids are grown from seed so small that it would take thirty thousand to weigh as much as one grain of wheat.
At last count there were about 226,000 trees in New York's Central Park.
The Curly Redwood Lodge is one of northern California’s most unique lodges. It was built from one curly redwood tree that produced 57,000 board feet of lumber. The tree - cut down in 1952 - was 18 feet 2 inches at the trunk. Curly redwood is unique because of the curly grain of the wood, unlike typical straight grained redwood.
The Mexican Jumping Bean is not a bean. It is actually a thin-shelled section of a seed capsule containing the larva of a small gray moth called the jumping bean moth (Laspeyresia saltitans).
The average ear of corn has eight-hundred kernels arranged in sixteen rows.
Trees do not have life expectancies like humans. Some in California are believed to be four-thousand years old or more. How can trees live so long? The simple answer is that they're not as complex as people. So, as long as conditions are right, trees continue to live and grow, until something interrupts it.
In ancient religions, the Norsemen considered the mistletoe a baleful plant that caused the death of Baldur, the shining god of youth.
Carrageenan is a common ingredient in ice cream and toothpaste. Carrageenan is seaweed. A purple, edible seaweed, also known as Irish moss, that's found along the coasts of Northern Europe and North America. It's used as a suspending agent in foods, pharmaceuticals and liquids, as a clarifying agent for beverages, and in controlling crystal growth in frozen confections.
A single coffee tree yields only one pound of roasted, ground coffee annually.
Bamboo can grow up to three feet in a 24 hour period.
Kudzu is not indigenous to the South, but in that climate it can grow up to six inches a day.
The shape of plant collenchyma cells and the shape of the bubbles in beer foam are the same - they are orthotetrachidecahedrons.
American colonists discovered that superior candles could be made from the fruit of a squat bush growing in the sand dunes along the New England seashore. The small, grayish bayberry was picked, crushed, and boiled. It had to be skimmed several times before the pale, nearly transparent, green fat was sufficiently refined. Bayberry candles were highly prized, because so much labor and so many berries were needed to make just one candle.
Oak trees do not have acorns until they are fifty years old or older.
A person standing under an oak tree is 16 more times liable to be hit by lightning than if he had taken refuge beneath a beech tree. The oak tree has vertical roots which provide a more direct route to ground water.
The partridge berry is a botanical Siamese twin. Each berry develops from 2 flowers.
The giant sequoia, which produces millions of seeds, can take 175 to 200 years to flower. No other organism takes this long to mature sexually.
There are an estimated 285,000 species of flowering plants on Earth compared to 148,000 for all other plants. Flowering plants are very important because they provide food for herbivores - plant-eating animals - and for humans.
Leaves of the Sumatra breadfruit tree are notched when they first form, yet have no indentations when the leaves mature.
The Sitka spruce is Britain's most commonly planted tree.
The squirting cucumber (Ecballium elaterium), when brushed by a passerby, ejects its seeds and a stream of poisonous juice that stings the skin.
The Saguaro Cactus, found in the Southwestern United States doesn't grow branches until it is 75 years old.
Lightning keeps plants alive. The intense heat of lightning forces nitrogen in the air to mix with oxygen, forming nitrogen oxides that are soluble in water and fall to the ground in rain. Plants need nitrates to survive, so without lightning, plants could not live.
Pine, spruce, or other evergreen wood should never be used for barbecuing. These woods, when burning or smoking, can add harmful tar and resins to the food. Only hardwoods should be used for smoking and grilling, such as oak, pecan, hickory, maple, cherry, alder, apple, or mesquite, depending on the type of meat being cooked.
Heroin is derived from the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, which means the poppy that brings sleep.
An ear of corn averages 800 kernels in 16 rows. A pound of corn consists of approximately 1,300 kernels. 100 bushels of corn produces approximately 7,280,000 kernels. Corn is produced on every continent of the world with the exception of Antarctica.
The tree dictated on the Lebanese flag is a Cedar.
Of the 15,000-odd known species of orchids in the world, 3,000 of them can be found in Brazil.
The telegraph plant of Asia has leaves that flutter constantly, even when there is no breeze
plants facts
PLANTS ()
Plants are one of the five kingdoms of living things. They are made up of many cells and are usually rooted in soil. Their green leaves capture sunlig
PLANTS ()
Plants belong to the PLANT KINGDOM, one of the five kingdoms of living things. Plants are classified into smaller groups, according to shared characte
Plante: meaning and definitions (Dictionary)
Plante: Definition and Pronunciation
plant (Encyclopedia)
plant plant, any organism of the plant kingdom, as opposed to one of the animal kingdom or of the ...
Plant Kingdom (Kids' Almanac - Science)
Plant Kingdom (or Plantae ) Virtually all other living creatures depend on plants to survive. ...
Jacques Plante (Kids' Almanac - People)
Jacques Plante Born: Jan. 17, 1929 Hockey G led Montreal to 6 Stanley Cups (1953,56-60); won 7 ...
Henry Plant (Kids' Almanac - People)
Henry Plant Entrepreneur, railroad and steamship executive Born: October 27, 1819 Birthplace: ...
Robert Plant (Kids' Almanac - People)
Robert Plant musician, singer, song writer Born: 8/20/1948 Birthplace: West Bromwich, ...
piggyback plant: meaning and definitions (Dictionary)
piggyback plant: Definition and Pronunciation
Plants are one of the five kingdoms of living things. They are made up of many cells and are usually rooted in soil. Their green leaves capture sunlig
PLANTS ()
Plants belong to the PLANT KINGDOM, one of the five kingdoms of living things. Plants are classified into smaller groups, according to shared characte
Plante: meaning and definitions (Dictionary)
Plante: Definition and Pronunciation
plant (Encyclopedia)
plant plant, any organism of the plant kingdom, as opposed to one of the animal kingdom or of the ...
Plant Kingdom (Kids' Almanac - Science)
Plant Kingdom (or Plantae ) Virtually all other living creatures depend on plants to survive. ...
Jacques Plante (Kids' Almanac - People)
Jacques Plante Born: Jan. 17, 1929 Hockey G led Montreal to 6 Stanley Cups (1953,56-60); won 7 ...
Henry Plant (Kids' Almanac - People)
Henry Plant Entrepreneur, railroad and steamship executive Born: October 27, 1819 Birthplace: ...
Robert Plant (Kids' Almanac - People)
Robert Plant musician, singer, song writer Born: 8/20/1948 Birthplace: West Bromwich, ...
piggyback plant: meaning and definitions (Dictionary)
piggyback plant: Definition and Pronunciation
Animal Trivia & Useless Facts
The common goldfish is the only animal that can see both infra-red and ultra-violet light.
Emus have double-plumed feathers, and they lay emerald/forest green eggs.
The fingerprints of koala bears are virtually indistinguishable from those of humans, so much so that they could be confused at a crime scene.
Roosters can't crow if they can't fully extend their necks.
The underside of a horse's hoof is called a frog. The frog peels off several times a year with new growth.
The placement of a donkey's eyes in its' heads enables it to see all four feet at all times.
Dogs and humans are the only animals with prostates.
A group of geese on the ground is gaggle, a group of geese in the air is skein.
A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.
The cheetah is the only cat in the world that can't retract it's claws.
A lion's roar can be heard from five miles away. Source: Hilary Smith
Brazoria County in Southeast Texas is the only county in the United States and Canada to have every kind of poisonous snake found in those two countries.
Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.
It takes forty minutes to hard boil an ostrich egg.
Rhinos are in the same family as horses, and are thought to have inspired the myth of the unicorn.
It is possible to lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs, because a cows' knees can't bend properly to walk back down.
The only continent without reptiles or snakes is Antarctica.
Stag beetles have stronger mandibles than humans. Source: Lauren
When opossums are playing opossum, they are not "playing." They actually pass out from sheer terror.
The Mola Mola, or Ocean Sunfish, lays up to 5,000,000 eggs at one time.
A fullgrown bear can run as fast as a horse.
All elephants walk on tip-toe, because the back portion of their foot is made up of all fat and no bone. Source: Kara Fitzgerald
The closest relative to the manatee is the elephant. Scientists think the elephant crawled back into the sea to become a manatee. Source: Joshua Allen
Kiwi birds are blind, they hunt by smell.
The Sumatran tiger has the most stripes of all the tiger subspecies, and the Siberian tiger has the fewest stripes.
A tiger's paw prints are called pug marks.
A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate. Source: MangoPete
The distance between an alligator's eyes, in inches, is directly proportional to the length of the alligator, in feet. Source: Jay Littman
Cats can hear ultrasound. Source: Brian Nelson
You should not eat a crawfish with a straight tail. It was dead before it was cooked. Source: Sara Hyde
The Dalmatian is the only dog that gets gout. Source: Senie Blake
The only commercial fishing vessels in the United States still powered by sail are the Maryland "skipjacks," sailboats that dredge for oysters. A state law requires sailpower a certain distance from shore. Source: Deb Mahler
The province of Alberta in Canada has been completely free of rats since 1905. Source: Jason
Ancient Egyptians shaved off their eyebrows to mourn the deaths of their cats. Source: Tyler Roe
The Honey Badger can withstand hundreds of African bee stings that would kill any other animal. Source: Todd Keech
More than 99.9% of all the animal species that have ever lived on earth were extinct before the coming of man. Source: "2201 Fascinating Facts"
Animals attend church services on St. Anthony's Day in Mexico. This popular saint, who is regarded as a healer of people and animals, is asked to protect pets, who are decorated with flowers and ribbons for the occasion. In rural areas, peasants also bring bags of insects and worms to be blessed in church, in the hope that this will prevent these creatures from damaging crops. Source: "Reader's Digest Book of Facts"
The bones of a pigeon weigh less than its feathers. Source: "Uncle John's Bathroom Reader"
Camel hair brushes are made from squirrel hair. Source: "Uncle John's Bathroom Reader"
To protect woolens from moths, people for generations have stored them in cedar chests or have built closets lined with cedar. There is no evidence that a cedar chest or closet repels moths. Source: "Isaac Asimov's Book of Facts"
Fleas have changed history. More human deaths have been attributed to fleas than all the wars ever fought. As carriers of the bubonic plague, fleas were responsible for killing one-third of the population of Europe in the 14th century. Source: "Associated Press" fact contributed by Natalka Baczynskyj
Dolphins are the only other animals besides humans that get pleasure out of sex. They are also the only other animals that have sex for reasons other than reproduction. Source: Kathyrn
A female swine, or a sow, will always have a even number of teats or nipples, usually twelve.
A pig is a hog -- hog is a generic name for all swine -- but a hog is not a pig. In the terminology of hog raising, a pig is a baby hog less than ten weeks old. Source: "2201 Fascinating Facts"
All the pet hamsters in the world are descended from just one female wild golden hamster found with a litter of 12 young in Syria in 1930. The species had been named in 1839 when a single animal was found, again in Syria, but it had net been seen by scientist for nearly a century. Selective breeding has now produced several color varieties. Source: "Reader's Digest Book of Facts"
Contrary to popular belief, animals are not all color-blind. Many species, including dogs, horses and sheep, can distinguish some colors -- though not as well as humans -- while the primates, especially chimpanzees and rhesus monkeys, have color vision equal to that of humans. Another widely held belief -- that bulls dislike the color red -- is probably also wrong. Experiments seem to show that it is the swirling movement of the matador's cape, not its color, that excites them. Source: Reader's Digest Book of Facts
Cat's urine glows under a blacklight.
An iguana can stay under water for 28 minutes.
"Eat like a bird?" Many birds eat twice their weight a day. Source: "Knowledge in a Nutshell"
Studies show that if a cat falls off the seventh floor of a building it has about thirty percent less chance of surviving than a cat that falls off the twentieth floor. It supposedly takes about eight floors for the cat to realize what is occuring, relax and correct itself. At about that height it hits maximum speed and when it hits the ground it's rib cage absorbs most of the impact.
Bees must collect the nectar from two thousand flowers to make one tablespoonful of honey.
Emus cannot walk backwards.
It takes a lobster approximately seven years to grow to be one pound.
Ninety-nine percent of all lobsters die a few weeks after hatching. In fact, the odds are 10,000 to 1 against any larval lobster living long enough to end up as a lobster dinner.
A dolphin's hearing is so acute that it can pick up an underwater sound from fifteen miles away.
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
Hummingbirds are the only animals that can fly backwards.
Elephants have been found swimming miles from shore in the Indian Ocean.
A group of unicorns is called a blessing.
A group of kangaroos is called a mob.
A group of whales is called a pod.
A group of geese is called a gaggle.
A group of ravens is called a murder.
A group of larks is called an exaltation.
A group of owls is called a parliament.
Twelve or more cows are known as a "flink."
The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds.
The embryos of tiger sharks fight each other while in their mother's womb, the survivor being the baby shark that is born.
The male gypsy moth can "smell" the virgin female gypsy moth from 1.8 miles away.
Carnivorous animals will not eat another animal that has been hit by a lightning strike.
Reindeer milk has more fat than cow milk.
A Holstein's spots are like fingerprints -- no two cows have the same pattern of spots.
An ant lion is neither an ant nor a lion.
Human birth control pills work on gorillas.
Chickens that lay brown eggs have red ear lobes. There is a genetic link between the two.
Rabbits love licorice.
The eye of the giant squid is fifteen inches in diameter -- the size of a basketball.
The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
Dinosaur droppings are called coprolites, and are actually fairly common.
The leg bones of a bat are so thin that no bat can walk.
Montana mountain goats will butt heads so hard their hooves fall off.
The average garden variety caterpillar has 248 muscles in its head.
Spider Monkies like banana daquiries.
A robin's egg is blue, but if you put it in vineger for thirty days it turns yellow.
The gene for the Siamese coloration in animals such as cats, rats or rabbits is heat Sensitive. Warmth produces a lighter color than does cold. Putting tape temporarily on Siamese rabbit's ear will make the fur on that ear lighter than on the other one.
A baby eel is called an elver, a baby oyster is called a spat.
An elephant can be pregnant for up to two years.
Certain frogs can be frozen solid then thawed, and continue living.
The penguins that inhabit the tip of South America are called jackass penguins.
The word rodent comes from the Latin word `rodere' meaning to gnaw.
It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw up. The frog throws up it's stomach first, so the stomach is dangling out of it's mouth. Then the frog uses it's forearms to dig out all of the stomach's contents and then swallows the stomach back down again.
A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
A rhinoceros's horn is made of hair.
Starfish don't have brains.
Shrimps' hearts are in their heads.
Shrimp can only swim backwards. Source: "Uncle John's Bathroom Reader"
A dragonfly has a lifespan of 24 hours.
A penguin only has sex twice a year.
A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.
A pig's penis is shaped like a corkscrew.
It is physically impossible for pigs to lookup into the sky.
A pig's skin is thickest at the back -- 1/6 of an inch.
Ants cannot chew their food, they move their jaws sidewards, like a scissor, to extract the juices from the food.
If NASA sent birds into space they would soon die, they need gravity to swallow.
Many species of bird copulate in the air. In general, a couple will fly to a very high altitude, and then drop. During their descent, the birds mate. Sometimes the couple gets too involved and SPLAT!
A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
A flamingo can eat only when its head is upside down.
Dalmatian dogs are born pure white, they don't start getting spots until they are three or four days old.
Ancient Romans ate flamingo tounges and considered them a delicacy.
Scientists found a whole new phylum of animal on a lobster's lip.
Elephants and camels both have four knees.
The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.
During WW II, Americans tried to train bats to drop bombs.
There are more beetles than any other kind of creature in the world.
If you feed a seagull Alka-Seltzer, its stomach will explode.
When a giraffe's baby is born it falls from a height of six feet, normally without being hurt.
The only way to stop the pain of the sting of the flathead fish is by rubbing the slime of the belly of the same fish that you were stung by on the wound that it inflicted upon you.
The muzzle of a lion is like a fingerprint -- no two lion share the same pattern of whiskers.
There is a type of parrot in New Zealand that likes to eat the rubber strips that line car windows.
The top knot that quails have is called a hmuh.
New Zealand kiwis lay the largest eggs with respect to their body size of any bird.
The "wild" horses of western North America are actually feral, not wild.
Big Ben was slowed five minutes one day when a passing group of starlings decided to take a rest on the minute hand of the clock.
Over the average lifespan of 11 years, a dog will cost you $13,350.00.
A polar bears' fur is not white, it's clear.
Polar bear's skin is actually black. Their hair is hollow and acts like fiberoptics, directing sunlight to warm their skin.
Polar bears camouflage themselves more completely during a hunt by covering their black noses with their paws.
Only one in one thousand animals born in the sea survives to maturity
Rats like boiled sweets better than they like cheese.
Cats in Halifax, Nova Scotia, have a very high probability of having six toes.
A cat's jaws can not move sideways.
Female orcas live twice as long as male orcas. The larger numbers of female orcas in a pod are because of the female's longer lifespan, not because the males have collected a harem.
Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark's stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.
Octopi have gardens.
Crows have the largest cerebral hemispheres, relative to body size, of any avian family.
When a female horse and male donkey mate, the offspring is called a mule, but when a male horse and female donkey mate, the offspring is called a hinny.
The way to get more mules is to mate a male donkey with a female horse.
A donkey will sink in quicksand but a mule won't.
Crickets hear through their knees.
Pigs, walruses and light-colored horses can be sunburned.
A type of jellyfish found off the coast of England is the longest animal in the world.
Swans are the only birds with penises.
A whale's penis is called a dork.
Some carnivores, rodents, bats and insectivores have a penis bone, called a baculum.
A barnacle has the largest penis of any other animal in the world in relation to its size.
Iguanas, koalas and Komodo dragons all appear to have two penises. To clarify, though, they have a single penis, but it is split in two (pretty much 'Y'-shaped.) This organ is known as a hemipenes. Snakes also share this interesting feature. Apparently, the dual penis is for ease of left-handed or right-handed mating. Also, at least in snakes, the semen does not flow through a vessel (like in mammals), but rather, a groove."
One way to tell seals and sea lions apart is that, sea lions have external ears and testicles.
Some female hyenas have a pseudo-penis.
Most spiders belong to the orb weaver spider family, Family Aranidae. This is pronounced "A Rainy Day."
Today's cattle are descended from two species: wild aurochs -- fierce and agile herd animals that populated Asia, North Africa and Europe -- and eotragus -- anantelope-like, Asian forest creature.
Most armadillos seen dead on the road did not get hit by the wheels. When an armidillo is frightened it jumps straight into the air.
Armadillos can be house broken.
Armadillos have four babies at a time, always all the same sex. They are perfect quadruplets, the fertilized cell split into quarters, resulting in four identical armadillos.
Armadillos get an average of 18.5 hours of sleep per day.
Armadillos can walk underwater.
Armadillos are the only animal besides humans that can get leprosy.
The anteater, aardvark, spiny anteater (echidna), and scaly anteater (pangolin) are completely unrelated - infact, the closest relatives to anteaters are sloths and armadillos, the closest relative to the spiny anteater is the platypus, and the aardvark is in an order all by itself.
A twelve-foot anaconda can catch, kill, and eat a six-foot caiman, a close relative of crocodles and alligators. While these snakes are not usually considered to be the *longest* snake in the world, they are the heaviest, exceeding the reticulated pythoningirth.
Most snakes have either only one lung, or in some cases, two, with one much reduced in size. This apparently serves to make room for other organs in the highly-elongated bodies of snakes.
Police dogs are trained to react to commands in a foreign language; commonly German but more recently Hungarian or some other Slavic tongue.
The sea wasp is half an inch long at best and more poisonous than any other jellyfish known to man.
A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
An ostrich's eye is bigger than it's brain.
There are more bald eagles in the province of British Columbia then there are in the whole United States.
Horses cannot vomit.
Rabbits cannot vomit.
Chinese Crested dogs can get acne.
Only humans and horses have hymens.
Reindeer like to eat bananas.
Chia Pets are only sold in December.
The pet ferret (Mustela putorias furo) was domesticated more than 500 years before the house cat.
The female ferret is referred to as a `jill'.
The Pug dog is thought to have gotten it's name from looking like the pug monkey.
Other than fruit, honey is the only natural food that is made without destroying any kind of life! What about milk, you say? A cow has to eat grass to produce milk and grass is living!
It is a misdemeanor to kill or threaten a butterfly -- so says City Ordinance No. 352 in Pacific Grove, California.
The newest dog breed is the Bull Boxer, first bred in the United states in 1990-91.
The only domestic animal not mentioned in the Bible is the cat.
A flea expert is a pullicologist.
A bear has 42 teeth.
All swans and all sturgeons in England are property of the Queen. Messing with them is a serious offense.
If you bring a raccoon's head to the Henniker, New Hampshire town hall, you are entitled to receive $.10 from the town.
An iguana can stay under water for 28 minutes.
A cat has four rows of whiskers.
When angered, the ears of Tazmanian devils turn a pinkish-red.
The poisonous copperhead smells like fresh cutcucumbers.
All porcupines float in water.
Giraffes have no vocal cords.
Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten.
Mice, whales, elephants, giraffes and man all have seven neck vertebra.
The difference between male and female blue crabs is the design located on their apron (belly.) The male blue crab has the Washington Monument while the female apron is shaped like the U.S. Capitol.
Other than humans, black lemurs are the only primates that may have blue eyes.
Goat's eyes have rectangular pupils.
Murphy's Oil Soap is the chemical most commonly used to clean elephants.
An animal epidemic is called an epizootic.
The Madagascan Hissing Cockroach is one of the few insects who give birth to live young, rather than laying eggs.
Many hamsters only blink one eye at a time.
Hamsters love to eat crickets.
In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
Camel's milk does not curdle.
The pupil of an octupus' eye is rectangular.
There are only two animals with blue tongues, the Black Bear and the Chow dog.
Emus have double-plumed feathers, and they lay emerald/forest green eggs.
The fingerprints of koala bears are virtually indistinguishable from those of humans, so much so that they could be confused at a crime scene.
Roosters can't crow if they can't fully extend their necks.
The underside of a horse's hoof is called a frog. The frog peels off several times a year with new growth.
The placement of a donkey's eyes in its' heads enables it to see all four feet at all times.
Dogs and humans are the only animals with prostates.
A group of geese on the ground is gaggle, a group of geese in the air is skein.
A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.
The cheetah is the only cat in the world that can't retract it's claws.
A lion's roar can be heard from five miles away. Source: Hilary Smith
Brazoria County in Southeast Texas is the only county in the United States and Canada to have every kind of poisonous snake found in those two countries.
Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.
It takes forty minutes to hard boil an ostrich egg.
Rhinos are in the same family as horses, and are thought to have inspired the myth of the unicorn.
It is possible to lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs, because a cows' knees can't bend properly to walk back down.
The only continent without reptiles or snakes is Antarctica.
Stag beetles have stronger mandibles than humans. Source: Lauren
When opossums are playing opossum, they are not "playing." They actually pass out from sheer terror.
The Mola Mola, or Ocean Sunfish, lays up to 5,000,000 eggs at one time.
A fullgrown bear can run as fast as a horse.
All elephants walk on tip-toe, because the back portion of their foot is made up of all fat and no bone. Source: Kara Fitzgerald
The closest relative to the manatee is the elephant. Scientists think the elephant crawled back into the sea to become a manatee. Source: Joshua Allen
Kiwi birds are blind, they hunt by smell.
The Sumatran tiger has the most stripes of all the tiger subspecies, and the Siberian tiger has the fewest stripes.
A tiger's paw prints are called pug marks.
A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate. Source: MangoPete
The distance between an alligator's eyes, in inches, is directly proportional to the length of the alligator, in feet. Source: Jay Littman
Cats can hear ultrasound. Source: Brian Nelson
You should not eat a crawfish with a straight tail. It was dead before it was cooked. Source: Sara Hyde
The Dalmatian is the only dog that gets gout. Source: Senie Blake
The only commercial fishing vessels in the United States still powered by sail are the Maryland "skipjacks," sailboats that dredge for oysters. A state law requires sailpower a certain distance from shore. Source: Deb Mahler
The province of Alberta in Canada has been completely free of rats since 1905. Source: Jason
Ancient Egyptians shaved off their eyebrows to mourn the deaths of their cats. Source: Tyler Roe
The Honey Badger can withstand hundreds of African bee stings that would kill any other animal. Source: Todd Keech
More than 99.9% of all the animal species that have ever lived on earth were extinct before the coming of man. Source: "2201 Fascinating Facts"
Animals attend church services on St. Anthony's Day in Mexico. This popular saint, who is regarded as a healer of people and animals, is asked to protect pets, who are decorated with flowers and ribbons for the occasion. In rural areas, peasants also bring bags of insects and worms to be blessed in church, in the hope that this will prevent these creatures from damaging crops. Source: "Reader's Digest Book of Facts"
The bones of a pigeon weigh less than its feathers. Source: "Uncle John's Bathroom Reader"
Camel hair brushes are made from squirrel hair. Source: "Uncle John's Bathroom Reader"
To protect woolens from moths, people for generations have stored them in cedar chests or have built closets lined with cedar. There is no evidence that a cedar chest or closet repels moths. Source: "Isaac Asimov's Book of Facts"
Fleas have changed history. More human deaths have been attributed to fleas than all the wars ever fought. As carriers of the bubonic plague, fleas were responsible for killing one-third of the population of Europe in the 14th century. Source: "Associated Press" fact contributed by Natalka Baczynskyj
Dolphins are the only other animals besides humans that get pleasure out of sex. They are also the only other animals that have sex for reasons other than reproduction. Source: Kathyrn
A female swine, or a sow, will always have a even number of teats or nipples, usually twelve.
A pig is a hog -- hog is a generic name for all swine -- but a hog is not a pig. In the terminology of hog raising, a pig is a baby hog less than ten weeks old. Source: "2201 Fascinating Facts"
All the pet hamsters in the world are descended from just one female wild golden hamster found with a litter of 12 young in Syria in 1930. The species had been named in 1839 when a single animal was found, again in Syria, but it had net been seen by scientist for nearly a century. Selective breeding has now produced several color varieties. Source: "Reader's Digest Book of Facts"
Contrary to popular belief, animals are not all color-blind. Many species, including dogs, horses and sheep, can distinguish some colors -- though not as well as humans -- while the primates, especially chimpanzees and rhesus monkeys, have color vision equal to that of humans. Another widely held belief -- that bulls dislike the color red -- is probably also wrong. Experiments seem to show that it is the swirling movement of the matador's cape, not its color, that excites them. Source: Reader's Digest Book of Facts
Cat's urine glows under a blacklight.
An iguana can stay under water for 28 minutes.
"Eat like a bird?" Many birds eat twice their weight a day. Source: "Knowledge in a Nutshell"
Studies show that if a cat falls off the seventh floor of a building it has about thirty percent less chance of surviving than a cat that falls off the twentieth floor. It supposedly takes about eight floors for the cat to realize what is occuring, relax and correct itself. At about that height it hits maximum speed and when it hits the ground it's rib cage absorbs most of the impact.
Bees must collect the nectar from two thousand flowers to make one tablespoonful of honey.
Emus cannot walk backwards.
It takes a lobster approximately seven years to grow to be one pound.
Ninety-nine percent of all lobsters die a few weeks after hatching. In fact, the odds are 10,000 to 1 against any larval lobster living long enough to end up as a lobster dinner.
A dolphin's hearing is so acute that it can pick up an underwater sound from fifteen miles away.
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
Hummingbirds are the only animals that can fly backwards.
Elephants have been found swimming miles from shore in the Indian Ocean.
A group of unicorns is called a blessing.
A group of kangaroos is called a mob.
A group of whales is called a pod.
A group of geese is called a gaggle.
A group of ravens is called a murder.
A group of larks is called an exaltation.
A group of owls is called a parliament.
Twelve or more cows are known as a "flink."
The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds.
The embryos of tiger sharks fight each other while in their mother's womb, the survivor being the baby shark that is born.
The male gypsy moth can "smell" the virgin female gypsy moth from 1.8 miles away.
Carnivorous animals will not eat another animal that has been hit by a lightning strike.
Reindeer milk has more fat than cow milk.
A Holstein's spots are like fingerprints -- no two cows have the same pattern of spots.
An ant lion is neither an ant nor a lion.
Human birth control pills work on gorillas.
Chickens that lay brown eggs have red ear lobes. There is a genetic link between the two.
Rabbits love licorice.
The eye of the giant squid is fifteen inches in diameter -- the size of a basketball.
The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
Dinosaur droppings are called coprolites, and are actually fairly common.
The leg bones of a bat are so thin that no bat can walk.
Montana mountain goats will butt heads so hard their hooves fall off.
The average garden variety caterpillar has 248 muscles in its head.
Spider Monkies like banana daquiries.
A robin's egg is blue, but if you put it in vineger for thirty days it turns yellow.
The gene for the Siamese coloration in animals such as cats, rats or rabbits is heat Sensitive. Warmth produces a lighter color than does cold. Putting tape temporarily on Siamese rabbit's ear will make the fur on that ear lighter than on the other one.
A baby eel is called an elver, a baby oyster is called a spat.
An elephant can be pregnant for up to two years.
Certain frogs can be frozen solid then thawed, and continue living.
The penguins that inhabit the tip of South America are called jackass penguins.
The word rodent comes from the Latin word `rodere' meaning to gnaw.
It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw up. The frog throws up it's stomach first, so the stomach is dangling out of it's mouth. Then the frog uses it's forearms to dig out all of the stomach's contents and then swallows the stomach back down again.
A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
A rhinoceros's horn is made of hair.
Starfish don't have brains.
Shrimps' hearts are in their heads.
Shrimp can only swim backwards. Source: "Uncle John's Bathroom Reader"
A dragonfly has a lifespan of 24 hours.
A penguin only has sex twice a year.
A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.
A pig's penis is shaped like a corkscrew.
It is physically impossible for pigs to lookup into the sky.
A pig's skin is thickest at the back -- 1/6 of an inch.
Ants cannot chew their food, they move their jaws sidewards, like a scissor, to extract the juices from the food.
If NASA sent birds into space they would soon die, they need gravity to swallow.
Many species of bird copulate in the air. In general, a couple will fly to a very high altitude, and then drop. During their descent, the birds mate. Sometimes the couple gets too involved and SPLAT!
A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
A flamingo can eat only when its head is upside down.
Dalmatian dogs are born pure white, they don't start getting spots until they are three or four days old.
Ancient Romans ate flamingo tounges and considered them a delicacy.
Scientists found a whole new phylum of animal on a lobster's lip.
Elephants and camels both have four knees.
The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.
During WW II, Americans tried to train bats to drop bombs.
There are more beetles than any other kind of creature in the world.
If you feed a seagull Alka-Seltzer, its stomach will explode.
When a giraffe's baby is born it falls from a height of six feet, normally without being hurt.
The only way to stop the pain of the sting of the flathead fish is by rubbing the slime of the belly of the same fish that you were stung by on the wound that it inflicted upon you.
The muzzle of a lion is like a fingerprint -- no two lion share the same pattern of whiskers.
There is a type of parrot in New Zealand that likes to eat the rubber strips that line car windows.
The top knot that quails have is called a hmuh.
New Zealand kiwis lay the largest eggs with respect to their body size of any bird.
The "wild" horses of western North America are actually feral, not wild.
Big Ben was slowed five minutes one day when a passing group of starlings decided to take a rest on the minute hand of the clock.
Over the average lifespan of 11 years, a dog will cost you $13,350.00.
A polar bears' fur is not white, it's clear.
Polar bear's skin is actually black. Their hair is hollow and acts like fiberoptics, directing sunlight to warm their skin.
Polar bears camouflage themselves more completely during a hunt by covering their black noses with their paws.
Only one in one thousand animals born in the sea survives to maturity
Rats like boiled sweets better than they like cheese.
Cats in Halifax, Nova Scotia, have a very high probability of having six toes.
A cat's jaws can not move sideways.
Female orcas live twice as long as male orcas. The larger numbers of female orcas in a pod are because of the female's longer lifespan, not because the males have collected a harem.
Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark's stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.
Octopi have gardens.
Crows have the largest cerebral hemispheres, relative to body size, of any avian family.
When a female horse and male donkey mate, the offspring is called a mule, but when a male horse and female donkey mate, the offspring is called a hinny.
The way to get more mules is to mate a male donkey with a female horse.
A donkey will sink in quicksand but a mule won't.
Crickets hear through their knees.
Pigs, walruses and light-colored horses can be sunburned.
A type of jellyfish found off the coast of England is the longest animal in the world.
Swans are the only birds with penises.
A whale's penis is called a dork.
Some carnivores, rodents, bats and insectivores have a penis bone, called a baculum.
A barnacle has the largest penis of any other animal in the world in relation to its size.
Iguanas, koalas and Komodo dragons all appear to have two penises. To clarify, though, they have a single penis, but it is split in two (pretty much 'Y'-shaped.) This organ is known as a hemipenes. Snakes also share this interesting feature. Apparently, the dual penis is for ease of left-handed or right-handed mating. Also, at least in snakes, the semen does not flow through a vessel (like in mammals), but rather, a groove."
One way to tell seals and sea lions apart is that, sea lions have external ears and testicles.
Some female hyenas have a pseudo-penis.
Most spiders belong to the orb weaver spider family, Family Aranidae. This is pronounced "A Rainy Day."
Today's cattle are descended from two species: wild aurochs -- fierce and agile herd animals that populated Asia, North Africa and Europe -- and eotragus -- anantelope-like, Asian forest creature.
Most armadillos seen dead on the road did not get hit by the wheels. When an armidillo is frightened it jumps straight into the air.
Armadillos can be house broken.
Armadillos have four babies at a time, always all the same sex. They are perfect quadruplets, the fertilized cell split into quarters, resulting in four identical armadillos.
Armadillos get an average of 18.5 hours of sleep per day.
Armadillos can walk underwater.
Armadillos are the only animal besides humans that can get leprosy.
The anteater, aardvark, spiny anteater (echidna), and scaly anteater (pangolin) are completely unrelated - infact, the closest relatives to anteaters are sloths and armadillos, the closest relative to the spiny anteater is the platypus, and the aardvark is in an order all by itself.
A twelve-foot anaconda can catch, kill, and eat a six-foot caiman, a close relative of crocodles and alligators. While these snakes are not usually considered to be the *longest* snake in the world, they are the heaviest, exceeding the reticulated pythoningirth.
Most snakes have either only one lung, or in some cases, two, with one much reduced in size. This apparently serves to make room for other organs in the highly-elongated bodies of snakes.
Police dogs are trained to react to commands in a foreign language; commonly German but more recently Hungarian or some other Slavic tongue.
The sea wasp is half an inch long at best and more poisonous than any other jellyfish known to man.
A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
An ostrich's eye is bigger than it's brain.
There are more bald eagles in the province of British Columbia then there are in the whole United States.
Horses cannot vomit.
Rabbits cannot vomit.
Chinese Crested dogs can get acne.
Only humans and horses have hymens.
Reindeer like to eat bananas.
Chia Pets are only sold in December.
The pet ferret (Mustela putorias furo) was domesticated more than 500 years before the house cat.
The female ferret is referred to as a `jill'.
The Pug dog is thought to have gotten it's name from looking like the pug monkey.
Other than fruit, honey is the only natural food that is made without destroying any kind of life! What about milk, you say? A cow has to eat grass to produce milk and grass is living!
It is a misdemeanor to kill or threaten a butterfly -- so says City Ordinance No. 352 in Pacific Grove, California.
The newest dog breed is the Bull Boxer, first bred in the United states in 1990-91.
The only domestic animal not mentioned in the Bible is the cat.
A flea expert is a pullicologist.
A bear has 42 teeth.
All swans and all sturgeons in England are property of the Queen. Messing with them is a serious offense.
If you bring a raccoon's head to the Henniker, New Hampshire town hall, you are entitled to receive $.10 from the town.
An iguana can stay under water for 28 minutes.
A cat has four rows of whiskers.
When angered, the ears of Tazmanian devils turn a pinkish-red.
The poisonous copperhead smells like fresh cutcucumbers.
All porcupines float in water.
Giraffes have no vocal cords.
Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten.
Mice, whales, elephants, giraffes and man all have seven neck vertebra.
The difference between male and female blue crabs is the design located on their apron (belly.) The male blue crab has the Washington Monument while the female apron is shaped like the U.S. Capitol.
Other than humans, black lemurs are the only primates that may have blue eyes.
Goat's eyes have rectangular pupils.
Murphy's Oil Soap is the chemical most commonly used to clean elephants.
An animal epidemic is called an epizootic.
The Madagascan Hissing Cockroach is one of the few insects who give birth to live young, rather than laying eggs.
Many hamsters only blink one eye at a time.
Hamsters love to eat crickets.
In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
Camel's milk does not curdle.
The pupil of an octupus' eye is rectangular.
There are only two animals with blue tongues, the Black Bear and the Chow dog.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)