Algae and Man: Based on lectures presented at the NATO Advanced Study Institute July 22 – August 11, 1962 Louisville, Kentucky

442 Pages·1967·12.41 MB·English

by  G. W. Prescott (auth.)

ALGAE AND MAN
ALGAE AND MAN
Based on lectures presented at the
NATO Advanced Study Institute
July 22 -August 11, 1962
Louisville, Kentucky
Edited by
Daniel F. Jackson
Department of Civil Engineering
Syracuse University
Syracuse, New York
PLENUM PRESS
NEW YORK
1964
First Printing - November 1964
Second Printing - April 1966
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 63-21218
ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-1721-0 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-1719-7
DOl: 10.1007/978-1-4684-1719-7
©1964 Plenum Press
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1964
A Division of Consultants Bureau Enterprises, Inc.
227 West 17th Street
New York, N. Y. 10011
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any
form without written permission f1·om the publisher
This book is dedicated to the
Science Committee of the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
in tribute to its activities in
fostering international scientific thinking
Preface
With the continuous increase in human population and its
constant demands on the aquatic environment, there has been a
compounding of the interrelationships between algae and man.
These relatively simple green plants not too long ago were often
considered as merely biological curiosities.
Within the past twenty-five years, with advances in technology
and the increased eutrophication of lakes and streams, the interplay
between algae and man has become more complex and more im
portant. Problems of taste, odor, toxicity, or obnoxious growth
caused by algae are unfortunately quite familiar to the water
supplier and to the public health worker. Algae have met their
role in the space age as a possible source for food or as a gas ex
changer. In order to explore any of these practical problems, it is
essential to have adequate, basic knowledge of algal taxonomy,
physiology, cytogenetics and ecology.
This book is the outgrowth of a North Atlantic Treaty Organi
zation Advanced Study Institute in which authorities in both the
applied and basic fields of phycology, as well as in cognate disci
plines, met and discussed various topics related to algae. It is of
significance to note that this was the first NATO Advanced Study
Institute to be held in the United States and that it had for its
theme a subject which is of import for the welfare of all mankind.
Special acknowledgment is due the Scientific Affairs Division
of NATO for providing the funds with which to conduct the
Advanced Study Institute. Dr. Hans J0rgen Helms and Dr. B.
Coleby, both of the Scientific Affairs Division, were instrumental
in sponsorship of the program. Recognition and thanks are ex
tended to President Philip G. Davidson for his graciousness in
permitting the Advanced Institute to be held on the University
of Louisville campus.
vii
viii Algae and Man
Among the many other individuals who have helped in either
conducting the Advanced Institute or in preparing this book are
the members of the editorial staff of Plenum Press, who have been
most helpful in all respects, and, as always, in any of my endeavors,
my wife, Bettina Jackson, who is my unfailing partner.
A salute is due each of the contributors to this book for his
cooperation as well as to his scientific achievements. Through the
conscientious efforts of each, a more complete understanding of
the relations between algae and man has been achieved.
DANIEL F. JACKSON
Syracuse, New York
Contents
Contributions of Current Research to Algal Systematics . 1
G. W. Prescott
Criteria and Procedures in Present-Day Algal Taxonomy... 31
C. van den Hoek
The Gross Classification of Algae . 59
Tyge Christensen
The Cytology of the Phaeophyta - A Review of Recent Develop-
ments, Current Problems, and Techniques . 65
Margaret Roberts
Environmental Conditions and the Pattern of Metabolism in
Algae ...................... 77
G. E. Fogg
Micronutrient Requirements for Green Plants, Especially Algae 86
Clyde Eyster
Some Problems Remaining in Algae Culturing. 120
A. G. Wurtz
The Ecology of Benthic Algae. 138
F. E. Round
A Discussion of Natural and Abnormal Diatom Communities 185
Ruth Patrick
The Ecology of Plankton Algae . 205
James B. Lackey
Principles of Primary Productivity: Photosynthesis Under Com-
pletely Natural Conditions 221
Jacob Verduin
Algae in Water Supplies of the United States. 239
C. Mervin Palmer
Algal Problems Related to the Eutrophication of European
Water Supplies, and a Bio-Assay Method to Assess Fertilizing
Influences of Pollution on Inland Waters . 262
Olav Skulberg
The Biotic Relations with Water Brooms. 300
George P. Fitzgerald
Toxic Algae 307
Paul R. Gorham
ix
x Contents
Extracellular Products of Algae .... . . . . . . . . .. . .. 337
Marcel Lefevre
Algae and Medicine ........................................ . 368
David Schwimmer and Morton Schwimmer
Mass Culture of Microalgae for Photosynthetic Gas Exchange 413
Richard 1. Benoit
The Future of Phycology .............................................. . 426
F. Evens
Contributions of Current Research
to Algal Systematics
G. W. Prescott
Department of Botany
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan
It is fitting, and a compliment to phycologists, that this sym
posium is not entitled "Man and Algae"-those organisms which
today represent the most venerable of all chlorophyll-bearing life
on earth. Algae are certainly here to stay and of course we are less
sure about Man, so it is appropriate that emphasis be placed on
algae and that we think of what these plants mean to Man, this
marauding upstart on the biological scene.
It is also appropriate that attention be directed toward system
atics to throw up a backdrop for the consideration of the many
aspects of phycology related to Man. In thinking about the contri
butions of modern research to systematics it is impossible, conver
sely, to divorce the role of systematics in research. Therefore, in
following the subject at hand I may consciously or unconsciously
take some license and reverse the emphasis. At the same time I shall
take the opportunity to single out some phycological problems
much in need of investigation. In so doing it may be that some
fences will be broken down and I shall encroach, apologetically,
upon the fields assigned to other participants in this conference.
It will be impossible to avoid doing this, so intimately enmeshed are
the facets of phycology.
The current conservative concept of the groups of organisms
which constitute the "algae" recognizes the following nine phyla:
1) Chlorophyta; 2) Cyanophyta; 3) Chrysophyta; 4) Euglenophyta;
5) Pyrrhophyta; 6) Rhodophyta; 7) Phaeophyta; 8) "Cryptophyta";
9) "Chloromonadophyta". Such a division into nine phyla is based
mostly upon the delineations proposed by Pascher (1931) who,
1
2 Prescott
however, relegated the Cyanophyta to a position exterior to the
algae "proper." (See also van Oye, 1961.) Whereas this scheme is
subject to modification by some students of the algae it seems, in
general, to be the most natural classification yet conceived. At the
same time it must be recognized and kept in mind that research and
the accumulation of knowledge require that the classification sys
tem be fluid and that the composition of the phyla may be contin
ually shifting. This is disconcerting of course to those who look for
a definite and static system of classification such as is more nearly
approached in the arrangement of land or "higher" plants.
The familiarly recognized foundations for the definitions of
algal phyla are: the chemistry of pigments and their relative
amounts; the chemistry of food reserve; and cytology, including
flagellation, flagella morphology and wall structure. Therefore, it is
only to be expected that as our knowledge becomes more refined,
the criteria for assignment of organisms to this or to that phylum, or
the definitions of an algal group, should be revised. Especially is this
true in respect to the varying degrees of importance attached to
flagellation and to chemistry of food reserve. Recent and current
information on such features no doubt will bring about some re
alignments and the present Pascherian system eventually will give
way to new, modern schemes that will see a reconstitution of the
algal phyla. This is especially predictable for the Chrysophyta
which, as we know, includes three subphyla that, at best, are
somewhat incompatible.
The majority of biologists accept the premise that systematics
has the same fundamentally important relation to biology that math
ematics have to the physical sciences. This is not to say, of course,
that mathematical science is not fundamental as well to certain
facets of biology. But the describing, pigeonholing and name-giving
biologist, independent of mathematics, is something of a philosoph
ical would-be artist who creates a fundamental backdrop for all
other aspects of biology. His goal is to create order and to provide
arrangement, a goal for which the giving of names to living and
fossil organisms is only part of the task. It is also the systematist
who collects facts, interrelates them, and accordingly attempts to
derive concepts that may answer questions relative to phylogeny
and evolution-questions which continually pique and tantalize the
inquisitive mind.
Because of the basically important tasks and duties of the