In the last years, microalgae are being applied to obtain useful substances in medicine and feeding. The best-known are those which serve as colourings in food sector. “Research groups from Andalusia have to ask foreign universities for samples. Scientists will not have to look for material from abroad if we know where we can find them in our territory and how they are”, Pedro Sánchez Castillo explains. He is the person in charge in Andalusia of the algae catalogue in the Iberian Peninsula that is being carried out by several scientific centres dedicated to phycology, the study of algae.
Algae are photosynthetic organisms, with a very simple cell structure, which produces energy from light and nutrients of the ecosystem. There are micro and macroalgae, and both types are being classified in this study. The UGR group is tracking lakes, pools, dams and wetlands in Extremadura, Murcia and Andalusia.
Phycology has been neglected and there is not any previous catalogue. It is a complex task because we are talking about an especially heterogeneous group of living beings. There are three types of macroalgae (red, green and brown) and five of micro, but they include countless species and families.
New species
A specific study including sea waters, more general but less thorough, will be carried out in Andalusia sponsored by the Environment Council of the Andalusian Government and the University of Granada. “We are not trying to quantify the populations, but to take inventory of them”, Sánchez Castillo points out. Sometimes, new species arise, like the diatomea that has been discoveed in high-mountain lagoons of Sierra Nevada.
Apart from Sierra Nevada, the other priority area of the Andalusian study is the Doñana National Reserve which, according to Sánchez Castillo, “with regard to environment conservation, it is very paradigmatic. There has been proliferation of algae, known as water flowers, which give water its pea-soup green colour. Some of them produce toxins that have been detected in hundreds of flamingos that have turned up dead for this reason”.
Cataloguing algae also has health advantages. Red tides can lead to health problems if consuming molluscs feeded on toxic algae. Specifically, there are three described syndromes, with symptoms of diarrhoea, amnesia and neurotoxicity which appear after consuming mussels or clams feeded on such microalgae. On the other hand, algae present decontamination properties. As they feed on nitrates and other chemical substances present in urban and agricultural waters, they can be used in processes of sewage treatment.
Reference: Prof. Pedro Sánchez Castillo.
Dpt.of Botany and Water Institute of the UGR.
Phone number: 958 243268 / 243254.
E-mail: psanchez@ugr.es
