What are Diatoms?

About Diatoms

• These are photosynthetic, single celled organism.
• These are microscopic algae and serve as a base of the aquatic food chain. Due to their sensitivity towards any water chemistry changes, they are excellent indicators of aquatic health.
• They are a major group of algae and form one of the most common forms of phytoplankton.
• Habitat: They are found in almost every aquatic environment including fresh and marine waters.
• Diatoms have cell walls made of silica, Each species has a distinct pattern of tiny holes in the cell wall (frustule) through which they absorb nutrients and get rid of waste.
• Collectively, they are responsible for generating up to 50% of the oxygen produced globally each year.

Key facts about Indiconema

• It differs in having a pore field at both the head and foot pole rather than having only at the foot pole.
• Researchers reported one species of Indiconema from the Eastern Ghats and another from the Western Ghats. A similar pattern of sharing endemic elements between two mountain systems has been observed for other endemic-rich groups, such as reptiles.
• Based on the morphological features of this group, the researchers have suggested that Indiconema is sister to Afrocymbella, a genus endemic to East Africa.

Q1: What is Algae?

These are a diverse group of aquatic organisms that have the ability to conduct photosynthesis. Certain algae are familiar to most people; for instance, seaweeds (such as kelp or phytoplankton), pond scum or the algal blooms in lakes.

Source: A new freshwater diatom genus discovered from the Eastern and Western Ghats