Dr. M.V.N.Panikkar is a researcher in both Freshwater Algae and Marine Algae of Kerala, South India., specialising in taxonomy, ecology, biodiversity and conservation of algal species.
After completing M.Sc; joined in S.N. College service and worked in various S.N.Colleges, like Punalur, Cherthala, Chelannoor (Calicut) and Kollam. After joining in S. N. College, Kollam conducted a number of field trips with M.Sc students in both Tamil Nadu and Kerala coasts.
Algae are photosynthetic simple eukaryotic organisms - microscopic or macroscopic, aquatic, terrestrial or sub-aerial. Aquatic organisms are found in freshwater or seawater. Algae are adapted to live in a variety of habitats, specific to their microclimatic conditions.
Biodiversity is the variability found in living organisms both plants and animals. The diversity of algal species is mainly concentrated in all aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The sea is also considered as the house of a number of variable algal flora popularly known as seaweeds.
The total number of algal species recorded globally is unknown. It has been estimated about 72,536 algal species occur in the different parts of the world, of which only 44,000 species have been already described so far. Only 33,248 names have been processed by Algae Base to date (Guiry, 2015). The databases of Algae Base (Guiry and Guiry 2015) give taxonomic, nomenclatural and bio-geographic information of micro and macro algae from marine as well as freshwater and terrestrial environments on a world-wide basis.
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