{"id":60423,"date":"2025-08-22T13:19:59","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T07:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=60423"},"modified":"2025-08-22T13:19:59","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T07:49:59","slug":"euglena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/euglena\/","title":{"rendered":"Euglena"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Euglena Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In India, Euglena and its relatives are now widespread indicators of deteriorating water quality.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Euglena<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Euglena is a <\/span><b>unicellular, flagellated microorganism <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">belonging<\/span><b> to the group Euglenophyta.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These are commonly found in <\/span><b>stagnant or slow-moving freshwater ponds<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, ditches, and urban lakes.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Characteristics:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> These protists are <\/span><b>highly adaptable, capable of both photosynthesis<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (like plants) and feeding on organic matter (like animals).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This flexibility helps them <\/span><b>thrive in nutrient-rich, oxygen-poor environments.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Three of the most <\/span><b>common euglenoid genera<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> observed in Indian water bodies are: <\/span><b>Euglena, Phacus, Trachelomonas sp. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These species often dominate surface waters, especially during warmer months.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The striking red or pink colour seen during blooms is due to a <\/span><b>pigment called astaxanthin,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> produced by many euglenoids.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Astaxanthin is a fat-soluble xanthophyll<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that gives these organisms their bright red colour.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Impact of Euglena on Biodiversity<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Oxygen depletion:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Euglena photosynthesises, but at night it consumes oxygen, leading to diurnal oxygen fluctuations. This can result in hypoxia (low oxygen levels), which is dangerous for fish and other aquatic life.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Dense surface scums: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Euglenoid blooms form <\/span><b>thick mats on the water surface<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which block sunlight from reaching submerged plants. This reduces the lake\u2019s productivity and <\/span><b>alters its ecological balance.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Fish mortality:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Euglenophyte blooms can stick to fish gills, making it hard for them to breathe. Some species also produce <\/span><b>toxins like euglenophycin,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which directly kill fish or indirectly affect them by disrupting the food chain and oxygen levels.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.downtoearth.org.in\/water\/red-algal-blooms-are-a-biological-red-flag-a-signal-that-our-water-bodies-are-in-distress\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DTE<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Euglena is a unicellular, flagellated microorganism belonging to the group Euglenophyta. Read more about Euglena, Meaning, Reproduction, Characteristics, Impacts, Latest News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":60436,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2303],"class_list":{"0":"post-60423","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-euglena","9":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}