Algal bloom
rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae
An algal bloom or algae bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in fresh water or marine water systems. It may be a benign or harmful algal bloom.
Algal bloom is often recognized by the discoloration in the water from the algae's pigments. The term algae encompasses many types of aquatic photosynthetic organisms, both macroscopic multicellular organisms like seaweed and microscopic unicellular organisms like cyanobacteria. Algal bloom commonly refers to the rapid growth of microscopic unicellular algae, not macroscopic algae. An example of a macroscopic algal bloom is a kelp forest.
Algal blooms are the result of a nutrient, like nitrogen or phosphorus from various sources (for example fertilizer runoff or other forms of nutrient pollution), entering the aquatic system and causing excessive growth of algae. An algal bloom affects the whole ecosystem.
Consequences range from benign effects, such as feeding of higher trophic levels, to more harmful effects like blocking sunlight from reaching other organisms, causing a depletion of oxygen levels in the water, and, depending on the organism, releasing toxins into the water. Yet, algae also play a crucial role by producing about 70% of Earth's oxygen, which supports terrestrial life.
The public source identifies “Algal bloom” as rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Algal, bloom and rapid.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q326139. The Library of Congress control number is sh93001521. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Algal bloom” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.