DOHA: Majority of Qatar’s desert environment has cyanobacteria, a toxic algae, according to preliminary results of a research being carried out by a group of experts.
Conducted by a research team headed by Dr Renee Richer, a biology professor from the Weill Cornell Medical College Qatar, the study showed that cyanobacteria cover 87 percent of Qatari desert.
This bacteria also known as ‘blue-green algae’, may affect the health of people especially those who suffer from asthma if they are exposed to high rate of this bacteria.
The research which has been conducted for six months now is being funded by Qatar National Research Fund for the cost of $1m. Dr Richer said the research does not start from zero as it benefits from outcomes of other researches already done in Europe and the US and that it focuses on the Qatari environment to benefit the country.
She added the research is an initial step to build a network of researches specialising in desert environment focusing on toxic bacteria.
She said they plan to conduct a conference in February next year which will host international specialists and local researchers. A website for this research will be launched soon.
The Peninsula
