Freshwater algae are an ecological group consisting mainly of single-celled organisms capable of photosynthesis. About 90% of known freshwater species have bioindicator properties that are used in monitoring. Water quality is formed as a result of both natural and anthropogenic processes occurring in a water body. With the help of algae indicators, it is possible to assess the general state of the ecosystem, salinity, acidification, substrate preference, water velocity and oxygen saturation, temperature, organic pollution, trophic state, toxicity and self-purification ability.

The diversity and ecology of communities of freshwater algae and cyanobacteria in rivers, lakes, natural and artificial ponds of Israel and other water bodies of Eurasia were studied in order to bioindicate water quality, assess the impact on them of the environment and climate. The database of algae-indicators of the World compiled by us currently includes more than 8,400 taxa from 60 data sources. The algae database in Israel contains 1950 registered samples. The species-specific database contains 1,662 registered species, 90% of which are indicators of 12 water quality variables. An ecological study of the diversity and bioindication of water quality by algae in nine rivers in Israel was carried out for the first time. Water quality maps were first developed for the watershed of Lake Kinneret and the upper Jordan River.

The IoE has collected, herbarized and studied more than 800 samples of Charophytes from the Mediterranean and surrounding regions.

The study of the regional diversity of algae using bioindication and ecological GIS mapping for Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, China, India, Pakistan and Turkey was carried out.