Microalgae have long been considered as one of most promising feedstocks with better characteristics for biofuels production over conventional energy crops. There have been a wide range of estimations on the feasibility of microalgal biofuels based on various productivity assumptions and data from different scales. The theoretical maximum algal biofuel productivity, however, can be calculated b...

Strains of Rhodobacteraceae, Sphingomonadales, Alteromonadales, and Bacteroidetes were isolated from a polymicrobial culture of the coccolith-forming (C-type) haptophyte Emiliania huxleyi strain M217. The genomes encode genes for the production of algal growth factors and the consumption of their hosts' metabolic by-products, suggesting that the polymicrobial culture harbors many symbiotic inte...

The frequency and scale of Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) and marine algal toxin incidents have been increasing and spreading in the past two decades, causing damages to the marine environment and threatening human life through contaminated seafood. To better understand the effect of HAB and marine algal toxins on marine environment and human health in China, this paper overviews HAB occurrence and ...

The ability of mathematical models to simulate competition for nutrients between three algal species, the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana, a marine raphidophyte Heterosigma carterae and the dinoflagellate Alexandrium minutum, was investigated. Transient growth models were parameterized and tested using a number of closely controlled laboratory data sets including batch monocultures, batch compe...

Production of algal crude oil has been achieved in various pilot scale facilities, but whether algal fuels can be produced in sufficient quantity to meaningfully displace petroleum fuels, has been largely overlooked. Limitations to commercialization of algal fuels need to be understood and addressed for any future commercialization. This review identifies the major constraints to commercializat...

Culture experiments were conducted with the alga Scenedesmus acutus and heterotrophic bacteria to examine if the nature of their relationship changes according to the balance of light and nutrient supplies. Mixtures of algae and bacteria were grown in vanous combinations of 6 light intensities and 4 phosphorus (P) concentrations at high N:P ratio (80:l). We used an artificial medium composed of...

Interactions between phytoplankton and heterotrophic bacteria have been intensively studied, but many aspects of these interactions are still unknown because most of the studies were performed under non-axenic conditions. Therefore, we investigated the growth and release of dissolved organic matter of the marine diatom Thalassiosira rotula in axenic culture in comparison to T. rotula cultures i...

Using rotifer-algal microcosms, we tracked rapid evolution resulting from temporally changing natural selection in ecological predator-prey dynamics. We previously demonstrated that predator-prey oscillations in rotifer-algal laboratory microcosms are qualitatively altered by the presence of genetic variation within the prey. In that study, changes in algal gene frequencies were inferred from t...

Crude glycerol is the primary byproduct of the biodiesel industry. Producing docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6 n-3) through fermentation of the alga Schizochytrium limacinum on crude glycerol provides a unique opportunity to utilize a large quantity of this byproduct. The objective of this work is to investigate the effects of impurities contained in the crude glycerol on DHA production and algal...