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Isolation and culture of five species of freshwater algae from the Alligator Rivers Region, Northern Territory

Technical Memoranda 37
Padovan A
Supervising Scientist, 1992
ISSN 0810-9532
ISBN 0 644 25294 4

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Isolation and culture of five species of freshwater algae from the Alligator Rivers Region, Northern Territory (PDF - 1,499 KB)

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Of five freshwater algal species isolated from the Alligator Rivers Region, four were identified to specific level (one tentatively), and the other was identified to the genus. The taxa identified were: Ankistrodesmus spiralis, Scenedesmus quadricauda, Scenedesmus dimorphus, Ankistrodesmus (falcatus?), Selenastrum sp. All algal cultures were mono-specific but were not axenic.

Attempts were made to mass culture the algae so they could subsequently be used in food trials with the cladoceran, Moinodaphnia macleayi. A. spiralis was found to be unsuitable for mass culture because of its very slow growth rate and the formation of large aggregates in both non-aerated and aerated cultures. The other four species showed rapid exponential growth with no lag phase when cultured in a modified WC medium. A. falcatus?) the smallest species measured on a dry weight basis, had the highest growth rate. The growth rates of the remaining three species were similar, with that of S. dimorphus being lowest.