The test sensitivities and reproducibilities based on different response endpoints (cell density and total cell volume) were compared using both bath and continuous algal toxicity tests. Parameters related to algal cell density are found to be more sensitive and reproducible than total cell volume which bears a direct correlation to algal biomass or dry weight. The magnitude of differences in t...

The use of alga biomass for biogas generation has been studied for over fifty years but until today, several distinct features, like inefficient degradation and low C/N ratios, limit the applicability of algal biomass for biogas production in larger scale. In this work we investigated a novel, one-stage combined cultivation/fermentation strategy including inherently progressing nitrogen starvat...

Arboreal herbivory is rare among mammals. The few species with this lifestyle possess unique adaptions to overcome size-related constraints on nutritional energetics. Sloths are folivores that spend most of their time resting or eating in the forest canopy. A three-toed sloth will, however, descend its tree weekly to defecate, which is risky, energetically costly and, until now, inexplicable. W...

Chlorella minutissima was co-cultured with Escherichia coli in airlift reactors under mixotrophic conditions (glucose, glycerol, and acetate substrates) to determine possible effects of bacterial contamination on algal biofuel production. It was hypothesized that E. coli would compete with C. minutissima for nutrients, displacing algal biomass. However, C. minutissima grew more rapidly and to h...

Microscopic plastic debris, termed “microplastics”, are of increasing environmental concern. Recent studies have demonstrated that a range of zooplankton, including copepods, can ingest microplastics. Copepods are a globally abundant class of zooplankton that form a key trophic link between primary producers and higher trophic marine organisms. Here we demonstrate that ingestion of microplastic...

Tourists can adversely influence the ecology of oligotrophic lakes by increasing algal production via direct nutrient inputs and/or re-suspension of sediments. To assess the influence of tourists on food web dynamics, we used natural abundance stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen to calculate the relative importance of autochthonous and allochthonous carbon sources to littoral zone food webs ...

A novel wastewater treatment system has been developed, utilizing an oxygen-rich algal liquid to supply oxygen to an aerobic biofilm reactor. Aerobic treatment of wastewater takes place in a Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor, where the aerobic biomass which breaks down organic and nitrogenous pollutants grows as a biofilm on floating carriers. Algae grown in an open raceway pond produce oxygen through...

BACKGROUND The microalgal-based industries are facing a number of important challenges that in turn affect their economic viability. Arguably the most important of these are associated with the high costs of harvesting and dewatering of the microalgal cells, the costs and sustainability of nutrient supplies and costly methods for large scale oil extraction. Existing harvesting technologies, whi...

GOAL, SCOPE AND BACKGROUND Humans now strongly influence almost every major aquatic ecosystem, and their activities have dramatically altered the fluxes of growth-limiting nutrients from the landscape to receiving waters. Unfortunately, these nutrient inputs have had profound negative effects upon the quality of surface waters worldwide. This review examines how eutrophication influences the bi...

Amphibians, widely studied as environmental indicators, facilitate the transfer of nutrients between aquatic and terrestrial habitats. To examine the role of amphibians in nutrient cycling, I studied bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) tadpoles in an artificial stream environment. I hypothesized that the presence of tadpoles would decrease algal stock biomass and sedimentation but increase chlorophyll ...