Population Dynamics of Algae Isolated from a Shallow Saline Meromictic Lake
Abstract
Growth of extremophiles in artificial environments is of great interest as dry and saline habitats are increasing globally. Cultured algae are valuable model systems, but few taxa are available in commercial culture collections. Algal species identified from Hot Lake, Washington, were used for cell isolations. The lake is an extremely saline meromictic lake with salinity of 170 ppm, which receives high amounts of freshwater run-off from snow melt. Algae were allowed to grow in different media in an incubator under standard conditions (14:10 h light, 17?C temperature, and 90% humidity) and then checked every two days for growth. Over an 8-week period of time, 55% of the samples have shown growth of cultured algae. Representatives of the genera Achnanthidium, and Nitzschia were dominant in the original sample and grew in artificial conditions. Populations of one diatom and 1 cyanobacterium species showed ability to survive extreme environments drying up in the original sample and recovering under artificial conditions.
Session Name:
Poster Presentation Session #1 - Poster #31
Start Date
10-4-2015 11:30 AM
End Date
10-4-2015 12:15 PM
Location
HSB 3rd Floor Student Commons
Population Dynamics of Algae Isolated from a Shallow Saline Meromictic Lake
HSB 3rd Floor Student Commons
Growth of extremophiles in artificial environments is of great interest as dry and saline habitats are increasing globally. Cultured algae are valuable model systems, but few taxa are available in commercial culture collections. Algal species identified from Hot Lake, Washington, were used for cell isolations. The lake is an extremely saline meromictic lake with salinity of 170 ppm, which receives high amounts of freshwater run-off from snow melt. Algae were allowed to grow in different media in an incubator under standard conditions (14:10 h light, 17?C temperature, and 90% humidity) and then checked every two days for growth. Over an 8-week period of time, 55% of the samples have shown growth of cultured algae. Representatives of the genera Achnanthidium, and Nitzschia were dominant in the original sample and grew in artificial conditions. Populations of one diatom and 1 cyanobacterium species showed ability to survive extreme environments drying up in the original sample and recovering under artificial conditions.