Life Sciences Commons^™

Glycolic Acid Utilization In Two Species Of Marine Bacteria, Erik S. Timsak

STAR Program Research Presentations

Interactions between bacteria and phytoplankton are crucial for the cycling of organic matter in marine environments. Around 50% of organic carbon taken up by marine bacteria is converted into inorganic carbon. The uptake of organic carbon by marine bacteria exuded from phytoplankton is a key factor in regulating the marine carbon cycle. One such molecule that is exuded by phytoplankton and then uptaken by marine bacteria is called glycolate - the anion of glycolic acid, a two caron molecule. Glycolate is exuded by phytoplankton during photorespiration and 10-50% of dissolved organic carbon in marine environments is comprised of glycolate. Additionally, …

Biological Crusts Of Serpentine And Non-Serpentine Soils From The Barberton Greenstone Belt Of South Africa, Arthurita Venter, Stefan Siebert, Nishanta Rajakaruna, Sandra Barnard, Anatoliy Levanets, Arshad Ismail, Mushal Allam, Bianca Peterson, Tomasz Sanko

Biological Sciences

Climate and geography can influence biological soil crust (BSC) community composition, but local heterogeneity in variables such as soil characteristics or microclimate gradients can also impact cryptogamic diversity. Heavy metals and nutrient imbalances in serpentine soils are known to influence the distributions of higher plants, but cryptogamic species appear to be more tolerant of substrate. The aim of this study was to compare the cryptogamic composition of serpentine and non-serpentine soils by using integrative taxonomy, which combines morphological and DNA barcoding data, to determine how soil characteristics in combination with rainfall can influence BSC community composition. Samples from serpentine and …

Production And Harvest Of Microalgae In Wastewater Raceways With Resource Recycling, Alexander Colin Roberts

Master's Theses

Microalgae can be grown on municipal wastewater media to both treat the wastewater and produce feedstock for algae biofuel production. However the reliability of treatment must be demonstrated, as well as high areal algae productivity on recycled wastewater media and efficient sedimentation harvesting. This processes was studied at pilot scale in the present research.

A pilot facility was operated with nine CO₂-supplemented raceway ponds, each with a 33-m² surface area and a 0.3-m depth, continuously from March 6, 2013 through September 24, 2014. The ponds were operated as three sets of triplicates with two sets continuously fed …

Chemical Oxygen Demand Reduction Using The Algae Dunaliella Primolecta And Chlorella Vulgaris, Angeles L. Mora, Alejandro Hernandez, Alejandro Calderón-Urrea

STAR Program Research Presentations

Farm industry wastewater is characterized by high organic materials and by high chemical oxygen demand (COD). Farms with large livestock and poultry operations can be a major source of wastewater thus a major concern for effective environmental and industrial management. Effective environmental and industrial management are high in cost therefor biofuels produced from plants have a potential of replacing a portion of fossil fuel consumption with a renewable efficient alternative. Due to California’s water crisis in the recent years, it is questioned if a biological treatment system that uses algal growth to create renewable energy in the form of biodiesel …

A Preliminary Survey Of The Diversity Of Soil Algae And Cyanoprokaryotes On Mafic And Ultramafic Substrates In South Africa, Arthurita Venter, Anatoliy Levanets, Stefan Siebert, Nishanta Rajakaruna

Biological Sciences

Despite a large body of work on the serpentine-substrate effect on vascular plants, little work has been undertaken to describe algal communities found on serpentine soils derived from peridotite and other ultramafic rocks. We report a preliminary study describing the occurrence of algae and cyanoprokaryotes on mafic and ultramafic substrates from South Africa. Results suggest that slope and aspect play a key role in species diversity and community composition and, although low pH, nutrients and metal content do not reduce species richness, these edaphic features also influence species composition. Further, typical soil genera such as Leptolyngbya, Microcoleus, Phormidium …

Identification Of Saccharina Groenlandica (Phaeophyceae) Around The Svalbard Archipelago: Dna Barcoding Using Cytochrome C Oxidase Subunit 1 (Coi), Anniken Lydon

Master's Theses

In the Arctic, brown algae (kelps) and seaweeds are ecologically important: providing habitat, protection, and nutrients for invertebrate and vertebrate species living in nearshore environments. Migrations of biota between the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans have occurred periodically during Earth’s history leading to colonization of the Arctic Ocean. Around 3.5 Mya the “Great Trans-Arctic Biotic Interchange” occurred and the Laminariales order of kelp, thought to be of North Pacific origin, underwent a massive radiation and speciation event around the Arctic Ocean. Phylogenetic analysis performed on “Laminaria-like” specimens collected from six sampling locations around the Svalbard Archipelago identified …