Minimising losses to predation during microalgae cultivation

Flynn, Kevin J., Kenny, Philip and Mitra, Aditee ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5572-9331 2017. Minimising losses to predation during microalgae cultivation. Journal of Applied Phycology 29 (4) , pp. 1829-1840. 10.1007/s10811-017-1112-8

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Abstract

We explore approaches to minimise impacts of zooplanktonic pests upon commercial microalgal crops using system dynamics models to describe algal growth controlled by light and nutrient availability and zooplankton growth controlled by crop abundance and nutritional quality. Losses of microalgal crops are minimised when their growth is fastest and, in contrast, also when growing slowly under conditions of nutrient exhaustion. In many culture systems, however, dwindling light availability due to self-shading in dense suspensions favours slow growth under nutrient sufficiency. Such a situation improves microalgal quality as prey, enhancing zooplankton growth, and leads to rapid crop collapse. Timing of pest entry is important; crop losses are least likely in established, nutrient-exhausted microalgal communities grown for high C-content (e.g. for biofuels). A potentially useful approach is to promote a low level of P-stress that does not adversely affect microalgal growth but which produces a crop that is suboptimal for zooplankton growth.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Earth and Environmental Sciences
Publisher:	Springer Verlag (Germany)
ISSN:	0921-8971
Date of Acceptance:	23 February 2017
Last Modified:	07 Nov 2022 09:37
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/129693

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