ASGSB 1998 Annual Meeting Abstracts

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ALGAL AND CYANOBACTERIAL GROWTH IN 100% CO₂.   R.D. Hall¹, P.A. Currier², D.J. Thomas³. ¹Howard Community College, MD, ²The Bionetics Corporation, Kennedy Space Center, FL, ³Department of Biological Sciences, University of Idaho.

The effect of 100% CO₂ on the growth rates of marine and freshwater algae and cyanobacteria was studied in this experiment. The specimens studied were Euglena gracilis, Prorocentrum micans, Synechococcus sp. PCC7942, and Synechococcus sp. PCC7002. Four aseptic cultures of each strain were cultured in test tubes in a 27 C water bath and continuously sparged with filtered 100% CO₂ or compressed air. For two weeks cell density was measured every 48 hours using optical density at 750 nm. Results indicate that CO₂ has an adverse affect on the algae and cyanobacteria.

PCC7002 showed some growth in 100% CO₂, though the growth rate was considerably less than that of the strain grown in air. PCC7942 and P. micans also grew in 100% CO₂, although the PCC7942 culture had a much lower growth rate than its counterpart grown in air while P. micans. did not grow in compressed air.

(Sponsored by NASA Space Life Sciences Training Program)

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