• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.23-34
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• 2024

While scientific information on the spatial variation of soda lake Microalgae is important to limnological studies, little information was reported from the Ethiopian Rift Valley Lake, Lake Chitu. This study aimed to understand the spatial distribution of the dominant Microalgae taxa in Lake Chitu, Ethiopia. The collection of samples and in situ measurements of some physico-chemical parameters were recorded at three sites for one cycle in November 2021. Fourteen species or genera of Microalgae were identified. Among those, Bacillariophyta were the most important with regard to species abundance and the rarest in species richness. Cyanophyta were the second-most important group in terms of species richness and rarity. Comparatively, all microalgae taxa were rare at both the anthropogenic areas (AA) and the flooding area (FA), which could be mainly due to intensive human and animal intervention and associated with extreme turbidity. Among Cyanophyta, Chroococcus minutus, Microcystis aeruginosa, and Spirulina platensis/fusiformis were predominant at both AA and FA, revealing their adaptation to less clear water and pollution. But S. platensis/fusiformis attained the highest abundance at the FA, indicating their preference for water in a highly nutrient-enriched area. We concluded that the spatial variation of microalgae diversity in relation to water quality parameters has implications for the importance of microalgae as a baseline indicator of water quality assessment tools in lakes.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.862-868
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• 2022

Microalgae are photosynthetic cyanobacteria and eukaryotic microorganisms, mainly living in the water. In agriculture, numerous studies have been conducted to utilize microalgae as a biostimulant resource. Scenedesmus has been known to be one such microalga that can promote plant growth by secretion of auxin or cytokinin hormone analogs. However, no research has been performed on the effect of microalgae treatment on plant microbiota communities. This study was conducted to investigate the mode of action of microalgae as biostimulants in a plant microbiota perspective by using Scenedesmus sp. CHK0059 (also known as species Chlorella fusca), which has been well documented as a biostimulant for strawberries. The strawberry cultivar Keumsil was bred with Seolhyang and Maehyang as the parent cultivars. Using these three cultivars, microbiota communities were evaluated for changes in structural composition according to the CHK0059 treatment. CHK0059-treated Seolhyang, and CHK0059-untreated Maehyang were similar in microbial diversity in the endosphere. From a microbiota community perspective, the diversity change showed that CHK0059 was affected by the characteristics of the host. Conversely, when CHK0059 treatment was applied, populations of Streptomyces and Actinospica were observed in the crown endosphere.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.181-193
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• 2023

Distribution changes in microalgae communities were studied in the Nakdonggang River at two sampling stations (St.1 Gyeongcheongyo Bridge (GB) and St.2 Daedong Wharf (DW)) at monthly intervals from January 2021 to November 2021. A total of 83 taxa included 82 species, 1 forma, belonging to 49 genera, 32 families, 21 orders, and 8 classes. The most important groups were Bacillariophyta and Chlorophyta. The number of species ranged from 5 to 24 in GB, and from 9 to 21 taxa in DW. The contribution of Bacillariophyta to the total species richness was the highest during all survey periods, and Chlorophyta yielded the next highest value in the study area. The dominant taxa were Aulacoseira ambigua, A. ambigua f. japonica, and Ulnaria acus in this study. Cluster analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) analysis based on Bray- Curtis similarity identified 4 major groups, which corresponded to microalgae assemblages and their characteristic species. Correlation was analyzed through the CCA analysis. It was found that there was a correlation between the microalgae and environmental factors. It was revealed that the divided groups were distinguished because of the differences by the survey period. Therefore, seasonal change was judged as a major factor affecting the distribution of microalgae communities.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.153-158
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• 2018

In this study, effects of nutrient and inorganic carbon on single cell emergence during the cultivation of microalgae were observed using colonial green algae, Pediastrum duplex. The concentration of inorganic carbon had significant effect on single cell emergence and its growth, but nitrogen and phosphorus concentration showed minor effects. According to P. duplex cultivation experiment, single cell started to be emerged around 500~750 mg-C/L of inorganic carbon concentration and it was bloomed dramatically at the higher values. And growth of P. duplex was started to be surpressed at the single cell formation concentration. From the results, it could be said that when we operate the microalgae systems for cultivation/harvesting or wastewater treatment, in order to avoid single cell formation, inorganic carbon should be maintained to the proper level.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.207-214
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• 2013

A concerted effort to develop alternative forms of energy is underway due to fossil fuel shortages and its deleterious effects. Recently, bioenergy from microalgae has gained prominence and the use of municipal wastewater as a low cost alternative for a nutrient source has significant advantages. In this study, we have employed municipal wastewater directly after primary treatment (primary settling basin) in a small scale raceway pond (SSRP) for microalgal growth. Indigenous microalgae in the wastewater were encouraged to grow in the SSRP under optimal conditions. The mean removal efficiencies of TN, TP, and $NH_3-N$ after 6 days were 77.77%, 63.55%, and 89.02%, respectively. The average lipid content of the microalgae was 19.51% of dry cell weight, and linolenate and linoleate (18:n) were the predominant fatty acids. The 18S rRNA gene analysis and microscopic observations of the indigenous microalgae community revealed the presence of Chlorella vulgaris and Scenedesmus obliquus as the dominant microalgae. These results indicate that untreated municipal wastewater, serving as an excellent nitrogen and phosphate source for microalgal growth, could be treated using microalgae in open raceway ponds. Moreover, microalgal biomass could be further profitable by the extraction of biodiesel.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.192-199
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• 2012

Microalgal biotechnology has gained prominence because of the ability of microalgae to produce value-added products including biodiesel through photosynthesis. However, carbon and nutrient source is often a limiting factor for microalgal growth leading to higher input costs for sufficient biomass production. Use of municipal wastewater as a low cost alternative to grow microalgae as well as to treat the same has been demonstrated in this study using mini raceway open ponds. Municipal wastewater was collected after primary treatment and microalgae indigenous in the wastewater were encouraged to grow in open raceways under optimum conditions. The mean removal efficiencies of TN, TP, COD-$_{Mn}$, $NH_3$-N after 6 days of retention time was 80.18%, 63.56%, 76.34%, and 96.74% respectively. The 18S rRNA gene analysis of the community revealed the presence of Chlorella vulgaris and Scenedesmus obliquus as the dominant microalgae. In addition, 16S rRNA gene analysis demonstrated that Rhodobacter, Luteimonas, Porphyrobacter, Agrobacterium, and Thauera were present along with the microalgae. From these results, it is concluded that microalgae could be used to effectively treat municipal wastewater without aerobic treatment, which incurs additional energy costs. In addition, municipal wastewater shall also serve as an excellent carbon and nitrogen source for microalgal growth. Moreover, the microalgal biomass shall be utilized for commercial purposes.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.131-138
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• 2010

This study determined the optimum microalgae species and concentration for the brackish water flea, Diaphanosoma celebensis, in individual and community cultures by feeding it several different diets. Six single trials (Tetraselmis suecica, Isochrysis galbana, marine Chlorella ellipsoidea, freshwater Chlorella vulgaris, Scenedesmus sp., Selenastrum sp.) were conducted at 10 psu and $30^{\circ}C$. The community and individual cultures of the water flea were performed in 1-L beakers and 3-mL vessels (12-well culture plates), respectively. In the community cultures, the maximum density and specific growth rate were highest for water fleas fed T. suecica, reaching 60.0 individuals (ind.)/mL and 0.40, respectively. In the individual cultures, the most offspring and greatest life span of females were 56.9 ind. and 24.3 days, respectively, in the T. suecica trial. By contrast, diets of Scenedesmus sp. and Selenastrum sp. resulted in poor growth rates. In the T. suecica experiments examining a range of 10 to $200\times10^3$ cells/indl. the specific growth rate of the water flea tended to increase with the amount of supplement, while the life span decreased. The maximum density and number of offspring of females was highest at 53.5 ind./mL and 38.8 ind. respectively, at 40,000 cells/ind. These results suggest that the best microalgae species for the mass culture of D. celebensis is T. suecica and the optimum concentration is 40,000 cells per individual.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.128-136
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• 2008

An attempt was made in the Veeranam freshwater lake with the objectives to collect, identify, describe and document the algae occurring from March 2007 to August 2007. Qualitative and quantitative characterization of phytoplankton and analysis of physico-chemical parameters of water samples were carried out at monthly intervals during the study period in the western and eastern sides of the lake. It was found that the phytoplankton community embraced 68 genera belonging to four classes viz., Bacillariophyceae (40), Chlorophyceae (22), Cynophyceae (4) and Euglenophyceae (2). There were significant influences of various physico-chemical parameters on the phytoplankton population density. Commonly occurred genera, Oscillatoria (Cyanophyceae), Navicula (Bacillariophyceae) and Scenedesmus (Chlorophyceae), were subjected to energy dispersive spectroscopic analysis (EDS). They were found to accumulate different elements such as Zn, P, S, Ca, Mg, Fe, N, Si, Cl and Mn. Among these the member Cyanophyceae contained Zn, P, Mg, Ca, Mn, S and N. Bacillariophyceae Si, Zn, Mg, Cl, N, Fe, and Ca. Chlorophyceae Ca, Mg, N, Fe, Cl, Zn, Si and Mn. Thus these observations would determine the chemical dialogue between the cell structures and role of the elements. Further, it gives the clue about the phytoplankton growth requirements.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.715-723
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• 2016

This study investigated the effect of high concentration of free ammonia on microalgal growth and substrate removal by applying real wastewater nitrogen ratio. To test of this, the conditions of free ammonia 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 mg-N/L are compared. After 3 days of incubation, algal growth of Chlorella vulgaris and carbon removal rate are respectively lower in the reactors of FA 12, 15 mg-N/L compared to the others. This indicates that the high concentration of free ammonia, in this case, above 12 mg-N/L, has negative effect on algal growth and metabolic activity. Also, high concentration of free ammonia causes the proton imbalance, ammonium accumulation in algae and has toxicity for these reasons. So, we have to consider free ammonia in applying the microalgae to wastewater treatment system by the way of diluting wastewater or controlling pH and temperature.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.10
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• pp.1472-1477
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• 2013

Microalgae have been regarded as a natural resource for sustainable materials and fuels, as well as for removal of nutrients and micropollutants from wastewater, and their interaction with bacteria in wastewater is a critical factor to consider because of the microbial diversity and complexity in a variety of wastewater conditions. Despite their importance, very little is known about the ecological interactions between algae and bacteria in a wastewater environment. In this study, we characterized the wastewater bacterial community in response to the growth of a Selenastrum gracile UTEX 325 population in a real municipal wastewater environment. The Roche 454 GS-FLX Titanium pyrosequencing technique was used for indepth analysis of amplicons of 16S rRNA genes from different conditions in each reactor, with and without the algal population. The algal growth reduced the bacterial diversity and affected the bacterial community structure in the wastewater. The following in-depth analysis of the deep-sequenced amplicons showed that the algal growth selectively stimulated Sphingobacteria class members, especially the Sediminibacterium genus population, in the municipal wastewater environment.