Unialgal Cultures of Haematococcus lacustris (Girod) Rostaf.

Algae are being used more frequently in the attack on an ever widening variety of biological problems. We find them in mam laboratories as experimental organisms in the study of the fundamentals of photosynthesis, mineral nutrition, and genetics. Their present uses and potential uses commercially such as, sources of food, in food processing, and in industrial processes are growing steadily in number. Because of the increasing interest in them experimentally and practically, a better understanding of their culture is imperative. Several forms such as, Chlorella, Scenedesmus, and some of the Cyanophyta have been cultivated for laboratory purposes with success. Others are regularly cultured for short periods to provide material for class use in schools. Only relatively few species have been grown in pure or unialgal culture, (Bold, 1942; Pringsheim, 1946; Brunel, Prescott and Tiffany, 1950)