Functional group richness: implications of biodiversity for light use and lipid yield in microalgae

Abstract

Currently, very few studies address the relationship between diversity and biomass/lipid production in primary producer communities for biofuel production. Basic studies on the growth of microalgal communities, however, provide evidence of a positive relationship between diversity and biomass production. Recent studies have also shown that positive diversity-productivity relationships are related to an increase in the efficiency of light use by diverse microalgal communities. Here, we hypothesize that there is a relationship between diversity, light use, and microalgal lipid production in phytoplankton communities. Microalgae from all major freshwater algal groups were cultivated in treatments that differed in species richness and functional group richness. Polycultures with high functional group richness showed more efficient light use and higher algal lipid content with increasing species richness. There was a clear correlation between light use and lipid production in functionally diverse communities. Hence, a powerful and cost-effective way to improve biofuel production might be accomplished by incorporating diversity related, resource-use-dynamics into algal biomass production.

Effects of Environmental Factors and Nutrient Availability on the Biochemical Composition of Algae for Biofuels Production: A Review

“…The range of light intensity in USA varies from 1500 to 8500 W⋅h/m 2 /day with strong regional and seasonal dependence [94]. Light intensity effects growth of algae through its impact on photosynthesis [95]. Although rate of growth under increasing light intensity is a function of strain and culture temperature, the growth rate of algae is maximal at saturation intensity and decreases with both increase or decrease in light intensity [96].…”

Assessing the potential of polyculture to accelerate algal biofuel production

“…Research has shown that polycultures can vary in productivity with respect to their respective monocultures [24], but that higher productivities (i.e., overyielding) are possible with polycultures [10,23,24,31,35]. Underyielding (i.e., when a polyculture yields less than the average of its component monocultures) can result, for example, when a polyculture is dominated by a fast-growing, low-yielding species [14,24] or due to allelopathy, where a secondary metabolite produced by one species is toxic to another [36].…”

“…In laboratory experiments, rationally designed polycultures have shown the potential to outperform monocultures through overyielding [10,33,35,37,39,40]. This is accomplished by selecting species with desirable and complimentary traits that allow for more efficient utilization of light and nutrients, provide benefits toward crop protection, and/or resilience toward fluctuating environmental conditions.…”

Journal of Oceanography and Marine Research

“…In aquatic systems positive biodiversity effects were observed in manipulation experiments, i.e., experiments in which biodiversity was artificially manipulated to simulate species loss or artificial communities, with higher plants [20,32,33], macroalgae [34][35][36][37][38], and microalgae [22,[39][40][41][42]. Manipulation experiments with species from oceanic systems show a positive biodiversity-ecosystem functioning effect for primary producers, i.e., plants and algae [33].…”