Department Experimental Phycology and Culture Collection of Algae (EPSAG)

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Algae are important primary producers and incredibly diverse

The Sammlung von Algenkulturen der Universität Göttingen (SAG)

Algae include photosynthetically active eukaryotes and prokaryotic cyanobacteria. The EPSAG department teaches and researches the biodiversity of algae. ... is a comprehensive biological resource centre for living culture material of microalgae and is one of the largest algae service collections in the world.
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One open Ph.D. position and two Master's theses in new research project to be offered as of 01 March 2023

Soil algae and cyanobacteria: Changes in their biodiversity in forest and grassland along gradients of land use and intensity (DNA sequence analyses using amplicon-based NGS metabarcoding).
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New publication: Testing for terrestrial and freshwater microalgae productivity under elevated CO2 conditions and nutrient limitation

Microalgae CO2 fixation results in the production of biomass rich in high-valuable products, such as fatty acids and carotenoids. A large variety of 81 defined algal strains, including new green algal isolates from various terrestrial environments, were studied for their growth under atmospheres with CO2 levels of 5–25% in air. Green algae originating from terrestrial environments, Chlorophyceae and Trebouxiophyceae, exhibited enhanced productivity of carotenoids and fatty acids under elevated CO2 concentrations. This ability supports the economic and sustainable production of valuable compounds from these microalgae using inexpensive sources of high CO2 concentrations, such as industrial exhaust fumes. The tests of four new strains under 15% CO2 aeration revealed an even further increase of carotenoid and fatty acid contents when combined with nitrogen starvation.

Kryvenda, A., Tischner, R., Steudel, B., Griehl, C., Armon, R., and Friedl, T. (2023). Testing for terrestrial and freshwater microalgae productivity under elevated CO2 conditions and nutrient limitation. BMC Plant Biology 23, 27.
Publication: doi: 10.1186/s12870-023-04042-z


Press release: Algae reveal clues about climate changes over millions of years

Göttingen University scientists identify and investigate algae which register sea water temperatures of the warmest months. Link to the article and link to the publication (The Long chain Diol Index: A marine palaeotemperature proxy based on eustigmatophyte lipids that records the warmest seasons; Rampen, Friedl, Rybalka and Thiel; 2022).