Studies on the growth of some marine unicellular algae under different artificial light sources

Documented evidence of the suitability of various artificial light sources for the culture of unicellular algae is scarce. This paper reports the results of a comparison of the growth rates of 5 species of marine unicellular algae at various light intensities produced by an incandescent filament source or daylight fluorescent tubes. Under light saturating conditions the maximum growth rate achieved by each species was the same under each artificial source. Under sub-optimal intensities, no difference in the growth rates under the 2 sources was detected in the case of Phaeodactylum tricornutum, Chlorella ovalis or Monochrysis lutheri. However, under these conditions both Brachiomonas submarina and Dunaliella primolecta required higher intensities of incident illumination from the fluorescent source than from the incandescent source to maintain a particular relative growth rate.