The Provasoli-Guillard Center contains the world's largest culture collection of marine phytoplankton. The cultures are distributed to scientists, aquaculture hatcheries, industrial firms (especially biotechnology companies), and governmental agencies throughout the world. Marine phytoplankters are the "plants" of the ocean and they form the base of the food chain in ocean systems. Because oceans cover over 70% of the Earth's surface, phytoplankton play a dominant role in global ecology. Scientists use cultures of phytoplankton in experiments to study the potential effects of global changes caused by carbon dioxide increases (the greenhouse effect) and of ultraviolet light damage from ozone holes, as well as searching the diversity of phytoplankton organisms for natural products that may be used to cure human or other diseases. The recent rapid expansion of marine aquaculture is largely due to the use of phytoplankton cultures as foods for larval and juvenile shellfish and finfish. This project will provide partial support for the Provasoli- Guillard Center's maintenance costs of the phytoplankton culture collection for the next five years. Living phytoplankton must be maintained continuously in culture, since no methods have been perfected for their cryopreservation. During the award period, the Center will begin a major revision of its computer database, and will provide on-line access to the database. It will also install new culture chambers to enable a wider range of cultures to be maintained. Finally, a replacement autoclave will be purchased for sterilization of media and glassware in order to insure pure culture conditions.
