Culturing Methods for Cyanobacteria

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the culturing methods for cyanobacteria. For the establishment of new cultures, as much ecological information as possible about the field populations should be gathered and recorded. With this, it eventually becomes possible to relate diverse information obtained from culture strains to the survival strategies of the organism in nature, ultimately the object of all biological research unless it is directed solely to the benefit of humans. Cyanobacteria, unlike most other prokaryotes (eubacteria or archaebacteria) are usually seen and often recognizable (even at the species level) before collection; they are present in many cases as plankton blooms or as dense tufts or mats which are composed of few other species. Only a miniscule percentage of cyanobacterial species have been brought into culture. This, in part, reflects the relatively few and mainly recent attempts to isolate and grow diverse cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria from certain habitats and those of certain taxonomic groups seem to be extremely recalcitrant with regard to being cultured with present methods. Identification of cyanobacteria, whether of natural populations or of cultured material, is not a simple task, because at present, there are three major systems of classification: Geitler, Drouet, and Stanier systems. © 1988, Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.