O. Bernard et al., THE EFFECTS OF A CONTROLLED FLUCTUATING NUTRIENT ENVIRONMENT ON CONTINUOUS CULTURES OF PHYTOPLANKTON MONITORED BY COMPUTERS, Journal of experimental marine biology and ecology, 197(2), 1996, pp. 263-278
A completely automatic continuous phytoplankton culturing device is de
scribed. This computer-controlled system monitors simultaneously and a
utomatically the basic culture parameters of several chemostats, i.e.,
limiting nutrient concentrations, cell size spectra, cell densities a
nd temperatures. Culture pH can also be regulated. The dilution rate a
nd the limiting nutrient concentration in the enrichment medium may be
programmed to follow different dynamic patterns with time. An example
is given with a sinusoidal variation of the dilution rate. Applicatio
ns are discussed, which concern the advantages to modelling gained by
acquiring information from continuously fluctuating systems rather tha
n from nutrient-pulsed systems.