Dear Protist folks,
I have a student that desperately wanted to grow fresh
water sponges for a masters degree project. After months of
searching for experts, literature, etc., she abandoned this
project and decided on an algal project. She wanted me to
order one fresh water alga and one fresh water diatom from ATCC.
Interestingly enough they only have one diatom and it is seawater.
In addition,both are very expensive (this is a non-funded project),
each costing over $80.I was hoping that someone on this newsgroup
could give me some fresh water alternatives. The diatom that ATCC
has and she wanted to buy was Amphiprora and the alga was Selanstrum.
As a second point, I have both Chlamydomonas in the lab and also
the seawater diatom Cylindrotheca, so would they be adequate. She now
essentially wants to develop a bioassay/test the effects of various
deicers on these organims.
Lastly, she discussed with ATCC the possibility of collecting and
characterizing some local fresh water diatoms for submission to
ATCC and they weren't interested. I thought that was strange since
they do not have a fresh water diatom in their collection. However,
I realize that there may be other collections out there that I
don't know about. Maybe someone in this newsgroup could help me.
Thanks! If anyone has any comments, please respond directly to me.
Sandy Berry-Lowe
Biology
University of Colorado-Colorado Springs
719-262-3671
slblowe at mail.uccs.edu
