ABSTRACT
In the natural aquatic environment, whether fresh water or marine, the first link in the food chain is always planktonic organisms. Many of the techniques in the culture of phytoplankton have been in use for many years. However, the need to produce zooplankton for feeding fish and crustaceans led to a resurgence in research on phytoplankton culture in the 1970s. The dynamics of the development of microalgae are similar to those of bacteria but the difference from the latter is the dependence on light energy. This factor is completely independent of the composition of the culture medium. As with bacteria, after an exponential growth phase in young populations there is a plateau stage where a stable population is maintained, then finally a decline. In the natural environment this development occurs spontaneously and results in phytoplankton blooms. The growth of the algal population increases the biomass in the volume of water used for culture.
