Ecology of Open Algae Ponds Rob McBride October 2014 Rob
McBride October 2014
Slide 2
Sapphire Produces Valuable Products From Algae, Sunlight, &
CO 2 SAPPHIRE ENERGY 1
Slide 3
Sapphires Primary Production Platform Open Ponds SAPPHIRE
ENERGY 2 Focused on the production of low cost biomass Open ponds
are continuously operated year round Key challenge to continuous
open operation is stability Pests primarily impact stability
Slide 4
Open Pond Stability SAPPHIRE ENERGY 3 Mechanical strategies
Netting, filters Cultural strategies pH, Ammonia, Magnesium etc.
Chemical strategies Chlorine, glyphosate, headline, etc. Biotic
strategies Trophic interactions
Slide 5
An Example of a Sapphire Pest Management Strategy SAPPHIRE
ENERGY 4
Slide 6
An Example of a Sapphire Pest Management Strategy SAPPHIRE
ENERGY 5 1. Letcher, P. M., S. Lopez, et al. (2013).
"Characterization of Amoeboaphelidium protococcarum, an Algal
Parasite New to the Cryptomycota Isolated from an Outdoor Algal
Pond Used for the Production of Biofuel." PloS one 8(2): e56232. 2.
McBride, R. C., S. Lopez, et al. (2014). "Contamination Management
in Low Cost Open Algae Ponds for Biofuels Production." Industrial
Biotechnology 10(3): 221-227.
Slide 7
Why Are We interested in Open Pond Ecology? SAPPHIRE ENERGY 6
1. Shurin, J., R. Abbott, et al. (2013). "Industrialstrength
ecology: tradeoffs and opportunities in algal biofuel production."
Ecology letters 16(11): 1393-1404.
Slide 8
In Open Algae Ponds, What is the Richness/Stability
Relationship? SAPPHIRE ENERGY 7
Slide 9
Overview of the Data Collection SAPPHIRE ENERGY 8
Slide 10
Summary of the Generated Data SAPPHIRE ENERGY 9 Bacteria
Eukaryotes
Slide 11
Summary of the Generated Data SAPPHIRE ENERGY 10 Bacteria
Eukaryotes
Slide 12
Is Open Algal Pond Species Richness Related to
Productivity/Stability? SAPPHIRE ENERGY 11
Slide 13
How Do Pond Management Practices Impact Species Richness?
SAPPHIRE ENERGY 12
Slide 14
How Do Pond Management Practices Impact Species Richness?
SAPPHIRE ENERGY 13 Bacteria Eukaryotes
Slide 15
Open Algae Pond Ecology What are the Punchlines? SAPPHIRE
ENERGY 14 There was a positive relationship between increasing
species diversity and the productivity of the open algae pond.
Increasing species diversity did not increase the variance of the
open algae pond with this analysis. Process and management
strategies can impact ecology, and these impacts can be lasting.
While we are still far from engineering open pond algae ecosystems,
these type of data suggest that open pond algae systems display
some of the patterns observed in terrestrial ecosystems. We and
others are working to construct stable consortia in the lab that
have productivity and stability benefits, and hope to translate
those to the field to realize the potential of the open pond
platform for the continued production of low cost biomass.
Slide 16
Acknowledgements UCSD Steve Mayfield John Shurin Vineet Bafna
Doruk Beyter Life Technologies Farzad Haerizadeh Pei-Zhong Tang
Scott Becker Todd Peterson SDSU Yan Wei Lim Sapphire Energy Las
Cruces Crop protection Team (Kalli Lambeth), Harvest Team,
Cultivation Team San Diego Tony Hoang, Damla Bilgin, Craig Behnke
SAPPHIRE ENERGY 15
