The study evaluated removal of industrial CO2 from cement flue gas using algal cultivation. Local polycultures were grown in an up-scaled outdoor photobioreactor over 5 years in northern Europe. Algal biomass was harvested 2–3 times per week and the closed panel system was re-filled with seawater amended with nutrients. Flue gas was fed to the photobioreactor circulatory system in one direction or re-circulated. Removal efficiency of CO2 averaged 9 % in non-recirculation and 17 % in re-circulation modes and reached 20–60 % under best cultivation conditions. Recovery of carbon into algal biomass reached up to 10 g m2d−1 in non-recirculation mode. Biomass performance was explained by circulation mode and shift of polyculture traits. Stability of biomass quality was shown over seasons, with higher relative content of protein in autumn. Toxic elements in biomass were below legal thresholds for upcycling. The study shows feasibility of algal solutions for conversion of waste, applied in temperate climate.

Picocyanobacteria are widespread and globally significant primary producers. In brackish waters, picocyanobacterial populations are composed of diverse species with both single-cell and colony-forming lifestyles. Compared to their marine counterparts, brackish picocyanobacteria are less well characterized and the focus of research has been weighted toward single-cell picocyanobacteria. Here, we investigate the uptake dynamics of single and colony-forming picocyanobacteria using incubations with dual carbon-13 and inorganic (ammonium and nitrate) or organic (urea and amino acids) nitrogen-15 sources during August and September 2020 in the central Baltic Sea. Phytoplankton community and group-specific uptake rates were obtained using an elemental analyzer isotope ratio mass spectrometer (EA-IRMS) and nano secondary-ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS). Picocyanobacteria contributed greater than one third of the ammonium, urea, amino acids, and inorganic carbon community uptake/fixation in September but < 10% in August when phytoplankton biomass was higher. Overall, single-cell ammonium and urea uptake rates were significantly higher for single-celled compared to colonial picocyanobacteria. In a 6-yr offshore central Baltic Sea time series (2015-2020), summer abundances of colonial picocyanobacteria reached up to 10(5) cells mL(-1) and represented > 5% of the average phytoplankton biomass, suggesting that they are periodically important for the ecosystem. Colonial strain identification was not distinguishable using 16S rRNA gene amplicon data, highlighting a need for refined tools for identification of colonial forms. This study shows the significance of single-celled brackish picocyanobacteria to nutrient cycling and the importance of considering uptake and lifestyle strategies when assessing the role of picocyanobacteria in aquatic ecosystems.

Hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOCs) affect phytoplankton at cellular to population levels, ultimately impacting communities and ecosystems. Baseline toxicants, such as some HOCs, predominantly partition to biological membranes and storage lipids. Predicting their toxic effects on phytoplankton populations therefore requires consideration beyond cell uptake and diffusion. Functional traits like lipid content and profile can offer insights into the diverse responses of phytoplankton populations exposed to HOCs. Our study investigated the vulnerability of five phytoplankton species populations to varying chemical activities of a mixture of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Population vulnerability was assessed based on intrinsic sensitivities (toxicokinetic and toxicodynamic), and demography. Despite similar chemical activities in biota within the exposed algae, effects varied significantly. According to the chemical activity causing 50% of the growth inhibition (Ea50), we found that the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum (Ea50 = 0.203) was the least affected by the chemical exposure and was also a species with low lipid content. In contrast, Prymnesium parvum (Ea50 = 0.072) and Rhodomonas salina (Ea50 = 0.08), both with high lipid content and high diversity of fatty acids in non-exposed samples, were more vulnerable to the chemical mixture. Moreover, the species P. parvum, P. tricornutum, and Nannochloris sp., displayed increased lipid production, evidenced as 5-10% increase in lipid fluorescence, after exposure to the chemical mixture. This lipid increase has the potential to alter the intrinsic sensitivity of the populations because storage lipids facilitate membrane repair, reconstitution and may, in the short-term, dilute contaminants within cells. Our study integrated principles of thermodynamics through the assessment of membrane saturation (i.e. chemical activity), and a lipid trait-based assessment to elucidate the differences in population vulnerability among phytoplankton species exposed to HOC mixtures. A chemical mixture caused diverse responses across five phytoplankton species. Analysis of lipid profiles and changes in neutral lipid content enhanced our understanding of the vulnerability of phytoplankton populations to chemical pollution.

Picophytoplankton (<2 µm diameter), a diverse group of picocyanobacteria and photosynthetic picoeukaryotes, are significant contributors to primary production. Predatory mortality controls picophytoplankton biomass and thereby energy transfer in the marine food web. The 2 major pathways of picophytoplankton mortality are grazing and viral lysis. Grazing passes carbon directly to higher trophic levels, while lysis products are passed into the viral loop. Picophytoplankton are abundant in the Baltic Sea but little is known about their predatory mortality. Using a modification of the dilution approach, we calculated growth and mortality rates of picophytoplankton and studied the effect of predation on community structure during late August and September. The experiments were conducted coinciding with the peak in picophytoplankton abundance (similar to 10(5) cells ml(-1)) at the Linnaeus Microbial Observatory in the Baltic Sea Proper. The results showed that grazing is an important controller of picocyanobacteria and photosynthetic picoeukaryote populations, while no significant viral lysis effect was detected. Grazing on picocyanobacteria was proportional to growth rates, while grazing on photosynthetic picoeukaryotes exceeded growth. Selective grazing of phylogenetically distinct picocyanobacterial clades had a significant effect on community structure, suggesting that grazing has an impact on the seasonal dynamics of co-occurring clades. Picocyanobacteria had a higher carbon transfer contribution to higher trophic levels than photosynthetic picoeukaryotes at the time of the experiments. The study shows that picophytoplankton are important contributors to carbon cycling in the Baltic Sea microbial food web and should be considered for future ecological models.

Mixotrophic microalgal solutions are efficient nutrient recovery methods, with potential to prolong the cultivation seasons in temperate climates. To improve operation sustainability, the study used landfill leachate for nitrogen source and whey permeate for phosphorus and organic carbon. A non-axenic polyculture, dominated by green algae, was cultivated in mixotrophic mode on glucose or whey permeate compared to a photoautotrophic control in outdoor pilot-scaled raceway ponds during Nordic spring and autumn. The whey permeate treatment had the highest algal growth rate and productivity (0.48 d(-1), 183.8 mg L-1 d(-1)), nutrient removal (total nitrogen: 21.71 mg L-1 d(-1), total phosphorus: 3.05 mg L-1 d(-1)) and recovery rate (carbon: 85.19 mg L-1 d(-1), nitrogen: 17.01 mg L-1 d(-1), phosphorus: 2.58 mg L-1 d(-1)). When grown in whey permeate, algal cultures demonstrated consistent productivity and biochemical composition in high (spring) and low light conditions (autumn), suggesting the feasibility of year-round production in Nordic conditions.

Microalgal solutions to clean waste streams and produce biomass were evaluated in Nordic conditions during winter, spring, and autumn in Southeast Sweden. The study investigated nitrogen (N) removal, biomass quality, and safety by treating industrial leachate water with a polyculture of local microalgae and bacteria in open raceway ponds, supplied with industrial CO2 effluent. Total N (TN) removal was higher in spring (1.5 g-2d-1), due to beneficial light conditions compared to winter and autumn (0.1 and 0.09 g-2d-1). Light, TN, and N species influenced the microalgal community (dominated by Chlorophyta), while the bacterial community remained stable throughout seasons with a large proportion of cyanobacteria. Winter conditions promoted biomass protein (19.6-26.7%) whereas lipids and carbohydrates were highest during spring (11.4-18.4 and 15.4-19.8%). Biomass toxin and metal content were below safety levels for fodder, but due to the potential presence of toxic strains, biofuels or fertilizer could be suitable applications for the algal biomass.Practitioner points Microalgal removal of nitrogen from leachate water was evaluated in Nordic conditions during winter, spring, and autumn. Total nitrogen removal was highest in spring (1.5 g-2d-1), due to beneficial light conditions for autotrophic growth. Use of local polyculture made the cultivation more stable on a seasonal (light) and short-term (N-species changes) scale. Toxic elements in produced algal biomass were below legal thresholds for upcycling. The study investigated nitrogen removal, biomass quality, and safety by treating industrial leachate water with a polyculture of local microalgae and bacteria in open raceway ponds, supplied with industrial CO2 effluent. Nitrogen removal by the polyculture was highest in spring and the biomass biochemical composition changed with season. image

Micronutrients such as vitamins are transferred from lower to higher trophic levels, but no general ecological concept describes the factors regulating this process. Here, we investigated thiamin (thiamine, vitamin B1), which is an example of a metabolically important water-soluble micronutrient. Thiamin is produced by organisms such as bacteria and phytoplankton, and all consumers, such as zooplankton and fish, rely on a continuous intake of thiamin through their diet and possibly from de novo-synthesized thiamin by gut microbiota. A deficiency in thiamin negatively affects reproduction in fish and bird populations worldwide. The aim of this study was to quantify thiamin transfer in a planktonic food web in response to thiamin and/or nutrient addition, using an outdoor mesocosm system (an approximately 1.9 m3 bag submerged in sea water). These estimates were then compared with literature data on thiamin concentrations at different trophic levels. The results showed that thiamin was rapidly taken up by phytoplankton in both the ambient and nutrient-amended treatments. However, large differences in thiamin concentrations in phytoplankton did not lead to any significant changes in community composition or abundance. Nitrogen addition led to changes in the abundance and community composition of picoplankton and phytoplankton but there were no additional major effects of thiamin addition. Differences in thiamin concentrations in phytoplankton were not detected at the next trophic level in zooplankton. Although the concentrations did not change, a greater abundance of some zooplankton taxa were developed in the thiamin treatments. Comparing the mesocosm results with literature data demonstrated a gradual reduction in thiamin concentrations along the food chain, with six percent of the concentration in producers occurring in top consumers (i.e., piscivorous fish). Overall, these observations illustrate the concept of trophic dilution of micronutrients where concentrations decrease along the food web from phytoplankton via zooplankton and planktivorous fish to piscivorous fish.

The production and release of chemicals from human activities are on the rise. Understanding how the aquatic environment is affected by the presence of an unknown number of chemicals is lacking. We employed the chemical activity concept to assess the combined effects of hydrophobic organic contaminants on the phyto-plankton species Rodomonas salina. Chemical activity is additive, and refers to the relative saturation of a chemical in the studied matrix. The growth of R. salina was affected by chemical activity, following a chemical activity-response curve, resulting in an Ea50 value of 0.078, which falls within the baseline toxicity range observed in earlier studies. The chlorophyll a content exhibited both increases and decreases with rising chemical activity, with the increase possibly linked to an antioxidant mechanism. Yet, growth inhibition provided more sensitive and robust responses compared to photosynthesis-related endpoints; all measured endpoints correlated with increased chemical activity. Growth inhibition is an ecologically relevant endpoint and integrates ther-modynamic principles such as membrane disruption. Our study utilized passive dosing, enabling us to control exposure and determine activities in both the medium and the algae. The concept of chemical activity and our results can be extended to other neutral chemical groups as effects of chemical activity remain independent of the mixture composition.

The planktonic realm from bacteria to zooplankton provides the baseline for pelagic aquatic food webs. However, multiple trophic levels are seldomly included in time series studies, hampering a holistic understanding of the influence of seasonal dynamics and species interactions on food web structure and biogeochemical cycles. Here, we investigated plankton community composition, focusing on bacterio-, phyto- and large mesozooplankton, and how biotic and abiotic factors correlate at the Linnaeus Microbial Observatory (LMO) station in the Baltic Sea from 2011 to 2018. Plankton communities structures showed pronounced dynamic shifts with recurring patterns. Summarizing the parts of the planktonic microbial food web studied here to total carbon, a picture emerges with phytoplankton consistently contributing > 39% while bacterio- and large mesozooplankton contributed ~ 30% and ~ 7%, respectively, during summer. Cyanophyceae, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria were important groups among the prokaryotes. Importantly, Dinophyceae, and not Bacillariophyceae, dominated the autotrophic spring bloom whereas Litostomatea (ciliates) and Appendicularia contributed significantly to the consumer entities together with the more traditionally observed mesozooplankton, Copepoda and Cladocera. Our findings of seasonality in both plankton composition and carbon stocks emphasize the importance of time series analyses of food web structure for characterizing the regulation of biogeochemical cycles and appropriately constraining ecosystem models. 

Microalgal cultivation for biodiesel and feed requires recycled nutrient resources for a sustainable long-term operation. Whey permeate (WP) from dairy processing contains high organic load (lactose, oils, and proteins) and nitrogen (resources tested for microalgal cultivation) and organic phosphorus (P) that has not yet been tested as a P source for microalgal cultivation. We explored the potential of green algae strains (brackish) and polyculture (freshwater) in exploiting P from WP added to a medium based on either seawater (7 psu) or landfill leachate. Both strains showed a capacity of using organic P in WP with equal growth rates (0.94-1.12 d(-1)) compared with chemical phosphate treatments (0.88-1.07 d(-1)). The polyculture had comparable growth rate (0.25-0.57 d(-1)) and biomass yield (152.1-357.5 mg L-1) and similar or higher nutrient removal rate in the leachate-WP medium (1.3-6.4 mg L-1 day(-1) nitrogen, 0.2-1.1 mg L-1 day(-1) P) compared with the leachate-chemical phosphate medium (1.2-4.7 mg L-1 day(-1) nitrogen, 0.3-1.4 mg L-1 day(-1) P). This study showed that WP is a suitable P source for microalgal cultivation over a range of salinities. To date, this is the first study demonstrating that raw WP can replace mineral P fertilizer for algal cultivation. Practitioners PointsWhey permeate is a comparable phosphorus source to standard fertilizers used in algal cultivation.Green algae removed phosphorus effectively from whey permeate.Microalgal cultivation is a good approach for treatment of whey permeate in combination with a nitrogen-rich wastewater.