Exploring the effects of single and dual phase culturing on the concentrations of Southern Ocean sea-ice algae and transporting living sea-ice algae from the Southern Ocean to land-based research facilities

• Main Author: Hambrock, Mark
• Other Authors: Rampai, Tokoloho, Walker, David
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment 2022
• Subjects: chemical engineering; Southern Ocean; ice algae; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/36456; https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/11427/36456/1/thesis_ebe_2022_hambrock%20mark.pdf

Sea ice is a complex material with a significant impact on the global climate. Understanding the development of sea-ice properties based on the change in growth conditions is vital for the development of predictive models, which are key to providing forecasts of the influence global warming will have on sea ice. Algae found in sea ice form an important part of the oceanic food network, providing secondary producers with a source of food, particularly during winter, and are suspected of seeding algae blooms during spring and summer. Researching sea ice and sea-ice algae in situ is an expensive and logistically difficult undertaking, especially in the Southern Ocean. Consequently, many researchers elect to perform research on artificial sea ice, where conditions are more controlled while logistical and financial constraints are reduced. Despite the extent to which sea-ice research has been performed on artificial sea ice, relatively little research on sea-ice algae in artificial sea ice has been done. Sea-ice algae are strongly affected by the temperature, salinity, nutrient availability and intensity of photosynthetically active radiation in their environment. This makes the transportation of living sea-ice algae difficult. Little documentation of transportation of living sea-ice algae exists, with most of the laboratory research of sea-ice algae being performed on single-species liquid cultures. Such research is important but fails to address the complexity of real sea-ice algae communities. This dissertation investigates the effects of three sea-ice algae transportation methods on the concentration development of sea-ice algae, as well as the potential for experimentation with the algae transported with these methods. Two methods were adapted from literature: transportation in solid (1) and liquid (2) environments. In addition to these methods, a third method was explored: Transportation of living sea-ice algae in a hybrid solid-liquid system. The aim of transporting in the hybrid system was to minimise the ...