The consequences of variable light regimes for harvested algae

Light varies across a range of time scales. For example, light can vary across a season, as clouds move across the sky, or as light flickers through a water column. Although we are familiar with these changes in light, our understanding of the consequences of this variation for algal growth is limited. My thesis resolves this issue – I discovered that light fluctuations occurring over seconds and minutes are often overlooked, despite their occurrence and negative impacts in industry-scale algal culture systems.