%0 Journal Article %A Bhatnagar, Ashish %A Bhatnagar , M. %A Garg , M. K. %D 2014 %I Begell House %K combined stress; desert; desiccation; matric potential; osmotic potential; thermotolerance %N 1 %P 68-85 %R 10.1615/InterJAlgae.v16.i1.50 %T Solid Surfaces Alleviate Thermal Stress in Desert Microalgae %U https://www.dl.begellhouse.com/journals/7dd4467e7de5b7ef,1b3ba09e1acfc644,330fff6752d5225c.html %V 16 %X Twenty-eight desert cyanobacteria and one Chlorella sp. were exposed to dual stress of high temperature and desiccation on different solid surfaces. The cyanobacteria and Chlorella sp. died at 50 °C in BG 11 medium; most of them could survive the heat over air-dried sand (62%), filter (93%), and pebbles (76%). Matric stress of -7MPa was better tolerated by almost all tested microalgae while most of them died at -0.5 MPa osmotic waters stress, suggesting that sensing the absence of water was important to prepare for the stress. Chroococcus cohaerens (2412), an isolate from sedimentary rock grit, appeared to be a true osmophile requiring -0.5 MPa osmotic water potential for optimal growth; yet, it died at 50 °C over dry sand. Even morphologically similar forms showed varying capabilities to handle osmotic, matric, and thermoxeric stresses over different solid surfaces, and the response could not be generalized in terms of the habitat of origin of the isolates. Although chlorophyll α was a good measure for growth, the study showed it could not be used to depict its ability to survive. %8 2014-02-27