Summary: | The green alga <i>Tetraselmis</i> <i>striata</i> is regarded as a suitable candidate microalga for bio-diesel production. Recently, <i>T. striata</i> was cultured near Yeonghueung Island, Korea, in a “marine culturing field”; however, its environmental impacts are not yet studied. We estimated the amount of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) released from <i>T. striata</i> cultivation in the marine culturing field, and we investigated the changes in bacterial composition. Then, we designed and installed a mesocosm for further understanding. From the mesocosm results, the DOC released from the cultivation of <i>T. striata</i> led to changes in bacterial communities, disturbance of the microbial food web structure, rapid depletion of nutrients, and a decrease in dissolved oxygen (DO) and pH. Our novel work demonstrates that large amounts of DOC secreted by large-scale microalgal cultures such as that of <i>T. striata</i> can potentially have a significant impact on the structure and function of the surrounding microbial ecosystem.
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