Synthetic ecology - A way forward for sustainable algal biofuel production?

Algal biofuel production offers great potential as a sustainable source of bioenergy without competing for arable land with food crops. However, many challenges must be overcome to enable this to be done commercially at the scale required to produce biofuels. Here we explain how an understanding of algal ecology could lead to more reliable raceway-based microalgal cultivation, drawing from established principles of community ecology to highlight practices that could be applied to protect algal cultures from unwanted contaminants. Using theoretical concepts, we show how an understanding of local community dynamics at the species level might be used to enhance productivity by encouraging certain community structures over others. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.